Digital BW, The Print

> 
> Back to Accufine for a moment. You evidently used it and found it
> grainy. I used it and found it much less grainy than alternatives at
> 1200 ei, its sweet spot.
> 
> What developer did you use back in days of yesteryear that was less
> grainy with Tri X ?  Please specify. I always found Accufine soft,
> grain dissolving.. I preferred sharp developers, such as Rodinal and
> Neofin: many developers looked softer to me.
> 
> 
Whenever you mention a developer film combination you should also mention
the dilution because that¹s the third part of a very important trilogy.
film: developer: dilution

Acufine is thought by Dignam (an expert) to have 100 grams of sulfite in it
like a lot of solvent type developer formulas such as D76.
We all know what the grain looks like with D76 straight with roll film. Like
mush, mush as in mushrooms. A field of over ripe mushrooms at night under a
full moon. What we want is a beach of very fine very regular sand at high
noon.

All 100 grams of the sulfite which is a silver solvent are eating at each
hunk of grain when you use Acufine.
With 35mm or medium format roll film this is a big deal. Not good. Sheet
film it¹s less of one unless you are looking at prints as big as your wall
with a loupe.

Dilute 1:1 and you¹ve only got 50 grams of sulfite and your grain will have
something resembling an edge to it.
1:2 and it may start not looking like a solvent developer any more.
They may start looking like the results you get from not solvent developing
formulas but high resolution developing formulas. Such as Rodinal or even
better: Beutlers.

Plus with 1:1 or 1:2 dilutions with solvent developing formulas you start
getting nice edge effects because of the less amounts of developing agents.
Reducers.
To me it¹s almost like unsharp mask in digital. You really miss it when its
not there.

D76 or Acufine Xtol straight is apples and oranges away from when you start
diluting them 1:1 or 1:2.

Ansel said that any developer is usable as long as you dilute it right.
Or something like that. Sounds good though.

³it¹s not the developer it¹s the the water²

No that was Coors beer.


Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/





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