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Grainy film - What am I doing wrong?

from Herbet Camerino (herbetb@yahoo.com)
Hi, I've been processing films in my improvised darkroom at home for a while. The results I get with color negative and slides are fairly good. Well developed, fine grain, good saturation, etc. However, lately I've noticed an increase in grain in my processed b&w films. I've been concentrating in Ilford emulsions, mainly Delta100, PanF 50 and FP4 100. The last two films, according to Ilford, produce the finest grain with Perceptol when used at full strength and that's what I'm using. I'm keeping the temperature at 20C by adjusting the tap water. I agitate by inverting the small tank 10 times every minute (1 inversion per second) and am processing at recomended times. Fixing is done with Ilford Universal Fixer or Kodak Rapid fixer. No stop-bath is used, just plain water filling and draining the tank about 5 times. At first I thought it was my enlarger, then I got a slide scanner (Minolta Dimage Dual II) and the scanned negs look grainy too. I've already tried TMAX developer but there's no noticeable change. I might be doing something wrong since with slides and color negs I have no problem. With those I use Agfa kits for C41 and E6. Any thoughts? Could that be my tap water? Should I try warmer development instead of 20C? Herbet.
(posted 8546 days ago)

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