HP5 grain

[Alan Clark]

In a recent thread Oldbones showed us a couple of photos taken with 35mm HP5 which he thought were quite grainy.
HP5 doesn't have to be grainy. Here are a couple of random photos, taken with 35mm HP5 and developed in Perceptol 1+2.

 

[Oldbones]

Now these look great, wish mine were like that.
But wishing is not going to make it so.
How do you manage that if you don't mind me asking.

 

[Alan Clark]

Now these look great, wish mine were like that.
But wishing is not going to make it so.
How do you manage that if you don't mind me asking.

You said in the other thread that you had your film developed at Analogue wonderland. As I'm sure you realise, if you want to take control of everything you need to develop your own films. These were exposed at 200 iso and developed in Perceptol , diluted one part Perceptol, two parts water, for 14 minutes at 24 degrees C.
If you decide to do your own developing I will be happy to give you more information.

 

[Oldbones]

So are you saying even if the film says 400 on the box, it can be used with the camera set to 200 ISO ?
If so that is very interesting !
Doing my own developing, I have thought about it but that is all.

Is it the case that if I send my film to Analogue Wonderland, I would have to select the premium J peg option as well as the professional editing package.

What I have done in the past was select, standard scans and the correct and rotate option.
Not the lowest options but far from what they can offer.

 

[Toby Webster]

Alan's guidance on this has served me well; until more recent experimentation with 510-Pyro, I have routinely used Perceptol 1+2 for HP5, even at box speed.

You will never get fully satisfactory results until or unless you develop your own film, and find a good scanner. JPEGs from AW will never give you optimum results.

You can push or pull HP5, as long as you appropriately adjust development times, for which there is clear guidance widely available, including in Ilford's own instruction leaflets.