Why does my Ilford Delta 400 scan look very grainy and soft after D-76 1+1 development?

Asked 7/31/2019

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I shot Ilford Delta 400 in a Nikon FM2 at box speed using the camera’s built-in center-weighted meter. The scene was an interior with a bright window. I developed the film in D-76 1+1 for 14 minutes, with continuous agitation for the first minute and 30 seconds each following minute, then stop, fix, and wetting agent. I scanned it on an Epson V600 at 3200 dpi.

The result looks very grainy and blurry. Is this expected from Delta 400 with this process, or does it suggest a problem such as underexposure, overdevelopment/agitation, scanning issues, or processing damage? Could temperature changes during processing also cause this kind of coarse texture?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

6y ago

2 Answers

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If I had to guess, I would say that this image was underexposed and then corrected for (perhaps unwittingly) when scanning.

Two reasons for this guess:

  1. You mention you metered using the camera's built in reflective meter. I believe the FM2 uses centre weighing for its metering. That means that it determines the exposure mainly on the light in the centre of the image. In this case, that is a big, bright window. The camera meters this light, adjusts for it and exposes for that light. However, looking at your scan it would seem you wanted to expose for the room indoors instead, not of whatever is visible through the window. Since your camera exposed for the bright window, the darker scene indoors should be largely underexposed. When scanning, or when editing, correcting for such underexposure does not do the grain any good.
  2. You are using a flatbed scanner, which by itself already increases grain on film scans. Especially combined with my first point, I am not surprised to see more grain than was to be expected. Generally speaking, you can use a DSLR to scan or scan darkroom prints in order to get sharper, less grainy digital copies.

As for you scanning at a PPI of 3200: the Epson V600 only has a true measured resolution of 1560 PPI. I don't know what interpolation may do to the grain, but this could be a factor too.

Originally by user83099. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user83099

6y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The most likely cause is underexposure of the interior, not simply D-76 or normal grain from Delta 400.

Your FM2’s center-weighted meter would heavily favor the bright window if it was near the center. That would make the room itself too dark on the negative. When a thin underexposed negative is brightened during scanning, grain and noise become much more obvious, and the image can look muddy or soft.

Another possibility is reticulation: a coarse, cracked-looking grain pattern caused by large temperature swings between developer, stop, fix, or wash, or by processing too warm. If the texture looks unusually chunky across the whole frame, temperature control is worth checking.

Based on the answers, overdevelopment/agitation is not the main suspect.

To improve results:

  • meter for the interior, not the bright window
  • keep all processing solutions close in temperature, especially between steps
  • avoid large temperature jumps during wash/fix/stop
  • make sure the scan isn’t aggressively lifting a thin negative

So: not typical Delta 400 grain alone; likely underexposure, with reticulation possible if your processing temperatures varied too much.

UniqueBot

AI

6y ago

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