POWDER developer help please

[Laminarman]

Wasn't sure to post here or wet darkroom, but seeing as I want to start shooting landscapes with my (new to me) Hassy 500C and film, I chose this board.  Coming many many years ago from a film background and darkroom (and could shoot myself for having sold it all) I will be doing a hybrid approach, film, development at home, professionally scanned if I don't get the results I want with my Epson 850 scanner then printed on an Epson P800.  I have zero photo shops near me so have to have chemistry shipped to me.  I had decided to try FP4 with Rodinal, but BH will not ship Rodinal and it's a 4 hour drive to get there into NYC.  So I want to choose a film/developer combination for great tonality, high sharpness and minimal grain.  I've shot some Delta 100 and while it's nice, its a bit contrasty, but then again i had those developed by a lab and don't know what developer they used.  So I'm open to film/developer combinations.  ISO speed doesn't matter, it will all be tripod mounted cable release landscapes.  I do have a dozen rolls of FP4 on hand so would like to use those, but it's the powder developer that's hanging me up.  Any recommendations for my goals are appreciated.  I googled it but my God, the varied responses. This forum has always been the best for me, so thanks in advance.

EDIT: will be using a Samigon stainless tank

[faberryman]

Freestyle will ship Rodinal. I use Ilford DDX with Delta films.

[Laminarman]

Thank you, I had never heard of Freestyle before! 

[faberryman]

Thank you, I had never heard of Freestyle before!

They are the go-to photography supplies vendor on the West Coast. I'm closer to the East Coast so I primarily use B&H, but there are a few things I get from Freestyle.

[Laminarman]

Never had a bad experience with BH, and a trip to their store is an invitation for credit card destruction.  Thank you I'm having some stuff shipped from Freestyle.  Merry Christmas to everyone on here.

[Two23]

I shoot a lot of FP4 in 4x5 et 5x7.  I've been happy with the smooth grain HC110 plus Photographers Formulary tf4 fixer.  A dedicated  120 scanner is better than flat bed.  I use epson v750 for  sheet film and glass plates.

Kent in SD

[Dave Rosser]

Ilford Microphen https://www.ilfordphoto.com/microphen-product

[David Eichler]

Rodinal is not a fine-grain developer. It has been a long time since I processed any film, but I remember that at least. My recollection is that Rodinal is good at high-acutance and produced a very nice tonal range.

I would suggest trying out a few combinations of films and developers to see what works best for you.

Also, my recollection is that developers that tend to minimize film grain tend to not produce the highest acutance, so there is often some trade off between minimizing grain and maximizing apparent sharpness.

[Rand47]

Ilford Microphen at Freestyle:  https://www.freestylephoto.biz/search?q=Ilford+Microphen

Rand

[BobShaw]

I have enough sealed Microdol-x  for 2 US Gallons on eBay. A lot of US people have been interested but the problem seems to be that the US has a lot of import restrictions on chemicals, powders and photography equipment that most countries don't have and I can't ship it there. That might be the cause of your problem.

[Harold Clark]

Wasn't sure to post here or wet darkroom, but seeing as I want to start shooting landscapes with my (new to me) Hassy 500C and film, I chose this board.  Coming many many years ago from a film background and darkroom (and could shoot myself for having sold it all) I will be doing a hybrid approach, film, development at home, professionally scanned if I don't get the results I want with my Epson 850 scanner then printed on an Epson P800.  I have zero photo shops near me so have to have chemistry shipped to me.  I had decided to try FP4 with Rodinal, but BH will not ship Rodinal and it's a 4 hour drive to get there into NYC.  So I want to choose a film/developer combination for great tonality, high sharpness and minimal grain.  I've shot some Delta 100 and while it's nice, its a bit contrasty, but then again i had those developed by a lab and don't know what developer they used.  So I'm open to film/developer combinations.  ISO speed doesn't matter, it will all be tripod mounted cable release landscapes.  I do have a dozen rolls of FP4 on hand so would like to use those, but it's the powder developer that's hanging me up.  Any recommendations for my goals are appreciated.  I googled it but my God, the varied responses. This forum has always been the best for me, so thanks in advance.

EDIT: will be using a Samigon stainless tank

An excellent combination I use is Tmax 100 with Rodinal. Unlike most other films, Tmax retains fine grain in Rodinal. My darkroom use tends to be sporadic, and Rodinal lasts forever in concentrate and of course is very convenient to prepare as it is in liquid form.