Just wondering. I'm headed to a really bright place soon (tropics) and the only thing I have in my fridge is tri-x. so what should I do? should I just expose tri-x at 200 during the day and develop accordingly ( was it 0.8 time for each stop)?

what would you do in similar conditions, short of buying new film?

-- ken kwok (kk353@yahoo.com), March 14, 2002

Answers

get a ND or a red filter, the latter improving contrast and cloud detail. if you think of changing you development setup, try it first before you ruin your pictures.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), March 14, 2002.

Get a 3 stop ND filter and a yellow-green filter. The red and deep red (25 and 29 respectively) are nice filters to play around with but I don't think of them as "improving" contrast more than increasing contrast. Yellow-greed lets you keep the tonal gradation while brightening the subject's skin enough to hide blemishes. The deep reds will wash out the skin tones.

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), March 14, 2002.

Make it easy on yourself and just buy some 100 speed film. On shooting fast film in bright sun,I shot most of my Mardi Gras day images with Fuji 800 because of fast movement. Images came out fine, the Fuji 800 really has little grain.

-- chris a williams (LeicaChris@worldnet.att.net), March 14, 2002.

Actually, Tri-X, with its long scale and forgiving latitude is an excellent film for the harsh contrasts of bright sun and deep shadow in the tropics. Try rating it at about 250 and cut back on development a bit.

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), March 14, 2002.

I have shot T-Max 400 in the bright South Indian sun and have never worried about having to do anything special (odd though to be shooting at such high shutter speeds). 400 speed film was great for me because there were plenty of indoor shots to be had (temples, churches), so not having to worry about switching film was worth something.

I just had to be a little more mindful of the metering than usual. I tend not to use filters, though in the future I might try something yellow to accentuate clouds. But Modernage lab in NYC was able to bring out the clouds that had seemed over-exposed, so everything was fine in the end.

In the end, you're really only worrying about a stop or two--if your fridge is full of Tri-X, shoot it. Most of the photographers we talk about in this forum (Salgado, HCB) shot 400 speed in the tropics and seemed to do okay.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), March 14, 2002.

Yes don't worry. Unless you spend your whole time shooting in the sunlight, which might be rather boring, you will still need the speed when you get to the shade (which like anywhere else can be pretty dark), interiors, in the street and in the morning and evening. Also if you are shooting landscapes then you might want some kind of yellow/green filter - bang goes a stop already.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 14, 2002.

Leica and Tri-x Pan- a combination to conquer the world. expose @ EI 200 and your camera will still have exposure headroom in the sun. a yellow or orange filter will also help skies and slow you down a little in sunlight.. try XTOL 1:1 for developer.

-- Mark Sampson (MSampson45@aol.com), March 15, 2002.