hi all, i have been shooting several rolls of film so far on my travels here in asia. i have rated the following films:

kodak tri-ex 400 at: 320 ilford fp4 at: 100 kodak t400cn at: 320 velvia at: 50 kodak ektachrome 100s at: 125 provia 100f at: 125

now my query is what development should i use for the above? should i process the kodak tri-ex at 'normal' or plus development by half a stop, or minus by half a stop. i need some professional and experienced advice! thanks,

-- sparkie (sparkie@mailcity.com), May 02, 2002

Answers

i forgot to say that with the velvia, my current thinking is that i should process it 'normal'to let it "cook" for longer as a pro suggested to get a thicker layer of film/emulsion. especially as the true speed of velvia is around 35/40asa rather than 50asa, is this correct?? by that premise should i pull develop ie. minus development for negative film?? some one sort out my head for me.

-- sparkie (sparkie@mailcity.com), May 02, 2002.

Kind of a tough one to answer with the info you've provided Sparkie. With color tranny film their is a faily narrow range of development that will give you good exposure, true color, etc. But with B&W neg film you can (within reason) vary dev time quite a bit to get different contrasts, grain structure, accutance, etc, and still have an easily printable neg. For example I shoot Tri-X at 320ISO, give it 25 percent more dev (in Tmax developer which is a high activity developer) with fairly vigorous agitation. All this gives me a dense neg with high contrast and lots of grain. All of which I'm looking for. With a bit more info of what your were shooting and what you want it to look like I can give you more recommendations.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), May 02, 2002.

Sparkie, If you forgive my saying so, I don't think you really know what you are doing. You seem to have gotten some advice to overexpose neg films a little (from manufacturer's ISO), and underexpose chromes. This isn't necessarily bad advice, but I think it is ahead of your experience level. First I'd suggest you stick to one film only in each category of neg and chrome. You won't know what you did right or wrong with this alphabet soup of emulsions. So just use Tri-X and Velvia, for instance. Then shoot it for awhile (20 rolls or so) at normal ISO. If you then notice things about the exposures that you want to change, begin to change them a little at a time, and check to see if your results are what you expect/desire. With 35mm neg films, Normal, Plus, or Minus processing doesn't work too well if we are talking about application of the Zone System, because one shot will be taken in different contrast lighting than the one beside it. The changes in contrast that Zone System processing brings about are best applied when you can process each sheet individually, or perhaps if you have shot a whole roll in exactly the same lighting situation. Also, Plus development creates grainier negs, which most 35mm shooters are trying to avoid. (Interestingly, Kodak not recommends the same development times for T-Max 400 pushed to 800, since they know you can't add shadow detail, and you just increase grain and density. Thinking here is to use higher contrast filters to "fix" contrast of thinner neg, and keep the graininess lower.) Many experienced photographers shoot neg films at a slower EI because they want more detail in the shadows. Then usually the film is processed normally, or slighly Minus. The death of a neg is to underexpose, and the death of a chrome is to overexpose. But you really need a feel for this before shooting 6 kinds of films with all over the board changes in speeds. Finally, you also need to know if your meter is accurate with the manufacturer's recommended ISO, and are you a good user of your meter (do you know how to meter snow, for instance). And finally finally, who is developing all this film? A by mail or one hour place isn't going to allow you to have feedback and consistency in changes you need to make as you observe them. You should learn to do your own black and white, and take your chrome to a good pro lab where you can get advice as you go.

Good luck, eliminate variables, and don't listen to too much advice--except mine, of course ; )

-- Charles (c.mason@uaf.edu), May 02, 2002.

On hindsite I do agree completely with Charles (and wish I'd said something similar). One of the biggest mistakes people make IMO is in buying 3 rolls of this, 4 rolls of that and maybe one or two of another, all trying to figure out which film they should use. Buy a brick of Tri-X. Shoot it at the manufactures recommendation, taking as much care with exposure as you can. Get familiar with it. Then you can see how it performs and start experimenting to make it do what you want. And bear in mind that I used Tri-X exclusively for a number of years before I felt I could make it do exactly what I needed it to do.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), May 02, 2002.

Sparkie

This is all so complicated! Shoot all film at recommended speeds with normal development until you know what you like and want. Then you can adjust. So much depends on how you meter any scene, so final speed settings need not coincide with what other people use. In general it is not a bad idea to overexpose negative films a little, but I for one would not rate Provia at 125 unless you want really dark images, often I think it needs to be rated at 80 myself.

Stick with what the package says to start with unless you have had bad experiences or want and think you need to improve things. Why make life so complicated - photography really is not rocket science, although many people make out that it is.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), May 02, 2002.

TRI-X @ ASA 320: D-76, 1:1 w/Distilled Water, 68°F ±.00°, Agitate five seconds of every minute, Total time: 8½ minutes. 2 minute rinse with constant agitation in plain distilled water @ 68°F then ten changes of water @ 68°F with constant agitation. Photo-Flo (Wetting agent) 10ccs in 32 OZ at 68° F one miute. Sponge and hang to dry. Watch your temperatures! You just can't do better than this!! Good Luck, Bill

-- Bill Carson (KE7GMx@cs.com), May 02, 2002.

Sparkie, to this August body I can add very little, except: Tri-X at 320 is adequately exposed. Process on the lean side, to avoid excess density that would make it harder to print. Ilford FP4 can use alittle extra shadow speed, so use D-76 or XTOL; Velvia at 50 should be fine; if not try 40 next time. 32 is overkill, IMO. Ektachrome 100s, can't comment; Provia 100F at 125, will work, and not look any more underexposed than Velvia at 50. Your mileage may vary.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 02, 2002.