first d-76 development experience with foma 400

hello,

 

recently i have developed my first fomapan 400 in d-76, and most of the shots look overexposed, like this: Scan-170701-0008

or this Scan-170701-0029

actually i had to decrease the brightness to the minimum and increase the value of the 'low curve' in order to be able to get this scan.

 

now, i've also used the new camera, i had no experience with yet.

 

because almost whole film was exposed in the late evening, almost in the darkness, i decided to keep it a bit more in the developer. so there is a recommendation to develop for 7-9 minutes on fomapan film box, and i kept for exactly 10 minutes.

 

agitation: first 30 seconds, then 15 secs each minute.

 

i wonder could it be that the film came out overexposed because of the increase in development time, or i have overexposed it when i was photographing? thank you.

on the film the sky is very dark, it's not possible to read something through those dark areas.

yes, i forgot, first frames i've shot with the light meter setting on the camera as ISO 100. and those shots are good.

then i remembered that i shoot iso 400 film, and changed the light meter setting.

 

all photos after that look overexposed.

 

so looks like i can shoot it as 100 and then develop for 10 minutes and it'll be okay. but should i?

Hello. What solution have you mixed for your D-76? and what temperature was the solution? Might have been a bit too warm perhaps...

 

Check out the chart here:

 

B&W Film Developing Times | The Massive Dev Chart

yes yes, i was using the dev chart.

1:0 solution, exactly 20C.

On the dev. chart, for stock D76 with Fomapan 400 rated at ISO400, time indicated for 20 degreesis 7-8 minutes, so 10 minutes is quite a bit longer. So it sounds like you basically overdeveloped. It's at least the impression I have, but I might be wrong.

10 minutes is a 25% increase over 8 minutes OR a 1 to 1 1/2 stop push which is why your EI100 shots look OK.

8 minutes is a 10% increase over 7 minutes.

I would shoot a roll at EI400 and process it for 7 1/2 minutes at 20°C. In low light such as dusk I would not go more than 8 minutes 45 seconds.

Having too dense highlights is due to overdevelopment. The scans look flat and grey because you've digitally "fogged" them by reducing the white point of the tone curve.

 

That's the problem with film and scanning. There are too many variables to juggle, and when things go wrong it's very difficult to see where the problem is and how to rectify it.

 

I suggest you expose a roll at box speed, in good light, bracketing a stop either side of the camera's meter, and develop for exactly the recommended time. Then go from there.

 

Exposure controls how much shadow detail you capture, and development controls contrast. More development - more contrast. It doesn't affect the speed of the film.

 

For scanning you need to keep maximum negative density below ~1.8D, otherwise you'll have no highlight detail. This means keeping development time to that recommended, or even pulling development with a contrasty subject.

 

Low light doesn't necessarily mean low contrast.

Edited July 6, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

thank you, that was basically what i wanted to understand, if it's an exposure or overdevelopment mistake. so increase in time to 10 minutes could cause this. now i understand. thank you again.