Pull Neopan 1600 or Push Neopan 400

I'm going to shoot a documentary for a university assignment on a

dairy farm. It's going to be shot over several three day visits.

Lighting conditions will vary from pre-dawn to the peak of midday. So

I would pack both films, but it would be nice to keep things simple

and I don't own a second camera body yet to swap between the

different films... unless someone feels like selling me a Bessa-R

cheap...

 

I'm use to using Fuji Neopan film (souped in 1:50 Rodinal) and was

wanting a second option. Do I pull Neopan 1600 to 800 or Push Neopan

400 to 800?

 

Also does anyone have times for developing both these films at ISO

800 in 1:50 Rodinal?

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Stu :)

Stu,

 

In Rodinal, the real, non-pushed speeds of Neopan 400 and 1600 are not that different. Also, unless you are going for grain and contrast, which may be your goal, I wouldn't think of using Rodinal to eek out more speed from these films. How about Neopan at 320 in Rodinal for the bright-light scenes, and the 1600 in a push developer at 1600 for the low-light stuff. As has been pointed out on this forum several times, in most developers, Neopan 1600 has a real speed under 1000. It comes up slower in most developers than TMZ and definitely slower than Delta 3200.

 

That said, I've shot Neopan 1600 at 1600 in Xtol and Diafine, and gotten very good images. To my eye, the image quality of Neopan 400 is noticeably better than its faster brother. If I were sticking with Rodinal, I'd shoot the 400 and push it a hair for grit and contrast. In my experience, overexposed 1600 can show flat highlight contrast, but 800 in Rodinal is not overexposure for that film.

 

After all that blabbing, no I don't have times for Rodinal for these films.

Why would you want to pull Neopan 1600 down to 800? If you need an extra stop above 400, just dev the 400 in diaphine.

Here are some photos I shot at EI800<BR>

<A href="http://www.tokyo-photo.net/film/image02/pr009.html" target="_blank">Fuji NEOPAN 400 PRESTO EI800</A><BR>

<A href="http://www.tokyo-photo.net/film/image02/spr009.html" target="_blank">Fuji NEOPAN 1600 Super PRESTO EI800</A><BR>

 

I don't use Rodinal, so I'm not sure the pics above could help.

I'd concur with Barry. Neopan 1600 is in my experience about 640 ASA. Neopan 400 is accurately rated and IMO gives better results. Rodinal is not a speed developer but it would be OK for a 1 stop push.