Do you recommend pushing negative film?

[edward_karaa1]

I just came back to film after 4 years of digital, so forgive me if

I sound like coming out of stone age, or back to stone age,

depending on your point of view.

 

My question is, is it recommended to push color negative film, say

ISO 400 to 800 or 1600? I used to know years ago that negatives

didn't take push processing well, and that it would be better to

just underexpose and correct in printing. Is it still true with

modern emulsions like Fuji Superia?

 

Thanks.

 

Edward

[helenbach]

I don't know about Superia, but I regularly push Portra 800 and NPZ (now renamed Pro 800Z) a couple of stops, though I set my meter to around 1600 for NPZ and 2000 for Portra 800 with a two-stop push in processing. I wouldn't bother with a one-stop push, and I wouldn't push a 400 film when very good 800 film is available. The choice between Fuji Natura 1600 and pushed 800 film is close: personal preference (which film choice looks right for the job) and ease of processing.

 

Best,

Helen

[larrydressler]

Welcome Back

 

The newer 800 films have the grain and saturation of the 400 films of 4 years ago. Even the store brand 800 is great. Why push when you can shoot them at normal speed. Porta 800 is beautiful at 800. but I sometimes shoot it if needed at 1000 and just adjust it in PS. I have 2 darkrooms 1 is built into my computer and the other is in my Bathroom.

We left the stone age long ago just to discover the forest was much better than the city.

 

Larry<div></div>

[gary_watson]

The binding constraint is finding a lab that produces consistent results.Otherwise, the current crop of ISO800 materials--whether pro or off-the-hook at the supermarket checkout--is remarkably good, particularly Fuji Superia 800.

[larrydressler]

Like I said Gary

[edward_karaa1]

Thank you all for your replies. Yeah, it took me 4 years in the city (and a fortune in yearly camera upgrades) to find the way back to the good old forest :)

 

The reason I asked the question is because I used to stock on ISO 400 negative film for PJ like shooting, and I was planning to do the same now. But since you mention that higher ISO films are quite good nowadays, I should probably get those as well.

 

Cheers,

Edward

[juergenf]

"I just came back to film after 4 years of digital" welcome back to the club!

 

I would not recommend pushing color negative film, just buy the iso speed you need. Todays 800's are great, you won't be dissapointed. Even Superia 1600 is o.k. when properly developed and printed.

[randrew1]

Here's my 2 cents worth:

 

As others have said, today's 800 speed films are good enough that there is no point in pushing 400 speed film. IMHO, today's 1600 films are bad enough that I wouldn't use them unless I really need 3200 speed and then it is close. Here's what I do:

 

If I need 400 speed, I shoot 400 speed (400 UC is my personal favorite)

 

If I need 800 speed, I shoot 800 speed (Portra 800 is my personal favorite)

 

If I need 1600 speed, I under-expose 800 speed film and process normally.

 

If I need 3200 speed, I either shoot 800 speed and push a stop or two or shoot 1600 speed and maybe push a stop.

 

Pushing negative film doesn't increase the threshold speed much, but it will increse the contrast and density of the shadows. I know some pro sports photographers who routinely pushed negatives (back when they stil shot film). I would rather underexpose by a stop, process normally, and recover the shadow detail in Photoshop after scannning.

[r.t. dowling]

If you need 1600, one possible avenue is Fuji Natura, which is sold onlyimp in Japan but there are a couple of web sites that carry it and will ship it to the U.S. Another possibility is Konica Centuria Super 1600, which unfortunately has been discontinued, but I'm sure there's still plenty of it floating around and waiting to be found. It's not quite as good as Fuji Natura, but it's noticably better than Fuji Superia 1600, which is the only ISO 1600 color print film being sold in the U.S. these days.

[discpad]

Since Centuria 1600 has been discontinued -- And only available in 24 shot 135 rolls -- I shoot Press 800 (35mm) or NPZ (now Pro 800Z) at EI 1600 and push not quite two stops -- 4:30 to 4:45 at 100.0F in the developer.

[terence_spross1]

I'm at the other end of the spectrum, I only use my LF 4x5 occationally and so I try to challenge my optics and film to get near MF results although I don't own any serious MF equipment. So I use slow fine grained film. Devastated when Kodachrome 25 was discontinued, and used to use 50 speed negative film, I now find that 50 speed slide (Fuji) and 100 speed negative films have improved enough that they rival the older emulsions. My problem is that I buy to much and have stuff in the the freezer, i.e. K64 and 160NC in bulk that is no longer tenchnologically the best. Who would have though that as digital is taking over that both Fuji (wiht much fanfare) and Kodak (more quietly) would continue to improve their emulsions?