Kodak TMZ and Ilford Delta 3200

[ed_farmer]

<p>Many years ago, I used to shoot 35mm TMZ at ISO 25,000 and process it in TMax developer for something like 34 minutes. Kodak actually published a 24 minute processing time for this speed but I found it to be too short for the portrait work I was doing at the time.<br /><br />My only disappointment with the process was that the 35mm negs really only allowed me to print about 6x9 inchs. I always wanted to make some larger prints.<br>

Has anyone tried this amount of pushing on Delta 3200? I can still track this down in 120 and would like to fire up the wet darkroom again . . .</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>With Delta 3200 it's mostly a matter of how much grain you can tolerate. It's a low to moderate contrast film which helps with pushing. With extreme pushes it's mostly increasing contrast and grain, as gamma tends to top out pretty quickly without any additional benefit with most pushed films. Results would also depend on subject contrast and lighting. For a 2-stop push over 3200 (technically a 3-stop push, since Delta 3200 is closer to a true ISO 1200-1600 film), I'd try Microphen stock solution for 30 minutes.</p>

<p>If you need something closer to a true speed of ISO 3200, perhaps a bit more, you might try gas hypering or other technique used by astro-photographers. Pre-flashing the film may also help a bit, but the film must be exposed and processed immediately after the pre-flashing or the benefit vanishes. Google around for more info on these tricks.</p>

<p>For enlargements of portraits with this kind of push you'd get an interesting pointillism effect. It would make for an interesting example of how viewing distance affects an image. Viewing some of Monet's larger paintings at a local museum offers a similar effect. At a reasonable distance the paintings look like a familiar Monet. Up close the figures vanish and you see dots, slashes, blobs and even a bit of sand stuck in the paints where Monet worked en plein air.</p>

[john_mcferren]

<p>Delta 3200 is actually faster than Kodak TMZ. Kodak TMZ was actually ISO 800 prior to pushing, Delta 3200 is around the 1000 to 1250 range. While Delta 3200 is capable of being pushed to EI 25000 per the datasheet Ilford recommends test exposures and provides the development times in two developers. I'm sorry I am of no more help beyond reading the datasheet, but that should give you some hope.</p>

[Karim Ghantous]

I am not an expert in b&w photography.

And I know that colour negative film is

not a substitute. But... how about Porta

400 (not 800!) at 25,000 with pushing?

It has a very good reputation as a film

which needs no pushing at 1600 and

below. I've seen proof on-line. Worth a

try.

[lex_jenkins]

That strains the credulity of even the most

ardent fan of push processing. Can you supply a

link or reference to a site or article that

describes the methodology in enough detail to

allow independent testing and corroboration?

[James G. Dainis]

I must be missing something. 400 to 24,000 is a six stop difference. Underexposing a zone 6 face value by six stops would place it on zone 0 or nothing recorded on the film.