Neopan 400 Happy Mistake ?

[paul_c8]

<p>I have always been a Ilford hp5+ and fp4 users, recently I ran out and the only roll of film I had for a day away camping was Fuji Neopan 400 after getting home and shooting in all kinda of light shade, bright sun and overcast I rated the film at 250iso and totally forgot and proceeded to developed it at box speed.<br>

I was feeling gutted and just had to wait for the results, after the wash I looked at the negs and they were not to bad at all, but once I scanned them an adjusted the levels hardly at all I was super surprised on how good they have actually turned out and I have no idea why. <br>

How far off was my dev and have I just got lucky ? dev'd in Rodinal 1:50 <br>

(Ill get a picture up shortly I can't seem to find the scans on my comp)</p>

 

[Mike Gammill]

Lots of variables here: agitation technique in the processing, type of lighting, accuracy of metering, to name a few. However, some films benefit from being shot at a little less than box speed with either normal or slightly reduced development. It's been a while since I've used Neopan 400 so I don't remember if there's much difference in developing times for E.I. 250 vs. 400.

[peterbcarter]

<p>I still have Neopan400 (freestyle branded) and is a beautiful film. But I think your big influence was Rodinal. It's a slower / low contrast developer and reacts favourably to pulling film.</p>

<p>I don't think there was any luck involved. Try it with your other films.</p>

 

[machts gut]

<p>I shot many Neopan 400 and developed it in D-76. Usually I rated the film at ISO250 and developed for box speed or slightly shorter (minus 10 perc.) when I had scenes of higher contrast. I found it a very forgiving film with a beautiful tonality and moderate grain. So I'm not surprised you got pleasing results. I'm really sorry it is out of production or at least they don't supply the european market any more.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Lots of people shoot 400 speed film at 250 or even 200, not just Neopan.It's well within the range of B&W negative film to handle the extra stop of exposure without any changes to development. Gives a "gutsier' negative that many people like. Less chance of losing shadow detail. One of the newspapers I worked at used Neopan, primarily because it was the cheapest 400 speed film available at the time. Worked just as well as Kodak or Ilford for our purposes.</p>

[glen_h]

<p>Tradition is that a little overexposure is good for negative films, even one stop. Unless you have an especially high contrast scene, that gets you away from the toe.<br>

For reversal films, a little, maybe 1/3 or 1/2 stop, underexposure sometimes helps. Just a little overexposure, and it starts to look washed out. <br>

I most often use Diafine, and usually rate films a little less than the speed on the Diafine box, though maybe one stop more than the film box. </p>

[chris_waller]

<p>Paul, hi.<br>

I too have shot Neopan 400 at 250 but I reduced the dev time by about 15-20 percent to allow for the 2/3 stop downrating. I also generally use Rodinal at 1/50 dilution. Rodinal at higher dilutions gives some degree of compensation, i.e. it prevents the highlights blocking up so it would have helped save the situation.</p>

[chris_waller]

<p>Paul, hi.<br>

I too have shot Neopan 400 at 250 but I reduced the dev time by about 15-20 percent to allow for the 2/3 stop downrating. I also generally use Rodinal at 1/50 dilution. Rodinal at higher dilutions gives some degree of compensation, i.e. it prevents the highlights blocking up so it would have helped save the situation.</p><div></div>

[paul_c8]

<p>Hi guys thanks for all the feed back usually my agitation in rodinal is constant for the first 30 seconds and every minute usually about 3 agitations nice slow full 180 turn and back I was doing 4 but thought id slow things down a bit. <br>

I usually shoot my hp5 at 320 and I was going to with this but it was very sunny on the first day and and the next morning overcast so I just kept shooting I also usually shoot a 3rd over exposed when shooting on my Canon eos 1v. <br>

Ive been flat out assisting this week so am still meaning to get a picture up to show, nothing great just thought id share since I was surprised how they turned out. </p>