arjen van de merwe

Rotating agitation will not give you precise development. The negatives on the outside of the reel will receive more agitation than the ones on the inside, making precis development impossible. Use invertion.

I tried at 1600, 3200 and 800. All three EI's give this problem with tungsten lighting, which is how I plan to use the film (rock concerts). With daylight and flash I did not have the problem on the same film!

I love Plus-X. I shoot 35mm mostly. When I don't need the speed Tri-X or T-max 3200 offer me, I use Plus-X. ISO64 in D76 give smooth results. ISO80 in Rodinal 1+29 gives very fine sharp grain, for the best sharpness. If you use it in 645 I'm sure it will look great when developed in Rodinal.

T-max 400 is a very difficult film to work with, too difficult for me. With me it has a tendency of looking too high contrast and muddy at the same time. And consistent results are very difficult to optain.

I tested Fuji Superia on a Kodak grey scale. With tungsten light

and an 80A filter the darker side does grow darker gradually but does

not separate the different patches. What does this mean? Greyish

blacks with no shadow detail? Dye leakage in the film, from

manufactering fault or bad processing? Can anybody help me interpret

this result?<div></div>

I dont use XP2 super much any more, now I have invested the time to test my conventional film developing. But if I need the fine grain at ISO200 I use it. I find the negs very hard to print if shot at 400, and reasonably printable at ISO200, but still more difficult than conventional film. And I found the same when scanning. It may be the scanner you use, I use a Nikon LS2000. Testing for yourself may be the only option. For me it turned out to be a good learning experience.

If you want to influence the contrast of a traditional b/w film, you will have to push or pull it. Pushing means, that you set your light meter for a higher Exposure Index than the nominal value (the one mentioned on the box). If the box says ISO100 you can set your light meter (or your camera) for ISO200 or maybe even more. Then you tell the lab to develop your film for this ISO setting. This way you will get more contrast.

Pulling is the oposite: you set your camera for a lower Exposure Index. For a ISO100 film you can set it for 50 or even lower. Again you tell the lab to develop for this ISO setting. This way you get less contrast.

It takes a bit of testing, and staying with the same lab. And just hope they do not suddenly change their procedures after you have tested everything!

As for the chromogenic films: I use them occasionally. I rate them at about half the nominal speed, and have them developed normally. This way I get much better printable negatives. (I still do the printing myself). I have never tried pushprocessing one of these films. Does anyone here have experience with this?

You can also do this with traditional b/w films, it may work, depending on the procedures of your lab.

I shoot rock concerts. Here I need fast film.

I have worked with T-max 3200 at ISO1600 developed in T-max. Good

results, but grainy.

I have used Tri-X at ISO400 developed in T-max. Good results, but not

really fast enough for what I want.

I have read somebody exposes T400CN at 1250, and has it pushed three

stops by the lab. I have not seen the results. Does somebody here

have experience with pushprocessed C41 films?

Does somebody here have a suggestion for fast b/w film (ISO800 and

up) that is less grainy than T-max 3200?

Sorry I was not clear to start with. Here my question more precisely:

I need fast b/w film for photographing concerts (high contrast situation).

T-max 3200 is too grainy. XP2 gave fine grain at 200, I did not like it at 400. Is there a way I can get more speed out of XP2, or another chromogenic film, and what kind of result should I expect?

I need high speed b/w film for photographing concerts. I have used T-

max3200 but it has a lot of grain. I have used XP2 @ 200 in the past

with good results. ISO 400 gave too light negatives for comfortable

printing.

Does anyone have experience with pushing chromogenic b/w films? I

know it is not recommended by the manifacturer, but I know some

photographers do it regularly.