Ok Noel, thanks for the advice. Does exposure time have more
affect on the developing than the developer itself? If I expose
the paper for a minute and a half I get a decent exposure with
some negatives. Others have needed longer than that, I see
people using times of just 20-30 seconds and it leads me to
believe that A. They have a brighter bulb in their enlarger thus
leading to shorter exposure times, or B. They are getting much
more out of the developer than I am. I leave it in the dektol for
about 3-4 minutes usually.
By exposing the negative at half box speed do you mean in
camera when actually taking the shot to treat iso 400 film as if it
is 200? I did notice that in some instances on this neopan roll
that shots which should have been well exposed came out at
very thin negatives. And my developing time was fight on the
dot. Whereas the tmax I developed at iso 400 came out much
better. Some of the neopans was good but others where pretty
much unsalvageably thin.
I am using 8x10 papers but im about to buy a box of 5x7 once I
can get a hundred sheets so cheaply. I plan on actually
shooting film for some portraits and weddings alongside my
digital so I will be in the blackroom alot practicing.