Clear negatives?

[bhop73]

First off, I'm not (too) new to developing my own film, and if i'm pushing, I usually don't push more than 1 stop. If I'm shooting 400 film at box speed or push to 800, I get satisfying results.

So I shot a roll of Arista Premium 400 (aka, Tri-X) at 3200 iso. I know I could've just bought some 3200 film, but I figured i'd just give it a try since I already had some in my fridge. (plus there's a big price difference) I couldn't find any development times for pushing 400 speed film that much, so I just followed the massive development chart's push processing page and multiplied my usual time and came up with around 35 minutes. I am using Clayton F76 developer btw.

Anyway, long story short, my negatives came out pretty clear/transparent. I'm wondering if that's a sign of overdevelopment or under. I tried searching for an answer all over the web, but I keep getting complicated answers.. I just want to know, 'dark negatives= over or underdeveloped', light negatives=over or underdeveloped. So I can adjust my times accordingly.

 

[1948nikon]

Sounds like underdevelopment . Are there any images at all?
If you can see frame numbers on the edge of the film or brand identification and no images chances are the development is ok but gross underexposure or transport problems with the camera. Loading!!

 

[bhop73]

There are images, but it seems very contrasty. I realize at that much of a push I'll lose some shadow detail. It just seems excessive. There are numbers and branding. Is it possible to redevelop for more time once it's already been done? Or is it pretty much done once it's fixed?

 

[Keith]

Any 400 film pushed to 3200 in my experience is going to be very contrasty. I shot some Tri-X at 3200 last weekend and developed in Xtol 1+1 for thirteen minutes and got rather strange looking negatives that seemed a bit under developed ... but they scanned OK.

 

[bhop73]

I see. I'm still experimenting with push processing. Here's an example of what the negatives look like. It's not "too" bad.. most frames look like the right one. I guess I just need to know if this is what I should expect with a push like this or if I can make adjustments next time. I'm not against spending the cash on a "dedicated' 3200 film next time if I need it. FYI, this was with my F100, matrix metered for most frames.

 

[Keith]

That's pretty much what my negatives looked like to be honest!

 

[bhop73]

That's pretty much what my negatives looked like to be honest!

That's good to know. If you got that much detail out of your scan, then I feel a bit of hope. I'll find out tomorrow I guess.

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

[RayPA]

Negs look decent. What was the exposure?

/

 

[bhop73]

Negs look decent. What was the exposure?

/

I'm not sure exactly. I had it set for aperture priority.. But I was using my 24mm f2.8 @ 2.8

 

[russianRF]

Is it possible to redevelop for more time once it's already been done? Or is it pretty much done once it's fixed?

It's pretty much done once you fixed. Unless you fixed improperly (i.e. didn't fix enough), all of the exposable silver has been stripped away through the fixer.

The only time I've known redevelopment to do *anything* after fixing is if you first take a fully processed negative and put bleach on it (like for an experimental process). You can then redevelop and fix the result. I wouldn't recommend that for thin negatives, or for anything that's important and not an experiment.

 

[bhop73]

Well, the pics are a little on the dark side, but I got some images. Not bad for my first 3200 pushing experiment I suppose.

 

[Svitantti]

BTW: There is no 3200 film. Delta 3200 and Kodak p3200 are 800-1000 and pushed to 3200. You can check the data sheets and they say this too.

 

[David William White]

Looks like a perfect textbook example of pushing film. Nice photo & lots of punch.

If too dark for your taste, you can shorten the printing time, reduce the contrast by either using a lower contrast filter, or by pre-flash the paper.

Well, the pics are a little on the dark side, but I got some images. Not bad for my first 3200 pushing experiment I suppose.

 

[nikons3forme]

for 3200 that is fantastic

for 3200 that is fantastic

does not matter what the negs look like, if you can get detail like that, it is fine

 

[Chris101]

Yeah, it looks great! I wish I could push Arista that well.