30-33 Din

[haempe]

After a year back in the silver photography, it turns out that 800-1600 asa is my most needed film speed. Nighttime streets, concerts and similar...
What is your preferred film-developer combination for this speed?
Examples?
Thanks...

 

[Tim Gray]

Small grain, more contrast, less shadow detail: Tri-X.

Larger grain, normal contrast, more shadow detail: TMZ or Delta 3200.

 

[haempe]

No other opinions? Ok, then will I stay at 800 with TriX, the one and only, hehe...

Development suggestion for TMZ @ 1600?

 

[mfogiel]

You should try Tri X @ 800 in DD X 1+9 11-12 min, or @800 in Acufine or @1000 in Diafine.

Tri X @800 in Acufine

Tri X @1000 in Diafine

 

[Roger Hicks]

HP5 in DD-X or Perceptol is a true ISO 650+, so EI 1000 is only a 2/3 stop push. Personally I prefer the tonality of pushed HP5 to that of Tri-X, but I suspect the speeds are similar.

Delta 3200 roughly doubles that, at the expense of much bigger grain. TMZ is finer grained, but 1/3 stop slower and less sharp.

To get the sort of negatives I like, I find I am happier with slightly more than the Ilford-recommended times.

Diafine necessarily compresses mid-tones, which makes it ideal for some subjects (as mfogiel's shot illustrates) but unsuitable for others.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Tim Gray]

I've shot a decent amount of Tri-X in Diafine. It's cheap, reasonably fast, and easy to develop. But TMZ or Delta 3200 is going to be faster. Opinions over TMZ and Delta 3200 seem to be split in my observations. Some prefer TMZ as having better tonality and grain, some say that Delta has the edge. I read that to mean they are both pretty close. They both have noticeable more grain than most 400 speed films. I dev TMZ in XTOL 1:1.

I think these two films get a bad rap in this age of scanning. TMZ looks awesome printed in the darkroom, and while it looks pretty good scanned, it seems to me that scanning over emphasizes it's grain.

 

[haempe]

Thanks all for your suggestions, I think I will give TMZ and Xtol for 1600 a chance.
Diafine sounds also interesting, but is here in Europe relative expensive and not easy to get.