Advice: Neopan 1600, Tmax400 or Delta 400?

[bobofish]

I need to make up my mind, and I can't do it alone for some dumb reason!
If anybody has an extra minute or two, help me choose!

I want a brick of fast film, mostly for walking around in the night and late evening. I prefer bulk loading, so my choices are really only 400 from several manufacturers, and Neopan 1600 from Megaperls webshop, it seems like.

On the one hand, that 1600 looks very appealing; that I can remember, I've never used such a naturally fast film, and I assume I can push it to 3200 or even 6400 with little to no problem. At such speeds, there's very little I won't be able to get a good shot of.
The tradeoff for me is that the only place that seems to have the 1600 in bulk is Megaperls webshop, which means a few weeks wait and probablly more in shipping costs.

I love high contrast, so I end up pushing my film at least a couple stops anyway...so 400 would be fine too. I love Delta 400, but it seems that Adorama has a great price on Tmax 400 at the moment, a film I haven't used for a long long time.

So I need advice, ladies and gents. If you have other concrete suggestioins, I'm open to them...I've largely stayed away from the Indy manufacturers, preferring largely Ilford for years now, but I'm not a "brand man" by any stretch.

I should probablly mention that whatever film I get will probablly be developed in Microphen, but of course I can always pick up something else if need be.

 

[P C Headland]

I have to say I was very impressed with Neopan 1600. I have shot it a 1600 and at 1000 and developed in Rodinal. Couldn't see that much difference to be honest between the two EIs and they were both developed for the same time/dilution. I just wish they made it in 120 as well as 35mm.

I'm not sure how well it responds to pushing, so I'll leave that for one of the push experts to answer 🙂

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

 

[Goodyear]

I am a big fan of Neopan 1600, especially pushed a stop. But then, I like contrast.

 

[Biggles]

Neopan 1600, exposed at EI 1600; taken about a half an hour after sundown. Developed in XTOL. Scanned direct from the negative.

And this one was about ten minutes before sundown; same film, exposure index, and chemistry:

I haven't ever pushed any Delta 400 or TMax 400, and as long as they keep making Neopan 1600, I have no plans to.

 

[peter_n]

I too am a big Neopan 1600 fan. Very inexpensive film if you buy it in bulk from Megaperls and nice and contrasty. I rate it at 1250 and have had it developed in XTOL. The attached shot below is one from my gallery that I've posted before but it will give you another look.

PC I really like what you've done in Rodinal 🙂 All I've read is that NP1600 doesn't go well with that developer but those shots are great looking!

 

[pesphoto]

Ive never used Neopan 1600, but after seeing these examples I think Im going to buy some today.

 

[Jordan W.]

I'm also a big Neopan 1600 fan. I bought a 100' roll from Dirk at the Megaperls Webshop -- it arrived quickly from Japan, much more quickly than typical orders from the USA (like from Freestyle in L.A.) I've developed it in Diafine, HC-110 and numerous phenidone-ascorbate type developers (Xtol-like, PC-TEA-like, etc.)

Here are some examples from my photoblog:

http://www.photosensitive.ca/index.php/image/0578-27/
http://www.photosensitive.ca/index.php/image/0575-45/
http://www.photosensitive.ca/index.php/image/0575-33/
http://www.photosensitive.ca/index.php/image/0584-16/

 

[kaiyen]

Wow. People really like Neopan 1600 in here! 🙂

I haven't tried it yet. TXT goes to 1600 just fine for me, so I've had no motivation to do so. One thing that I always hear is that it's so contrasty, and the images bear that out. At even 1600, shadows become pitch, pitch black in a hurry. And that's fine, absolutely fine if you like contrast that much and don't mind being locked in at 1600 or so. But I'd rather just underexpose TXT even more and develop longer to get more contrast, and then I'm out at 2000 to 3200.

Again, I have not tried Neopan 1600. Just making some comments.

I have seen some impressive results from TMY in Microphen at 1600, by the way, on photo.net. If that's fast enough, I'll try to dig up the images.

allan

 

[XAos]

I'm also a big Neopan 1600 fan. I bought a 100' roll from Dirk at the Megaperls Webshop -- it arrived quickly from Japan, much more quickly than typical orders from the USA (like from Freestyle in L.A.) I've developed it in Diafine, HC-110 and numerous phenidone-ascorbate type developers (Xtol-like, PC-TEA-like, etc.)

Hmmm might have to give this a try. How did you like the various developers with it?

 

[ch1]

The gurus above are your best advisors.

Just would like to point out that I see in the B&H catalog that they have T-Max TMZ 3200 in bulk. Quite pricey at $106/100 feet.

But you probably know all this already.

 

[bobofish]

Well put it this way....I'm sure it's a great film, I'm sure it's got it's advantages, but for the same money, I can buy 2 bricks of whatever else, and enough developer to go nuts!

Thanks for all the comments gents, I've really been wanting that 1600, maybe this is enough to just push me over the edge.

The problem wouldn't be so difficult if it weren't for my recent accidental exposure of a whole brick of delta 400.....it involved a cocker spaniel, a little Polish vodka, and a desk lamp, that's all I'm going to say. Pretty embarrassing to have blown a whole brick of film!

One other thing; I've heard some rather strange comments that the Fuji isn't a true 1600, but rather some kind of high speed 400. Does that have a grain of truth to it, or is it just an idle rumor?

 

[titrisol]

Neopan 1600 is beautiful, it can be pushed to 3200 easily in DDX

Neopan 400 can also be pushed to 1600 without major porblems, and that one is easier to find in 100' rolls 😉

 

[furcafe]

I think that's true of all high speed films to some degree: Kodak's T-Max 3200 (TMZ) & Ilford's Delta 3200 are both ISO 400 films that are specifically formulated to be pushed a stop or 2 or 3. My understanding is that this is less true of Neopan 1600, which is more like an ISO 800 or 1250 film that's formulated to be pushed 1 stop or so. I don't remember how Fuji was able to accomplish it, but vaguely recall reading something about a thinner emulsion or clearer base or something.

One other thing; I've heard some rather strange comments that the Fuji isn't a true 1600, but rather some kind of high speed 400. Does that have a grain of truth to it, or is it just an idle rumor?

 

[Chaser]

Bobofish..
If you make it out to scan some negs or the next time i come into portland i can give you a roll to play with. I have been bulk loading neopan 1600 so i have rolls of it coming out my ears....

 

[fredus]

All your gaining by using neopan 1600 is developing time. I would rather push Neopan 400 to 1600 ...

Fred

 

[kaiyen]

The Kodak and Ilford offerings are much faster than 400. TMZ's real film speed is actually about 1000 in most speed enhancing developers, Delta 3200's is about 1250, and neopan 1600 is about 800. Those are all based on doing densitometer tests based on Zone I.

However, that's not very useful for these films. Usually, a film that is well adapted to pushing is a low contrast film. In other words, as you decrease exposure, you don't build density in the highlights as much during development than with more contrasty films.

That's why they can call it TMZ 3200 or Delta 3200 - they feel that it's very reasonable to push those films out to that EI in most speed-enhancing developers and still get very printable results. No, you won't get the shadow detail as if the film were really that speed, but that's not usually the target when you need to shoot at such speeds.

Similarly, Fuji feels that since Neopan 1600 is a more contrasty film, they call it 1600 speed.

allan

 

[Biggles]

...Fuji feels that since Neopan 1600 is a more contrasty film...

Neopan 1600? Contrasty?

Surely you jest.

(avoids making direct eye contact)

 

[kaiyen]

Hm. I swear that Fred's post was not there _after_ I posted mine.

Anyway - Fred - what do you mean by "all you are gaining is development time?"

allan

 

[john_van_v]

Now this I like.

Here is what I want to do, this is an old school pict, I want to continue the thought.

Below I have some warm-up digi picts for the project: 40-deuce

 

[Magus]

Post deleted by posters request