Fast B+W film recommendations?

I'm still doin' Tri-X in Diafine. 1,600 is enough for me, and I've a couple samples in my gallery. They print well enough. In 135 the negatives are pretty grainy, but 120/220 they aren't bad at all.
 
Bill58 said:
My Question is: Can you shoot and process Neopan 1600 at 800 OK?

Sure. Go here:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

Pick Neopan 1600 and leave developer blank and you will see all your options for different film speeds.

For HC-110 dilution B (1:31 from concentrate) it's 4.75 minutes.

However it's probably more economical to push Neopan 400 a stop since it's cheaper per roll.
 
i just developed some delta 3200 shot and developed at 1600. a few shots are on my flickr gallery. flickr.com/photos/fieros_suck or click the link in my signature.

all my shots were wide open with my nokton 35/1.2 and mostly at 1/30 or slower except for some of the inside ones that were shot at 1/60.
 

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O.K., I've developed and printed a test roll. I used HP5, Rodinal 1:50, 70 F. and 5 inversions each 5 minutes for an hour.
I set up a little still life with various tones, etc, on an 18% grey card, then exposed as though the film was operating at 400-25000 in one stop intervals.
In printing (wet darkroom, Forte fiber paper, dektol, condenser enlarger) I found the "3200" frame to be just printable, though the tonal separation between the 18% grey card and true black was much smaller than normal. No surprise, but the "1600" negative prints quite normally and the "400" and "800" negs are just too contrasty to use.
I'd conclude that this is a good process for 1600 and wet darkroom work, but no more. Digital post processing could maybe be useful to 6400...
So is Tri-X very different? A couple years ago, I decided I was done with the stuff since I'd rather support a company committed to B+W and would like to be able to fix the purple all the way out of it...
 
I just dev'd two more rolls of delta 400@1600 in Ilford DD-X and printed a few today. I am just in awe at what can be achieved with this film. This was shot at 1600 and developed at 1600

What I'm trying to get across is the tonality available in Delta 400 +2. It truly is remarkable, and as easy to print as Delta 400@400.

Neopan 1600.. I tried it once and didn't think much of it but I have friends who love it. I also have friends who say that the highlights are almost impossible to control when printing. Same with Ilford PanF+ I guess, but I also love that film.

So, give TriX +2 in Xtol or Delta 400 +2 in DD-X a shot. You won't be disappointed :)


Shot 1: Delta 400@1600, noon-time sun.
Shot 2: Delta 400@1600, indoor, f/2, 1/30th
 

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Hmm, here's some prints I made from Delta 400 +2. Processed in Ilfotec DD.

DD does a great job in keeping the grain at bay. I've printed these shots at 2.5 possibly even 3.5 for contrast, not sure.

In my experience with Ilfotec DD it is difficult to blow out the highlights when pushing Delta 400 - as opposed to HP5 when pushed 2 stops. HP5 just explodes although perhaps there is some better developer out there.

I had similar results with Neopan 1600 in DD. Totally blown highlights and zip to speak for in the shadows. Perhaps XTOL is much better for this film but I've yet to try it.

Lately I'm trying some trix +2 with the DD. Performs significantly better than the HP5 did but I'll need to try some printing in order to choose a winner between trix and delta 400.
 

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I may try the delta push...but I am quite in love with neopan so it would feel a little like cheating...
 
Chaser said:
I may try the delta push...but I am quite in love with neopan so it would feel a little like cheating...

Aww, come on. She'll never know. No one has to know. How would she find out? Give it a try!
 
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