High Sspeed Film / Developer Combo?

[drewbarb]

I really like Microphen for pushing most films. I mix up two liters at a time, and always use it full strength; I keep it in two bottles- one for fresh, unused dev, and another for dev used for one run. When I'm out of fresh and all the dev has been used once, I re-use it, adding 8-10% to the processing time, then dump that into my other bottle. Once it's all used this way, I'll use it again, adding another 10-12% to the time, and etc. until it's exhausted. I"ll go through it this way, always keeping my bottles carefully marked with how many runs each bottle has had, increasing the times a bit until the two liters has run 50 rolls or so, at which point I neutralize it with old stop bath and dump it, and mix up fresh and start again.

If you want to try this, start with
Tri-X @ 1600 - 70F for 12.5 minutes- looks great, really not unlike @ 400 in D76.
HP5 @ 2000 - 70F for 13 minutes- beautiful.

Note both of these are at 70 degrees F, not 68 F. I have notes for a few other films, too. I prefer to carry just one film stock (generally a 400 speed film), and shoot it at a variety of E.I.'s depending upon the light. I process in a range of developers, based on film, E.I., and shooting conditions. I've tested a lot of things and I have notes going back many years, including most of the info I and others gathered at a lab I used to work at, so PM if you like and I might have other ideas.

I'm not crazy about Diafine as a push developer. It's easy to use and as fool-proof as any developer I've ever used. Diafine will always get something- usually something perfectly printable- but if I have decent notes I feel I can almost always get better negs with other soups. I only use it when I'm in grave doubt about what might be on a given roll, and I suspect the exposures might vary somewhat.

I wish I could show examples here, but I don't have much in the way of digital images- I still just show prints, though clearly that's gotta change.

 

[Pherdinand]

Reading Drew's post, i must add I don't like Diafine on slower films. Out of necessity i tried it on FP4+ at 200 and Pan F at 80-100 and it was a bit..weird. OK when frame fits on a screen but not that cool when enlarged. Normally these films look smooooth. This was ...just acceptable, with of course larger grains - normally the v700 scanner cannot "see" grain level of FP4 at 2400 dpi, but in this case it did.
Also, you can't really push films above 2000 with Diafine. Delta3200 e.g. seems to be *slower* than tri-x in this soup. If you wanna go real fast, i guess you need a real speed increasing developer where time and temperature matters.
Drew, I only have Xtol next to the Diafine now - is that OK to go above EI 3200?

added: image on FP4+ in diafine, 2400 dpi, cropped:

and full -downsized:

 

[Bob Michaels]

I favor Neopan 1600 for 35mm and Delta 3200 for 120, both in DDX. Both pushed a bit to get the box film speed.

I find the 120 Delta 3200 to be as good as it gets for low light work.

When I shoot in low light situations, I want it to look like it's low light. I want some blocking of the shadows and some increased contrast. Maybe even a blown highlight or two. What I don't want is to photograph someone under a streetlight and have the print look like it was mid day. So I meter very carefully then under expsose just a bit.

I never say "the highlights fooled the meter". My meter does not determine exposure, I do. While I do use the meter as a guide, it's only a guideline with me making the final determination.

 

[drewbarb]

Xtol i s fine for pushing, up to about 2 stops with most films. Delta 3200 shot at 1250 and run normal in Xtol looks pretty good; pushed to 3200 it's printable, but above that it really starts to fall apart. Interestingly, I've had better luck pushing Tri-X in Xtol; Tri-X will push to 3200 pretty easily, run in warm Xtol (72 degrees F); select time based on a 3 stop push from nomral, and the temp gives you more activity which brings up more detail.

 

[photophorous]

Thanks again for all of the excellent information. Based on your suggestions and other research I've been doing, I think I'll get some Xtol or Microphen...whichever I can find at my local shop. Sounds like they are fairly similar.

In addition to the high speed films I mentioned, I'm considering also trying to push some TMY and/or Delta 400. I know I'll loose shadow detail in comparison to higher speed films, but I'm really mostly concerned with skin tones, and I'm thinking smaller grain will be best for that. TriX is my standard film and I have a lot of it, so I'll probably try pushing it with the new developer, and if there's time I might give HP5 a go too.

So many things to try... 😀

Paul