Neopan 1600 shot at 400 Dev, how long?

[kknox]

Hi I would like to shoot some 1600 Neopan @ 400. I use Kodak HC-110 developer. When I process at dilution B, I process the 1600 at 4.75 min. How long would I develop it if shot @ 400? Thanks so much I never have shot film other than the box speed.

 

[Turtle]

There is some good news here. Neopan 1600 makes nowhere near a true 1600 in any dev. At best, in DDX and dilute Xtol it makes 640 and I use it at only 500 in Xtol or DDX when the contrast is higher. This means that in a developer like HC110 Dil. B, 400 is probably pretty close to what it is making, or at worsst an over exposure of about 1/3-1/2 a stop.

Do you have valuable frames on the film and was it mis-rated by accident? If so, I would get another roll of Neopan 1600, rate it at 400 and shoot the whole roll in the same sort of lighting with the same camera. Cut the roll in half and test the first hald in HC110 at a reduced time. Use the second half to adjust based on the outcome of the first half and then you will be dialled in nicely for the roll you have shot in earnest.

Judging by the 4.75 time you use at 1600, I would recommend experimenting with roughly double the dilution so half the amout of dev in the same amount of water to stretch out your times. if you cut down much on 4.75 you risk uneven development.

At a wild guess, if you double the dilution/half the concentration, you should come out with a dev time of about 8 mins at 1600. At 400, something like 6 mins might be a good starting place for tests. As I say this is ballpark stuff, possibly not even that.

Hi I would like to shoot some 1600 Neopan @ 400. I use Kodak HC-110 developer. When I process at dilution B, I process the 1600 at 4.75 min. How long would I develop it if shot @ 400? Thanks so much I never have shot film other than the box speed.

 

[David R Munson]

I actually rate Neopan 1600 at EI 400 on purpose sometimes. This is what I use when I do:

HC-110, dilution G
25 minutes at 20ºC/68ºF

An example:

 

[bwcolor]

I've been happy with Neopan 1600 @ EI 500

TMax Developer 1+9 @ 68 degrees. Agitate 30 sec then 3 inversions every two minutes. 81/2 minutes.

Good tonal range and fine grain.

 

[kknox]

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Rob-F]

I did my own informal test of Neopan 400's speed by shooting it in normal-contrast daylight, then checking which exposures yielded an essentially normal negative. I can't recall what I processed it in--probably XTOL. I found I had good negatives at around EI 640 to EI 800. Enough shadow detail, no blown highlights. I'll see if I can dig out the negatives tomorrow to check on the developer and time.

Edit: Sorry, I meant Neopan 1600.

 

[Turtle]

Are you referring to Neopan 400 or 1600 here? If the 400, my experiences differ and Neopan 400 and 1600 films are my mainstays.

Neopan 1600 yields 2/3 stop more speed than Neopan 400 no matter which developer you try. Rated like this they are visibly from the same family. I have not found Neopan 1600 to ever make more than 640 so I am very confident that Neopan 400 at 640/800 is going to be dropping quite a bit of shadow detail relative to the original scene. Would work fine in scenes that are dead flat (where you want to drop some of teh middle values down to true shadows) but a disaster where there is any contrast and the brightness range wider. Where there is a full tonal range, I would not go past 640 with Neopan 1600 with my Eos lenses and 500 with my Leicas.

I did my own informal test of Neopan 400's speed by shooting it in normal-contrast daylight, then checking which exposures yielded an essentially normal negative. I can't recall what I processed it in--probably XTOL. I found I had good negatives at around EI 640 to EI 800. Enough shadow detail, no blown highlights. I'll see if I can dig out the negatives tomorrow to check on the developer and time.

 

[Rob-F]

I wonder how it would look in a "speed losing" developer like Microdol-X?