"pushing" film

[agricola]

I am a bit gobsmacked to see references in another current thread to pushing ASA 400 film (yeah, I'm that old) to 3200.

This is something I never attempted in the days when I had a darkroom. Would some kind soul point me to a link where I can get a grip on this?

I would be very grateful because I have been trying theatre photography with digital (D200) which looks awful over 800 ISO. Is it possible that I could get superior results using film and pushing to 3200 - or using that Neopan (?) 1600.

many thanks

 

[Phantomas]

I may be talking herecy, but often digital performs better on high ISO compared to film. That is the grain and noise are more controlled. However this applies more to newer DSLRs. Also, it goes without saying that any film grain is always prettier than digital noise.
I have never pushed any film to 3200 but one thing you need to consider and do a little research on is that some films are better for pushing than others.
If you could get superior results with film vs digital? Yes and no. The only two (existing) films I know in 3200 are Ilford Delta and Kodak TMax - both very grainy and, actually, not really 3200 - a lot of people shoot them at 1600 or even 800.
Just for your reference, here are various live shots on (expired!) Neopan 1600, one of my favourite films, shot at 1600:

 

[Svitantti]

400 to 3200 might be a bit hard, meaning the results would be very contrasty.

Pushing film simply means it is underexposed and then overdeveloped. This sacrifies some tones (mostly from the shadow areas) but helps you shoot in the dark.

Using for example Tmax film and Tmax dev (especially Tmax p3200) would give you the best results I guess... But for 1600 I'd say Trix works almost as well, even with Xtol or such developer.

Remember that the 1600 and 3200 films are actually ISO 640-1200 or so. They are just planned to work better when pushed (have lower contrast?).

 

[Roger Hicks]

I may be talking herecy, but often digital performs better on high ISO compared to film. That is the grain and noise are more controlled. However this applies more to newer DSLRs. Also, it goes without saying that any film grain is always prettier than digital noise.
I have never pushed any film to 3200 but one thing you need to consider and do a little research on is that some films are better for pushing than others.

In colour, perhaps, but in B+W I'd back Delta 3200 every time, just for the tonality. True ISO in Microphen/DDX around 1250 (1/3 stop faster than TMZ, at least 2/3 stop faster than Neopan 1600) and long-toe so it pushes to 1600 - 3200 very gracefully.

Tri-X or HP5 at 1600 is pushing your luck as well as the film.

Cheers,

R/

 

[NathanJD]

I regularly push Ilford HP5+ 400 to 1600 but have yet to push it that stop further. i get really good results by doing this and have been very pleased with what i've achieved. all you have to do is shoot at the faster speed and then develop it for longer.

 

[historicist]

Can't really speak for other films but Provia 400X and Neopan 400 can both be pushed to 1600 with good results, 3200 is only-when-you-must in my experience.

 

[DGA]

I did some experiments with pushing tri-x400 to 6400 and developing it with Rodinal 1:100 in stand development.
The results surprised me since I wasn't expecting too much.
I, therefore, assume pushing the 400TX to 3200 is possible.\

Here are two examples (which I already posted here on another thread):

 

[bhop73]

I pushed Arista Premium 400 to 3200 and like the results better than what i've gotten with Delta 3200.. It took 35 minutes to develop it though.