Tips for using black and white film in point and shoots

[Perks]

Hi All, first post here and it's a question.

I have been shooting Hp5 in my mju ii and nikon AF600 at 400 and pushed to 1600, developed in d76 and scanned at home (silverfast and a 7600).

I shoot in quite varied lighting across the rolls, including some shots withe the built in flash.
I find I get quite varied, often poor results, with many shots underexposed, a loss of shadow detail , but also some overexposed, usually people with the flash.

The thing is i typically get better results with colour films. Commercially processed and scanned.

Does anyone have any suggestions to get better results? Should i lower the ei and adjust development?

What advice do you have?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[btgc]

Do you change ISO or shoot at 400 and adjust dev times?

 

[sevo]

Don't push or pull (you'd have to tweak the DX coding to adjust the ISO setting in any case). Use 400 film (ideally 200, but is there any DX coded one?) processed to box speed - most compacts can't handle anything faster, and 100 often is too slow for their programs, unless you shoot outdoors in full sunlight. Use XP400 for flash or difficult illumination - the built-in flashes assume you use CN film with its high overexposure latitude.

 

[jamin-b]

Fomapan 200 or its Arista edu 200 incarnation at freestyle comes with dx coding

 

[adresaba]

Yesterday I have developed HP5+ from my beloved mju2 and again I was happy how it turned out. It was at 400 iso and in Fomadon P. I use a lot spot metering and trying to avoid using flash but it is ok with it also. When I want to push/pull I tweak dx code. Maybe I am wrong but I think that mju2 is too sensitive to strong light. For example if there is one street lamp in small portion of the frame, usually it turns underexposed.

 

[Sid836]

I hate point and shoots that use DX Codes without allowing the user to change to a custom EI of his/her preference. I have tried too with an Oly mju and HP5+, but I had to change developer to other I had been using by that time to get as close to its box speed possible.
For color negative film I don't mind that much as with a bit of care one can always get great results.

 

[Perks]

Thanks for the responses!

I should have clarified that I hacked the DX codes and developed both the recent 400 and 1600 ei rolls in a tank with manually exposed film (ei 320 with the dx coded 400) from my M6 and was happy enough with those results.

I do like the results from agfa vista 200 so maybe there's something to that.
I haven't tried a c41 process b+w.

 

[brbo]

Hi All, first post here and it's a question.

I have been shooting Hp5 in my mju ii and nikon AF600 at 400 and pushed to 1600, developed in d76 and scanned at home (silverfast and a 7600).

Nikon AF600 will set the ISO to 400 even if you put 1600 ISO code on your HP5 canister.

Read this.

"It's compatible with DX encoded films at 100, 200, 400 and 1000 ISO. Non-coded film are set at 100 ISO. 25, 32, 40, 125 and 160 ISO films are set to 100 ISO. 50, 40, 80, 250 and 320 are set to 200 ISO. 500, 640, 1600, 2000 and 2500 ISO films are set to 400 ISO. 800, 1250 and 3200 are set to ISO 1000. "

 

[Perks]

Thnaks, again I should have been more specific. I only exposed hp5 at box/dx code speed in the af600. It was pushed in the mju, but I'm not sure about that dx coding info. I don't have the manual and have read otherwise online. I have successfully shot a roll of superia 1600 in it (with flash also) and strongly suspect it was exposed at ei 1000. I will have to double check the other sites I have read though.

 

[btgc]

ISO400 film is recognized by Mju. So if you exposed it at 400 and prolonged dev time as for pushing it should come out overexposed, right?

1600 is also valid value for Mju, at least, while we talk about MkII.

As pointed out, some cameras may not recognize intermediate ISO value and treat them proprietary, either rounding ISO to closest lower value or simply setting ISO to 100 - it depends on models.

 

[David_Manning]

I shoot Tri-X in a Contax T3, which also automatically sets the ISO (unless you re-code the DX on the canister).

My experience...don't over-think the P&S cameras, especially the good ones (Mju II included). Shoot at box speed, develop cleanly, and get your look in post (since that is where most end up...being scanned).

As an idea, shoot cheap fuji 200 or 400 color film, and desaturate in post for your b&w work (unless archivability is a focus). It yields good results in a digital post- workflow and scanning allows for ICE use for dust/scratches. Not purist for sure, but neither is scanning!

I use a Pakon F135+ for proofing color rolls, and re-scan with a Plustek 7600i. I've found the Plustek's ICE is not very good, but it's a great scanner for b&w.

 

[mfogiel]

Yes, shoot Tri -X and develop in Diafine - anything between EI 100 and 1600 will come out OK.

 

[Perks]

Thanks all for the advice. I may just have been asking a bit much from a compact camera.

It is interesting to note that others also have better experiences with colour. The af600 seems to love colour film, so perhaps I will use only that and try to spot meter more with the mju ii, I am sticking to to hp5 for 400asa due to cost.
I was interested also to read about diafine, but it does not seem that I can get that in Melbourne.

I'm going to post some shots anyday now.
What a great forum you have here!

 

[Perks]

Here's one that worked.

Mju II, HP5+ @1600 in D76 (Stock)