SimonWeber
* * *
Before I get to my question: A big thank you to Mirko and FOTOIMPEX simply for being there. At least one camera shop that 1. knows what it’s doing, 2. has a fantastic selection, and 3. actually still cares about its customers and products.
* * *
Hello,
I took some photos at our New Year’s Eve party – on HP5+ without a flash. Exposure time was either 1/60 or 1/30 of a second (or sometimes a bit more or less) in VERY, very, very low light at f/1.8 to f/3.4. (My Sekonic varied from f/1.0 to f/3.4 on the display). Later on, outside with fireworks and smoke, I just went by feel... so completely uncoordinated exposures.
In other words, I pushed some shots to the limit and probably overexposed others quite heavily in relative terms. Since HP5+ does get quite harsh even with a few stops of overexposure, but is still acceptable at a lower gradient (in my experience, even 3 stops of overexposure is still quite ‘printable’), I thought it better to push-develop heavily than not enough. With XTol, I’ve managed to get the film up to 3200 ISO with acceptable results (a bit of a faff to print properly, but the results were decent). So it’s a forgiving film anyway.
Now I wanted to ask: which developer? I was thinking
A – Fomatone Excel, as it’s like XTol;
B – Moersch MZB; does it make sense to use a two-bath developer (like this one) to bring out the shadows particularly well? Can I even push it to around 1600 with MZB? I assume the exposure is rather sub-optimal and some negatives are subject to severe overexposure or have extreme contrast (see above).
C - Tetenal Emofin, does the two-stage developer help to bring out the shadows whilst still producing reasonable (not completely white) highlights? Is it possible to push the film here (as mentioned, by 2 stops)?
Please don’t tell me I should have used Delta 6400 or similar. I just had HP5+ to hand (or Adox/Efke 50, and that would probably have worked even less well).
So how can I push HP5+ enough to get negatives that can be enlarged (even if I have to subject the print papers to two-bath development to get a good print)?
I hope you have a suggestion; I’ll order it straight away from Foto-Impex...! ;)
Thanks
Simon
FrankB
Hi Simon –
So far, I’ve only pushed the HP 5 up to 800 ASA and haven’t had any experience with the developers for the HP 5 – but I push Tri-X very often and know MZB well:
My tip: definitely don’t use MZB – it’s not a sensitivity-boosting developer. Use Emofin instead – in my experience, this developer delivers the best results when pushing.
Bye, Frank
Gast
Hello,
I’ve had very good results using HP5 and Amaloco AM20 (why isn’t it available from FOTOIMPEX, by the way?) as a push processing agent; up to around 1600 ISO, I’ve produced negatives that are almost ready for printing, with relatively fine grain and a less steep curve.
Best regards,
Alex
heinrich
Hello,
In my experience, HP5 works brilliantly in ID11 up to 1600 ISO (undiluted, 14-minute agitation development at 20°C). If you want to go up to 3200 ISO, Ilford recommends Fotec developers (DD-X, HC and LC29) as well as Xtol, in addition to Microphen. I’ve never tried 3200 ISO myself, though.
Best regards,
Heinrich
MirkoBoeddecker
Alex,
We haven’t stocked Amaloco chemicals so far because another retailer championed them earlier on, and in my opinion, they deserve the credit for selling these chemicals.
Conversely, this retailer has never sold the products that we have promoted.
Since Photokina 2004, however, this dealer has also been stocking Calbe chemicals and, most recently, even Foma films, which he had for years dismissed as third-world goods and unusable.
Actually, you’re right. There’s no longer any reason not to sell Amaloco chemicals.
Best regards,
Mirko
