Fuji Neopan 1600 Which developer is best?

vizzo7 · 2005-09-26T09:07:32+00:00

Hallo an alle, ich wollte mich an Fuji Neopan ranmachen bei den Fällen, wo ich weniger Licht zur Verfügung habe. Ich habe gehört und gesehen, dass dieser Fi...

vizzo7

Hello everyone, I’d like to start using Fuji Neopan for situations where I have less light available. I’ve heard and seen that this film produces excellent sharpness and, for me, good tonal gradation. However, I’m not sure what the best way is to achieve these results. I develop in Xtol. But I wonder if other developers might be better. This brings me back to my favourite question: is it better to use stock solution or mixed solution for high-speed films? What would you recommend when pushing this Neopan? Kind regards, David

Roman

Hello! Forget about pushing Neopan 1600 straight away; even at ISO 1600 it has practically no shadow detail left and is quite harsh in terms of contrast. I like to use the film with Calbe A49 1+1 at ISO 1000 (in a pinch, 1600 is still an option, but as I said, with almost no shadow detail), or (and some of you might think I’m a bit odd for this ;) ) with Rodinal 1+50 at 800 ASA, which produces brutally sharp negatives with clearly visible, crisp grain (which is exactly why I use this combination). Generally speaking, I’d tend to use the NP1600 more for its very distinctive look (very dramatic, very high-contrast, almost ‘film noir’-esque, ideal for ‘characterful’ portraits or ‘street’ scenes), and see the slightly higher speed compared to 400-speed films merely as a useful side effect; if you’re actually looking for a film with higher speed, I’d recommend the Kodak TMax 3200, which is only marginally more expensive than the NP1600, with much easier-to-control contrast, and significantly better shadow detail at ISO 1600 (and even at ISO 3200, the TMax combined with A49 is still very usable). I haven’t mentioned XTOL yet, as I have no experience of using it with NP1600, but given that the developer offers quite good speed, it should be perfectly suitable for your purposes. Roman

vizzo7

Hi Roman, First of all, thanks – that was really helpful. What I’m not quite sure about, though, is the bit about Rodinal and 800 ISO. You say that the negatives come out sharp. What exactly do you mean by that? That the details come through better, or that the contrast is sharper? Perhaps you could send me a picture to vizzo@web.de I already use TMA3200, but sometimes I’m not satisfied. The best I’ve found is 2000 ISO Rodinal 1+50 and then a filter 2 during enlargement. See you soon, David

Gast

Hi Roman! What development times and agitation do you use for Neopan, 1600 @ 800 in Rodinal 1+50? I imagine the results will be quite interesting! Best regards, Christian.

Roman

Hello! I don’t have my data sheets to hand at the moment, so I can’t say for certain, but my development times for the NP1600 (ISO 800 in Rodinal 1+50) are around 8 minutes (20°C, agitating twice at the start of every minute), if I remember correctly... By ‘sharpness’ I mean acutance/subjective impression of sharpness when viewing the image, not (detail) resolution. The impression of sharpness is further enhanced by the crisp, non-washed-out grain. Daniel, I can scan a picture this evening that I recently printed from a Neopan developed in this way, and email it to you – in the meantime, I can only refer you to two images I have online, though these are negative scans taken with a not very good scanner, and are also quite small, so not exactly ideal for assessment... http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/...cat=3622&page=3 http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/...cat=3622&page=4 Roman PS: I develop TMax 3200 (at ISO 3200) in Calbe A49 1+1, 20°C, 1-minute agitation – 23 minutes.

Gast

Hello everyone! My experience with the NP1600 has been quite different: I develop using Emofin and can easily achieve ISO 1600 with excellent shadow detail and very fine grain. At 13x18, the images are almost grain-free; it’s only at 18x24 that you see a fine, attractive grain. I think the NP1600, just like the NP400, is entirely dependent on the developer. Best regards, Wolfgang

Roman

David, Some sample scans are on their way (hope your inbox is big enough...)