Gast
Hello,
Yesterday I had the chance to take some photos of the raccoons in their enclosure (which isn’t easy with those cheeky java script:emoticon(':)') java script:emoticon(';)') creatures). Unfortunately, I ended up using the ‘wrong’ film: APX400, with the ISO dial set to 100 ASA java script:emoticon(':D') java script:emoticon(':D'), meaning an overexposure of 4 stops.
Does anyone have any tips or experience on how this film should be developed? Repeating the session in weather like yesterday’s is likely to be difficult this year.
Current provisional developers: A49 and Ultrafin.
Kind regards,
Sven
MirkoBoeddecker
Sven,
First of all, no need to worry. 400 to 100 is only a 2-stop difference, not 4 (100-200-400).
The APX 400 handles a 2-stop difference just fine. Cut the development time in half and everything will be fine.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Hi Mirko,
Of course, it’s only two stops! I seem to be a bit confused.
Cutting the development time by a quarter made me a bit nervous.
Many thanks for the quick reply, and best wishes to Berlin!
MKL
Hi Sventurius,
Don’t panic! Besides, it’s only 2 stops. The APX400 is very forgiving and can handle around 7–8 stops of subject contrast (though it does make printing a bit tricky). Through overexposure, you’ve actually just shifted the overall density upwards – the negative becomes more dense overall. With a normal subject contrast of 5–6 stops, you don’t necessarily need to adjust the development. With your raccoons, the subject contrast is likely to be even lower and shadow detail important. As Mirko suggested, severe underexposure will compress the subject contrasts significantly and the image will probably end up with very low contrast. With the A49, I’d just develop for a slightly shorter time (perhaps 1 stop, i.e. /1.33) and that should do the trick.
Best regards,
Michael
