Gast
Hello,
Since Roman has already advised me against pushing APX 400, I wanted to ask what you’d recommend as ‘optimal push combinations’ up to at least 1600 ISO and beyond.
Unfortunately, I only shoot 35mm, so I’m looking for fine grain and sharpness that’s still crisp.
In my experience so far, HP5 and ID 11 (1+0) work quite well. But surely there are other, perhaps even better combinations out there?
Could you perhaps suggest a film/developer/dilution/temperature/time combination that also works well?
That would be great!
pepe
Roman
Hello!
It’s me again...
Have you read the thread further down about high-speed films? There’s quite a bit in there...
You’re unlikely to find a really fine grain in 35mm in this speed range.
Of the 400s, HP5+ is certainly the film that can be pushed the best, and with Microphen (Stock or 1+1) 800 ISO is absolutely no problem; from 1600 onwards, the rather steep contrast (-> blocked highlights) slowly becomes an issue. Calbe A49 should be quite suitable for fine grain when pushed, though there are the contrast issues again... I’m just starting to experiment with HP5 in Tetenal Emofin; acutance suffers slightly, but the contrast is very balanced, and the grain isn’t extremely coarse either (though I’ve only worked with it in medium format so far, not 35mm).
Otherwise, I can really recommend you give Fuji Neopan 1600 a try; it’s actually only 800 ISO in reality, so at 1600 it’s already pushed by one stop, but for this sensitivity class it has quite fine grain and very nice grey-scale characteristics (especially for portraits); I’ve always developed it in Microphen so far – which also gives quite a steep contrast curve... – but I still want to experiment a bit with A49 and Emofin...
Regarding development times: I always use the times from www.digitaltruth.com as a reference, and then adapt them to my needs if necessary!
Roman
