I'm having a bit of a film conundrum transitioning as I start shooting 4x5. I'm been shooting primarily Neopan 400, Tri X 400 for faster film and FP4 and Fomapan for slower. I've got development routines down for them and such. For slow film, I'm set. I need to figure out what to do about 400 speed film though.
Between Neopan 400 going away and no Tri X 400 in 4x5, I'm thinking about switching my 400 speed film across all formats. HP5 seems like the best choice as i already swore off Fomapan in 400 due to scratching in several 120 rolls in different cameras.
Does this seem like a smart move? Or do people shooting in places with more constrained film more often use different film/developers per format? Or is tray development different enough that anything that works in 35mm/120 not applicable anyway?
I ask mostly because I haven't been terribly happy with HP5 in 35mm/120 yet. I'e spent less time working on a recipe than the others so perhaps I just having figured out how to shoot it yet - or maybe I'm simply under exposing the film - but the tonality just doesn't feel right. To get the highlights I want, I often lose shadow detail. I've liked the results in DDX but that is a bit pricey as a primary developer.
This shot is a decent example of what I'm getting in HC110. Its probably underexposed by a stop but that results don't seem to vary too much:
Between Neopan 400 going away and no Tri X 400 in 4x5, I'm thinking about switching my 400 speed film across all formats. HP5 seems like the best choice as i already swore off Fomapan in 400 due to scratching in several 120 rolls in different cameras.
Does this seem like a smart move? Or do people shooting in places with more constrained film more often use different film/developers per format? Or is tray development different enough that anything that works in 35mm/120 not applicable anyway?
I ask mostly because I haven't been terribly happy with HP5 in 35mm/120 yet. I'e spent less time working on a recipe than the others so perhaps I just having figured out how to shoot it yet - or maybe I'm simply under exposing the film - but the tonality just doesn't feel right. To get the highlights I want, I often lose shadow detail. I've liked the results in DDX but that is a bit pricey as a primary developer.
This shot is a decent example of what I'm getting in HC110. Its probably underexposed by a stop but that results don't seem to vary too much:
