Advice for developing Tmax400 shot at ISO 1600

Hi everybody,

which developer or developing procedure is best for Tmay 400 shot at ISO 1600? I don´t want to push but rather develop with a real speed increasing developer and I can live with a little loss in shadow detail..

I photographed at a rock concert in a really dark ambient but the good thing is that the spotlights on the faces of the musicians were not very strong compared with the background. So I guess that the contrast of this scene was quite normal or at least not as high as usual on stages with relatively dark backgrounds.

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
Andreas

People may pipe in here with more experience than I was "Speed increasing" (or at least "speed retaining"??) chemistry.

I can only add, you'd be wise to test whatever is recommended - your eye, lens, camera, choices will all affect exposure and how the negs react to the dev. Snip a few frames from a roll you feel is average. 4 frames or so will stay in a 35 reel without sliding out. Or suss out how much leader is blank with your given camera and add a couple inches to it.

When I do tests for important film, I **try** to resist running the rest of the film until at least I can make a contact sheet with a #2 or so filter. And then as long as the dev is in the tray, maybe cut a sheet of RC in half and make a couple 5x7's. I'm not as good at judging negs as I am prints, but looking for something that prints easily with a reasonable contrast filter is often worth the time.

As an old PJ my advise when pushing film is to expose for the highlights and let shadows fall where they may. Use HC110 or TMAX developer and double the time in the developer, to keep the time short develop at 75 degrees. Then print for the highlights.

I'd add Ilfotec DD-X as a developer that can increase speed and be an effective 'push process' developer. I've had nothing but terrific luck with this developer as I've shot TMY at 800/1000 for the past few years.

The Massive Development Chart (website or app) is a good starting point for times.

Xtol 1+3

I've done this before. XTOL 1+1 in my case and followed the Kodak's published timing for 2 stop push. It worked beautifully. D76 didn't work so well. I found the mid tone to be jumpy.

As far as I know, "speed" is really depending upon the film itself. Can a developer do anything else but to push?

I've shot Tmax 400 at 1600 and developed it in Tmax Developer using Kodak's recommended times for EI-1600. That gave great results.

chriscrawfordphoto said:

I've shot Tmax 400 at 1600 and developed it in Tmax Developer using Kodak's recommended times for EI-1600. T[/IMG]

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