Alternative 8x10 film for night photography

Shinnya

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Hi everyone,

I have been shooting at night for some time with Tri-X, and I have been printing VDB and about to start Pt/Pd. One problem I find is that film speed. I typically do not wait more than 20 min, it sort of limits what sort of f-stop I use (well sometimes I get good pictures because of the limitation...). So, I am thinking of changing the film to a "faster" film at night.

Sounds like T-max 400 would be the best candidate for this, and T-Max 100 or Delta 100 would come after (I cannot buy 8x10 Acros here or Ilford does not make Delta 400).

I was wondering if there is not other alternatives in terms of expense. Has anyone tried Foma pan 200 or J and C pro for this application? I guess I am asking if there are other modern emulsions which give less reciprocity failure.

Any suggestions or redirection to previous threads would be appreciated.

Warmly,
Tsuyoshi
 

clay

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TMax 400 is definitely your best bet. My Tri-x exposures under typical dark streetlamp illuminated scenes at f/32 run about 20 minutes with TriX. The same exposure on Tmax 400 is about 5 minutes. I only wish it was available in 7x17!
 

Konical

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Good Morning, Tsuyoshi,

No problem with the TMY Clay suggests above, but I think TMX would be preferable. You'll be using a tripod anyway, so exposure length is not usually a problem. I think you'll find that night exposures for TMX will be no longer (and may even be shorter) than for TMY. I find that 1 and 1/2 to 3 minutes at f11-16 usually works out well for subjects with street and/or flood lighting. Technidol (expensive) for 12 to 15 minutes works extremely well to tame the inherently high contrast usually found in night shots, but I'm also getting some good results with HC-110G (much cheaper) using stand development for 12 to 15 minutes. The Fuji Acros you mentioned has excellent reciprocity characteristics, but I don't use it because it's available only in expensive Quickloads for 4 x 5; don't know about 8 x 10.

Konical
 

Jeremy

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Konical said:
I think TMX would be preferable
Click to expand...

I would be highly wary of using TMX unless the UV transmission problem in this film has been addressed. It has been spoken of in a while, but I don't know if that's because it has been fixed or if people are just no longer using it for the alt processes.
 

Konical

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Good Evening,

Thanks Jeremy. I failed to note in the original post the bit about printing.

Konical
 

Larry L

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I use TMX 100 in 35mm and 120 for my nights shots with exposures in the 1 1/2 minutes range at f/8 and f/11. Development is in TMax Developer diluted 1:9 (note standard dilution is 1:4) and development times of 8-10 minutes with about 1/2 normal agitation in a 16 ounce tank. This developer dilution and timing was found in a Darkroom Techniques magazine article (has changed names recently) in the early 90's. Have found this gives me great shadow detail without blowing out the highlights. Lower highlight density has to do with the dilute developer and low agitation. Also recall reading about water bath dips during development as well - but have never tried.

Just recently got a 4 X 5 and will be trying above with some TMax 100 and TMax RS sometime in the next 6 months.
 
OP
OP

Shinnya

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Hi Clay,

Thank you for redirecting me to the site. I actually went to the site a couple of days ago for a different reason, and I totally forgot about it.

One question about the chart is what if the exposure is longer than 100 sec? How do I figure that out? If you could explain it to me, that would be appreciated.

Thank you again for your time.

Warmly
Tsuyoshi


clay said:
Kodak's reciprocity table for this film. I have always found this to be reasonably close:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f32/f32b.jhtml#1153016
Click to expand...
 
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