Aperature priority camera, only allows 800iso. I want to shoot 3200.

I have a compact Olympus camera that allows up to an ISO 800 setting. Unfortunately, I can't manually set the exposure- only set aperature, and camera chooses shutter speed.

Is there any way possible to "trick" cameras such as these, and get shots exposed for 3200?

I would like to experiment with Tmax 3200 film for indoor low light candids.

And, as a secondary question, an developer recommendations for getting true (.1 over fb+f) 3200 speed from this film, or is it really possible? I've heard it is contrasty- maybe a staining developer to control highlights and maybe mask a little of the large grain I'm sure to get?

Does it have DX coding and only allow you to manually set up to 800?

Kevin Caulfield said:

Does it have DX coding and only allow you to manually set up to 800?

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No, it is an Olympus XA, circa 1979 or so. I don't think they had dreamed about DX coding at the time...

Do you have a "compensation" control? Some/many automatic cameras had this, even as far back as the 1970s, marked as something like "+2 +1 0 -1 -2" with half stop marks -- intended to let you override the automatic exposure, within a limited range, for things like backlit subjects or intentional silhouettes. If so, just set it to -2 and you're ready to shoot at 3200 equivalent...

There isn't any way to get true 3200 speed (measured at the toe) from any current film (except possibly Polaroid Type 57/667/87). The best you can do is shoot Delta 3200 or TMZ-P3200 at EI 1600 and develop in a speed-increasing developer like Diafine or Microphen; this will get you into the 1600 range. Diafine claims EI 2000 with Neopan 1600, but many folks consider Diafine's EI claims inflated; you might not feel the shadows are adequate at that speed (I'm not one of those; I find Tri-X at EI 1600 to be quite adequately exposed if souped in Diafine).

The XA's meter is off the camera (edit: I meant "off the lens"), right? If you could get a red filter in front of the lens but not in front of the meter, you'd underexpose by a couple stops. Did I figure that right?

derevaun said:

The XA's meter is off the camera, right? If you could get a red filter in front of the lens but not in front of the meter, you'd underexpose by a couple stops. Did I figure that right?

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I think it's the other way around. You would put a filter over the meter to get it to expose more, not less.

The XA has a +1.5 stop OVERexpose setting, but you want the opposite. Maybe you could set up a foil reflector around the meter opening to send more light into it. You would need to do some trial and error adjustments.

I don't know what shutter speed is set using flash, but I'm wondering if it could be useful. There is some info at:

http://brashear.phys.appstate.edu/lhawkins/photo/xa.faq.html

Since you mention P3200 specifically, and to expand a little on what Donald said:

When this T-MAX P3200 first came out, a lot of people submitted it for printing with exposures at ridiculous ISO and developer combinations. So I had the lab I worked at post this section of the Kodak technical information bulletin at the drop-off desk.

"KODAK T-MAX P3200 Professional Film is specially designed to be used as a multi-speed film. The speed you use depends on your application; make tests to determine the appropriate speed.

The nominal speed is EI 1000 when the film is processed in KODAK T-MAX Developer or KODAK T-MAX RS Developer and Replenisher, or EI 800 when it is processed in other Kodak black-and-white developers. It was determined in a manner published in ISO standards. For ease in calculating exposure and for consistency with the commonly used scale of film-speed numbers, the nominal speed has been rounded to EI 800.

Because of its great latitude, you can expose this film at EI 1600 and yield negatives of high quality. There will be no change in the grain of the final print, but there may be a slight loss of shadow detail. When you need a higher speed, you can expose this film at EI 3200 or 6400. At these speeds, there will be a slight increase in contrast and graininess with additional loss of shadow detail. (See the processing tables for adjusted development times.)"

and

"You can also expose this film at EI 400 and obtain outstanding shadow detail. See the processing tables."

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f32/f32.pdf

Obviously some developers will give you a higher working EI, and some of those have been mentioned in this thread. Just don't expect it to be a 3200 ISO film without special treatment, increased contrast from "pushing", and/or loss of shadow detail. As the instructions say, it's 800 ISO with standard developers. The speed implied by the P3200 name is marketing.

Lee