Run a sequence through your camera where you start at a small aperture and slow shutter speed and change that by a stop till you run out of aperture/shutter speeds. Should be all the same exposure if you brighten by one stop and reduce exposure time by one stop each step. Gotta make sure it's being exposed uniformly.
When developing be absolutely boringly consistent in agitation and tell us how that works. Is it straight d76 or 1:1? If it's the same batch of developer from last year, it could be going bad depending on how it's stored.
When developing be absolutely boringly consistent in agitation and tell us how that works. Is it straight d76 or 1:1? If it's the same batch of developer from last year, it could be going bad depending on how it's stored.
Who told you that ''exposing for the shadows, developing for the highlights.'' is usefully related to film speed in that manner? You tried it once at half rated speed, then decreased dev time by a small amount and got the opposite result. That should suggest to you that your approach is random and based on a false assumption.
Your film speed is based on the way you expose and develop film. You should test specifically for that, with each film, developer, camera, if other's findings don't work for you. That will also give you an idea of how much to decrease or increase developing to contract or expand development. You have to know where you are before you can know where you're going.
How can any of of us know how to help you without your exposure information? Perhaps it is incorrect exposure, by you or your tool or both based on the scene, and not the 20% less contraction. I would be very surprised, if given what you said is accurate, that the issue is in any way dependent upon developing time/temperature at all.
Hi,
I used Arista Premium 400 at 200 EI once:
Film: Arista Premium 400 (TriX equivalent Freestyle Film); fresh roll cut from 100 ft film.
Camera: Nikon FE
Developer: D76 1:1, 150ml D76, 150 ml water.
Agitation: 30 sec inversion then 5 inversions per half a minute.
Temperature: 20 C.
Developing time: 9.5 minutes.
Result: It was a little dense but shadow detail was well preserved in a sunny day.
If I develop it today I would go to 9 or 8.5 minutes to start my experimentation.
Exposure information: The Nikon FE I used (average metering) under exposes about 1/3 stops compared matrix metering of early film Nikons and Nikon DSLRs in most cases. All my three FEs measure the same. In an average sunny day Nikon FE shows me f/11 and 1/125 sec (50mm lens) when I measure mixed foliage and asphalt covered street with some shadows.
I hope this helps.
Hello -
I've read quite a bit about the benefits of ''exposing for the shadows, developing for the highlights.'' Last year, I was shooting tri-x 400 at 200 and developing normally and ending up with negatives that were REALLY dense. Here's what I've been working with now: Tri-x 400. Fm2n. I've been cutting the film speed in half and shooting at iso 200, and then cutting the development speed in half by 20%. Our darkroom water is pretty consistently 68 degrees, so according to kodak, I should be developing d76 at 9+3/4 minutes. So cutting that by 20% leaves me at 7:45s or so. My negatives are coming out pretty thin, which makes me think I'm under developing. Can anyone give me some advice?
Thanks -
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