Fastest (true EI) 8x10 BW Film

Peter De Smidt

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I'm going to do some natural light portraits on 8x10 BW film. I haven't been keeping up with all of the new films. What film, or which film/developer combo, gives the highest true, i.e. not 'pushed, film speed?
 

DrPablo

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How about HP5+ in Diafine?

You also might be able to raise shadow values with a pre-exposure on zone 2 or 3, then push in development to raise highlight values. That would probably take some trial and error, though.
 
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Peter De Smidt

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Hi Paul,

Thanks for the suggestions. I seem to remember trying pre-exposure a number of years ago, but I don't remember the results. My understanding is that you pre-expose to zone I, or a little less. How does this effect film speed? Suppose I expose HP5+ in Xtol 1+1 at EI 250. Would a pre-exposure allow me to double the film speed rating when shooting? What are the downsides to pre-exposure? I realize that I'll have to run some tests, but some feedback from people who've used pre-exposure would be nice.
 

DrPablo

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In Ansel Adams' examples pre-exposing on zone 2 or 3 seemed to add at least a stop to the shadows.

The downside to pre-exposure would be if you have large areas of uniform shadow. That could cause you to have a fogging effect rather than an overall enhancement of detail. So pre-exposure is best used for complex shadow detail.

I would not regard it as equivalent to making the film overall faster, though. The pre-exposure will strongly affect shadows, but has no effect on highlights. So it serves overall to lower contrast a bit, but preserve detail in the deepest shadows.

Incidentally it works for color film as well, which is pretty nice for Velvia which can block up shadows very easily. But for color film you just need to make sure you're pre-exposing off of a gray card or something completely neutral, otherwise you can add a color cast to your shadows (though that can be used creatively).
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I rate TXP at 640 in Acufine. You can probably get a bit more than that with HP5+, but I prefer the look of TXP.

If you're printing on Azo, you might try RAF pyro-metol (formula is in the articles section somewhere) for more contrast.
 

matt miller

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I use TMY in pyrocat HD (shuffle in tray), and rate it at 400.
 

kjsphoto

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HP5+ tested with densitometer around 200~320 depending on the emulsion run. I don't know of any film that is the actual box speed. Without testing the film you do not know. It may look ok, but you will be compromising on one end of the spectrum if you run film at what the box states.
 
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Peter De Smidt

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Hi Kevin,

I get ei250 with HP5+ in Xtol 1+1. (Yes, I have densitometers.) I do hear, though, from knowledgable people about combinations that give more speed--David, for example. And Bruce Barnbaum claimed pretty high speeds with Perfection X1. I've tested TMY, HP5+ and Tri-X with Xtol, and I was hoping that one of the new films, say Foma...., would be a little faster.
 

Roger Hicks

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Dear Peter,

True ISO of HP5+ in Microphen = around 650.

If (like many people) you prefer extra exposure for tonality, or test speeds using non-ISO procedures, you'll probably be happy at EI 320-400 or even perhaps 500 (the latter for shadow metering with a spot meter and depending on your equipment).

Of course for many kinds of portraiture there is a tradition of slight under-exposure...

Cheers,

Roger
 

kjsphoto

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Try Acufine. I have heard that this is a speed increasing developer and will get you a little more.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I experimented with Perfection X1 for a while using the formulas on the unblinkingeye site and found that it did produce good speed (about two stops with most films), but not such great contrast. It would be a good for things like urban night photography or maybe balancing indoor and outdoor light, which tends to be high contrast.

For negs to be contact printed, I also like RAF pyro-metol, because the look is similar to ABC pyro, which is my usual developer for large negs (and even some smaller ones sometimes--down to about 6x7cm).
 
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