Film/Developer reccomendations for pinhole photography.

[flsurf]

I got back into the darkroom after 20 years so I am having to revisit most basic elements of photo processes. I just built a 6x9 pinhole and shot a couple of rolls of tmax 100. Mixed success! Negatives a bit thin. Need to dial in exposure times.
My question is what would be a "forgiving" film / developer combo that would provide the best results when using long exposures that may be either under or overexposed?

Kitchen sink processing fyi.
Thanks

 

[johnielvis]

"foolproof"
tri x and diafine 2-bath
pinhole exposure's going to be out the window---if hyou want to dense them up, then use like hc-110 dil a...but no longer than like 10 minutes or so--you want to keep from developing fog....you can give the pinholes extra "smack" by just using grade 5 or so in the darkroom when it's printing time. I suspect that it's just density that's your problem at this point...do youself a bunch of test shots to account for the film reciprocity--that's the problem you have to first overcome--kodak data books have a graphs for reciprocity that have worked perfectly for me. When you get the proper exposure, just about any developer should work--depends on the "look" you want after that.

 

[pgomena]

Your choice of T-max 100 was a good one because it has better exposure reciprocity characteristics than other films. The king of films in that regard is Fuji's 100 Acros. No exposure compensation is needed out to two minutes. Any developer is fine. I found that increasing development helped with my pinhole images. They often seemed a little flat. It sounds as though your film was underexposed, however. Record your exposures each time out, and you'll get the hang of it. Pinhole is a lot of fun.

Peter Gomena

 

[flsurf]

thanks, I took a look at diafine on the web and it looks like a fairly forgiving developer.

Fl