HP5+ overexposed by mistake

[Jose A Martinez]

I made a mistake choosing my Hasselblad roll back, I picked one with HP5+ loaded thinking that it was PANF+, I shoot it as a 50 asa film, so it's like 4 stops overexposed. Any suggestions how to develop it?. I use D76 1+1 for the HP5. Should I use more dilution?, less time?, both?, try another developer?... of course, I'll try to shoot the hole thing again with the correct exposure, but I don't want to give up with the one I already made. May be is the time for me to confirm if the David Vestal's moto "expose enough and do not develop too much" is true .

 

[Jim17x]

Thats 3 stops over exposed.. Cut the developing time.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

As long as you don't develop for too long you should be absolutely fine. If it were me I would most likely reduce development about 40% or so.

If the roll has important shots on it, shoot another roll at 50 and try it first, and adjust as necessary.

 

[c6h6o3]

I rate mine at no more than 200, sometimes 100, so you're not 4 stops overexposed. Do you know anyone who's experienced at development by inspection? You don't want to blow highlights with HP5+. They can block pretty badly.

 

[john_s]

Depending on how much trouble you want to go to, Ilford Perceptol (like Kodak Microdol-X) reduces the speed somewhat. Depending on your metering technique and the subject matter, you might not have overexposed as much as you think. I would reduce the dev time a bit. Maybe 40% less is too much of a reduction. I'm guessing here.

If it was a highly contrasty scene, you might have exposed just about right.

I normally rate 400 speed films at 200 and use a generous exposure as well.

 

[Steve Smith]

so it's like 4 stops overexposed

What does like four stops mean?

Thats 3 stops over exposed..

Oh, I see!


Steve.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

How about a snip test first before processing the whole roll?

 

[R.Gould]

I'd develop it in rodinal 1/50, you lose around 1 1/2 stops in Rodinal so you might get slightly heavy negs but they should print fine

 

[MartinP]

rodinal 1/50, you lose around 1 1/2 stops in Rodinal

Is that really exactly what you meant to say ??? There seems to be a very small loss, less than half a stop, but maybe I use a very long time for developing. I only use Rodinal for APX though, so maybe every other film has a secret slow-down.

For the OP, I'd suggest trying a slow developer (eg. Perceptol) and pull slightly, or use your normal dev and pull quite a bit. Three stops is two stops more than 'doing nothing and getting nice shadows' after all.

 

[R.Gould]

I find that with HP5 in Rodinal, either 1/50 or 1/25 it loses a lot of speed, it is only with Ilford film I have this problem, using Kodak or Foma I lose about 1/3 of a stop, I don't know why, but with Ilford I only get around 320 even in D76, that goes for all Ilford film, Quality is fine but it seems to lose a lot for me, but it is a few years now since I have used any Ilford, prefering Kodak Tri x or Fomapan 400
Richard

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I find that with HP5 in Rodinal, either 1/50 or 1/25 it loses a lot of speed, it is only with Ilford film I have this problem, using Kodak or Foma I lose about 1/3 of a stop, I don't know why, but with Ilford I only get around 320 even in D76, that goes for all Ilford film, Quality is fine but it seems to lose a lot for me, but it is a few years now since I have used any Ilford, prefering Kodak Tri x or Fomapan 400
Richard

That's interesting. I see a lot of people shoot HP5+ at 800 and soup it in Rodinal 1+25 and get really great looking prints from it.

If the OP shot the film at EI 25-50, then all he needs to do is to cut the development time a good bit. By how much is a bit of a guess, because it's about 3-4 stops overexposure compared to box speed. This is why I suggested to shoot one more roll at the same speed and test it first, especially if there are important photos on the other roll. My opinion is that it should be salvageable, and the resulting prints may even be fantastic, but perhaps a little bit lower in contrast than normal.