Mistakenly shooting hp5 (400) at ASA 100

isabel okoro · Jun 23, 2018

Hey guys! I took some shots on ilford hp5 today and it was really cloudy as it had just finished raining. I only just found out that I forgot to change the ASA on my olympus om-g, and ended up shooting the 400 rated film at 100 speed. Has anyone done this before and have any advice on how to go about it? If so, do you have any sample photos you could share? I hope the roll isn't wasted as I was looking forward to the shots

john_s · Jun 23, 2018

Not a disaster. Lots of people, including me, use HP5 at ISO200 anyway. The negs will be a bit dense, but if your pics include people you might find that it's actually an improvement (no shadowy eye sockets, for example). If you develop yourself, if it's not too much trouble, maybe avoid speed enhancing developers like DDX. If the negs are really valuable, you could consider a speed reducing developer like Perceptol.
In any event, avoid overdevelopment.

M Carter · Jun 23, 2018

I shoot HP5 at 200 iso (many folks here do as well) for better shadow detail. But I develop in Rodinal, which isn't a fantastic shadow-rendering developer.

I'd just try cutting your development time by 30% or so. You could cut off a third of the roll and try that, then fine-tune for the rest.

My advice though - judge development by your final output. If you scan, dry the test strip and see how it scans; if you print, find the max-black print time using the developed leader in the enlarger (that's the max black the film can produce in a print) and use that exposure time for a test print. I shoot for negs that will make an acceptable print with a 2.5 filter at the max black time. I've been doing this for some time, but I'd rather judge a neg by its final use then just eyeballing it.

One other note on devleopment testing - you can test by putting even a couple frames worth in the reel - but agitation will be massively more effective that way, so it's tough to really dial in your time. If you agitate for 5 seconds every 60, for instance, when there' a tiny piece of film in the reel, just give the tank a gentle tilt each minute.

Sirius Glass · Jun 23, 2018

It is within the exposure latitude of the film. Develop it normally and it should be OK.

awty · Jun 23, 2018

Cloudy will be fine, only highlights maybe a problem if you use on a sunny day.

darkroommike · Jun 23, 2018

You will be fine.

pchaps · Jun 23, 2018

The low contrast of cloudy day is a saving grace. As others said, the ISO 400>200>100 (two stop over-exposure) is not a problem. At RIT, they found that good prints could be made from color negative overexposed by 2-stops.

I would also process normal. FYI, I shoot 4x5 HP5 at 160! No problem!

The alternative is to push process by a stop or two. If I did this, I would only push +1 or 1 stop. It will make more negatives have MORE contrast, which can be nice for images captured on a cloudy day.

Bill Burk · Jun 24, 2018

Develop normally. You are well onto the straight line, so absolutely no reason to change development.

mshchem · Jun 24, 2018

Bill Burk said:
Develop normally. You are well onto the straight line, so absolutely no reason to change development.

Absolutely, develop in normal fashion.. No worries.

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

john_s said:
Not a disaster. Lots of people, including me, use HP5 at ISO200 anyway. The negs will be a bit dense, but if your pics include people you might find that it's actually an improvement (no shadowy eye sockets, for example). If you develop yourself, if it's not too much trouble, maybe avoid speed enhancing developers like DDX. If the negs are really valuable, you could consider a speed reducing developer like Perceptol.
In any event, avoid overdevelopment.

Thank you so much. Would actually just drop it off at a lab to be safe!

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

M Carter said:
I shoot HP5 at 200 iso (many folks here do as well) for better shadow detail. But I develop in Rodinal, which isn't a fantastic shadow-rendering developer.

I'd just try cutting your development time by 30% or so. You could cut off a third of the roll and try that, then fine-tune for the rest.

My advice though - judge development by your final output. If you scan, dry the test strip and see how it scans; if you print, find the max-black print time using the developed leader in the enlarger (that's the max black the film can produce in a print) and use that exposure time for a test print. I shoot for negs that will make an acceptable print with a 2.5 filter at the max black time. I've been doing this for some time, but I'd rather judge a neg by its final use then just eyeballing it.

One other note on devleopment testing - you can test by putting even a couple frames worth in the reel - but agitation will be massively more effective that way, so it's tough to really dial in your time. If you agitate for 5 seconds every 60, for instance, when there' a tiny piece of film in the reel, just give the tank a gentle tilt each minute.

Thank you!

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
It is within the exposure latitude of the film. Develop it normally and it should be OK.

Thanks so much

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

pchaps said:
The low contrast of cloudy day is a saving grace. As others said, the ISO 400>200>100 (two stop over-exposure) is not a problem. At RIT, they found that good prints could be made from color negative overexposed by 2-stops.

I would also process normal. FYI, I shoot 4x5 HP5 at 160! No problem!

The alternative is to push process by a stop or two. If I did this, I would only push +1 or 1 stop. It will make more negatives have MORE contrast, which can be nice for images captured on a cloudy day.

Thank you so much. Looking forward to seeing the results

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

Bill Burk said:
Develop normally. You are well onto the straight line, so absolutely no reason to change development.

Thanks so much

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

Thank you everyone for the replies.. I'm sure all of you know much more than me as I'm only edging towards being an intermediate level expert on film! Would take note of all the advice. Thanks again.

Ko.Fe. · Jun 24, 2018

isabel okoro said:
...Would actually just drop it off at a lab to be safe!

So, you know the film and you know what ISO it was exposed to. It is not big deal then as long as you know where to search.
https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=%Ilford+HP5%&Developer=&mdc=Search&TempUnits=C&TimeUnits=D
And, no, it is better not to develop it as usual. Exposing 400 film as 100 is called "pulling" and it requires different developing.
Pulling requires less developing, pushing needs more. If you or else will develop it as usual, it will gives darker than usual negatives. because they will be overdeveloped.

And here is the answer for how it looks like:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/32592441@N00/discuss/72157605596327500/

BTW, If you could make it to Burlington Camera (in Burlington) they are people who still develop film and used to do it for decades as business. I always ask them for advice. You could get chemicals here and not expensive used developing tanks and darkroom enlarger and other accessories. Not expensive.

isabel okoro · Jun 24, 2018

Th

Ko.Fe. said:
So, you know the film and you know what ISO it was exposed to. It is not big deal then as long as you know where to search.
https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=%Ilford+HP5%&Developer=&mdc=Search&TempUnits=C&TimeUnits=D
And, no, it is better not to develop it as usual. Exposing 400 film as 100 is called "pulling" and it requires different developing.
Pulling requires less developing, pushing needs more. If you or else will develop it as usual, it will gives darker than usual negatives. because they will be overdeveloped.

And here is the answer for how it looks like:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/32592441@N00/discuss/72157605596327500/

BTW, If you could make it to Burlington Camera (in Burlington) they are people who still develop film and used to do it for decades as business. I always ask them for advice. You could get chemicals here and not expensive used developing tanks and darkroom enlarger and other accessories. Not expensive.

Thank you so much for the links and also the lab recommendation. I usually go to Downtown Camera, but I'm definitely open to trying a new lab! Thanks again for the response

Ko.Fe. · Jun 24, 2018

isabel okoro said:
Th

Thank you so much for the links and also the lab recommendation. I usually go to Downtown Camera, but I'm definitely open to trying a new lab! Thanks again for the response

At your service! Downtown camera is good as lab and they have best local selection of darkroom paper as of now. I was just printing yesterday on Ilford MG paper purchased from them.

MattKing · Jun 24, 2018

Ko.Fe. said:
And, no, it is better not to develop it as usual. Exposing 400 film as 100 is called "pulling" and it requires different developing.

On this we disagree (slightly).
Exposing 400 film as 100 and reducing developing are, when done together, called "pulling". Simply exposing 400 film as 100 is just called increasing exposure.

bedrof · Jun 28, 2018

I had a similar mistake once with HP5 - forgot to change an ISO speed on a spotmeter, but also there were frames shot at box speed. Processed the film for 8 min in PC-TEA 1+50, got nice results.

Juan Valdenebro · Jun 28, 2018

As Matt and others said, 100 for HP5+ is close to its optimal EI, so you registered your scenes the same way they would have been registered at 200 or 400 because you didn't use the extremes of your film´s latitude, but its "center" only: what's represented by the straight central part of the film's curve... You can get on paper the same image you would get at 200 or 400: develop normally unless your scenes had extremely low or extremely high contrast.

Mistakenly shooting hp5 (400) at ASA 100

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