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Not sure if pushed film... What to do?

Jason Bartone

Member
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Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4
Location
Los Angeles
Format
35mm
Hey guys, I'm very new to this darkroom stuff. Yesterday I went out and bought the following chemicals for my TRI-X 400:
1. R09 One Shot developer.
2. Ilfostop
3. Ilford Rapid Fixer
4. Kodak Professional Photo-flo 200

Ive been shooting Kodak tri-x a lot lately, mostly pushing everything up a stop. the thing is, I didn't label two of my rolls +1
What happens if I push film in development that wasn't pushed when I shot it? should it take the risk? Am I better off developing it normally and pushing it on paper?
Thanks.
I also shoot Ilford if your wondering
 
Welcome to Photrio. I would say develop normally. Tri-X (most black and white film) has a lot of latitude, meaning plus or minus one stop, you'll get scannable or printable negatives. If you push film one stop that was shot at box speed (i.e. develop it slightly longer), you might get negatives with a bit more density. That's also a valid approach.
 
Normally develop because one stop is well within the latitude of exposure. Developing longer merely increases the contrast. Just shoot the box speed because the latitude of modern negative films is so great.
 
Just for clarity.
"Pushing" film means changing (increasing) the development - not changing the exposure.
A push development increases contrast, and therefore makes under-exposed film look a bit better.
I take it you are unsure about whether you exposed the film normally, or under-exposed it by one stop.
Normal development of normally exposed film gives the best results. Normal development of one stop under-exposed film may yield results that look better than increased development of one stop under-exposed film - Kodak thinks so about T-Max 400.
As "pushing" deals with contrast, can you tell us anything about how contrasty the light was in the subject shots?
 
Normally develop because one stop is well within the latitude of exposure. Developing longer merely increases the contrast. Just shoot the box speed because the latitude of modern negative films is so great.

+1

The Kodak data sheet says this acceptable.
 
For TMY-2 Tmax 400 in XTOL Kodak recommends the same development time at 400 and 800. Negative film is so forgiving (Think disposable/one time use cameras) I think there's 6 or 7 stops of latitude, 2 under and 4 or 5 over with consumer color negative film. There's a good reason Tri-X is the most popular B&W film. I figure when in doubt leave it in the soup a wee bit over. But I don't scan. So that's a whole other kettle of fish.
Mike
 
In very bright subject brightness ranges I have gotten up to 14 light levels with Tri-X. While that is unusual, it does give you the maximum range that can be handled with normal development. So in your case develop normally.
 
In very bright subject brightness ranges I have gotten up to 14 light levels with Tri-X. While that is unusual, it does give you the maximum range that can be handled with normal development. So in your case develop normally.
Good Advice! That's pretty darn impressive. Digital highlights blow out way before that. Film is so much fun