Would you recommend Tri-X or HP5+ for pushing? (and other questions about pushing film)

[Augustus Caesar]

Film can certainly be pushed processed, within reason, using the right film, and developer.

You can overdevelop film, but you cannot compensate for underexposure. Impossible.

 

[Paul Howell]

You can overdevelop film, but you cannot compensate for underexposure. Impossible.

Yep, when working as a PJ we were always told to error on the side of overexposure, you can get print from a dense negative, but if it is not there it is not there. But in the 70 and 80s when B&W was king pushing was a necessary evil. As the paper started to print in color, for the daily, prior there was color on Sunday and on Wednesday the food section supplement, we had to revert to high powered flash and pushing became uncommon.

 

[dcy]

As I think about it, the Carlsbad caverns are well lit with spot lights. I wonder if a 400 speed film would be fast enough. Its been maybe 30 years that I was toured Carlsbad, but I renumber shooting Trix and maybe Kodacolor 400, with a faster lens like a 50 1.7 or 1.4.

Carlsbad is indeed better lit than any other cavern I've been to. With ISO 400 and F/3.5 there were spots that I could easily shoot handheld, but that was a small fraction of the shots I wanted to take. I really didn't plan this well; the trip was a spur of the moment thing. I look forward to going back, next time armed with my new TMZ in my film camera and my F/0.95 lens in my digital camera.

 

[koraks]

Caves are typically rather 3-dimensional scenes, which means that shooting at a large aperture will bring limitations in depth of field. Whether that will be a concern is up to you to decide, but personally I'd experience this as a major problem. Sufficient depth of field means stopping down, which means that no film, push-processed or not, will be adequate for handheld shooting. You can get some frames, but will they even be worth printing? Again, it's personal. And personally, I wouldn't bother.

The most suitable tool for the job would be something digital with a very small sensor (=large depth of field by default) and image stabilization. Most modern smartphones would qualify. Convenient to carry around as well.

 

[pentaxuser]

Caves are typically rather 3-dimensional scenes,

And surprisingly cramped when swinging a club trying to fend off a Sabre-toothed Tiger

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

Just ask Fred and his pal Barney!

 

[pentaxuser]

Just ask Fred and his pal Barney!

I like it when they use that bird's long beak as a record needle

pentaxuser

 

[koraks]

I'd hate to be the bird though!