pushing HP5 to 1600, microphen or DD-X?

[Mark Nowaczynski]

I shoot a hand held 4X5 camera, and there are times when one simply needs a higher film speed than 400.

I have had good results pushing HP5 to 800 and developing it in microphen. Does anyone have any experience with pushing HP5 even more (2 or 3 stops)? Any advantage of DD-X over microphen? How high can you go and still have acceptable results?

If only Delta 3200 were available in sheet film...

[Chris Skene]

Ive pushed 35mm HP5 to 3200 in Microphen before, and found the results to be quite good, the sharpness remains high, though with a small loss of contrast. I imagine that in some circumstances the effect may actually be quite attractive, as the grain doesnt appear to be any bigger than processing at 400 in ID-11.

[Guy Boily]

Mark, Take a look at this site and search the massive developpment chart for HP5+. It will give you a good idea of what is possible with just about any film with any developer. http://www.digitaltruth.com/ Guy

[Mark Nowaczynski]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try exposing some HP5 @ 1600 and some @ 3200 and see how they compare.

I was raised to overexpose and undedevelop B&W film, developed in PYRO. The results are excellent when you have enough light. It goes against the grain to underexpose and overdevelop (i.e. push film), but one does not always have the luxury of sufficient ambient light.

The practice of hand-held 4X5 reportage is not dead.