Pushing colour negative film?

Lemaildetom

Lemaildetom

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thomas
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Hi there,
I did a mistake. I used some colour film 160ISO and didn't change the wheel on the top plate of my camera so shot it as 400ISO. I guess all my picture are totally underexposed now... I did read on the forum about pushing B&W film so went to a few photo lab I could find but all told me that with colour and C41 processing there's nothing they can do? Is this right? Is there an online service were I could send my film to be developped properly?
Thanks
 
Although you'll probably get acceptable negatives from the roll you've shot if you want to send it to any of the processors that get regular patronage from the f&c posse like Peak, AG Photographic or The Darkroom and tell them what you've rated the film at they will compensate accordingly. Some charge extra for this service some don't.
 
^^^ WHS, shouldn't be a major problem if compensated for during the processing.
 
What film is it? If Portra 160 it might be within its exposure latitude anyway, maybe just a tad on the dark side. Nevertheless probably sensible to follow the advice above.
 
I've used UK Film Lab to push Portra 400 and Fuji Pro 400H a few times and I can vouch for their quality. That said, depending on the light, you might be able to get away with Portra 160 shot at 400, as the Portra films have good latitude.
 
The film will probably be absolutely fine with 1 and 2/3rds stops underexposure so I wouldn't bother getting it pushed, especially if its Portra 160 as you can easily underexpose that by 2 stops and use regular developing which results in only a small increase in grain/contrast. If using Peak Imaging they charge £1.25 for pushing/pulling.
 
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ok i'll check what was the film and let you know to make sure what to do!
 
Yes the film is kodak porta 160 that i shot at 400. I'll probably follow your advice and send to Peak.
Thanks!
 
@Lemaildetom if you want to be absolutely certain of getting the 'best' results then you could ask Peak to do a clip test (which costs £2.15 but that also includes pushing/pulling so you don't need to pay the £1.25 charge for that). They'll snip off the first 2 or 3 frames and develop them normally (tell them you shot it at 400 as then they'll do their standard push) and do densitometry analysis on these frames to be able to adjust the developing time accordingly when developing the rest of the roll. That way it eliminates any problems that could come up from the processing (as pushing especially is not quite an exact science).

Sam
 
Of course with a clip test you will lose at least one arbitrary frame, presumably near the front...
 
oh god... all this is getting very complex! if i knew any of my picture were stunning i would but i think i'm going to go for a full developpe and see what come out. Thanks for all the advice!
 
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