Using high iso film.

joetheslug

joetheslug

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Hi chaps,

My son has started a photography course and bought some film with a high iso, 800. (I bought the film, my fault)

Can he set his camera, OM2 N, to iso 100 to make the film 'act' like iso 100? The camera was set to iso 800.

Sorry if this is an obvious question, but it's 30 years since I last used a film camera.

I did enjoy the anticipation of the wait to see what the results were after sending the film off for processing.

The film is Kodak T-MAX P3200 35mm B&W Film. I think it's iso 800. I might be wrong.
 
Tmax P3200 is a 3200ISO film, although it's probably more like a 1600ISO in reality. Setting the camera to 100 would overexpose the film by a considerable amount - 5 stops. While you could compensate that by pull-processing in development, I'm not sure you would get very good results. If you set the camera to ISO 100 and then get the film developed normally, you're likely to get unuseable photos as they'll be massively overexposed.

If the camera doesn't support 3200ISO film, I'd just get something else instead. Fomapan 100 and Ilfors FP$+ are easily available and relatively low cost black and white films (I'm assuming you want black and white as that's what the Tmax is). FP4+ is ISO 125, but shooting it at ISO 100 won't hurt it.

Your son could shoot the Tmax in his OM-2 at 1000 ISO, which is the camera's maximum speed I think. It would be ok to do that, and processing the film normally would still probably produce useable results. He wouldn't be able to shoot in bright light though as the film speed, coupled with the camera's maximum shutter speed and minimum aperture would again likely cause overexposure in bright conditions. I shot some 800ISO film on a bright day recently and found many of the planned photos were impossible.

Also - not sure why you've flagged the thread as NSFW (Not Safe For Work)? :)
 
Don't want to disagree with Nige but a bit of Googling suggests that P3200 is actually 800 ISO but has been designed to be pushed to 3200 ISO. So probably best to shoot it at 800 ISO. Shouldn't be too bad to use on grey December days, especially a couple of hours either side of mid-day.
 
Its nominal speed is 1000, and Kodak suggest using it at 800 to keep things in line with normal film speed increments (so a slight over exposure)...

https://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sites/prod/files/files/products/F4001.pdf

To answer the question in the OP, changing the camera's setting doesn't change the behaviour of the film. The setting in the camera is only for the built-in light meter and, as such, only changes the suggested (or automated) exposure settings. As noted above, setting to 100 would result in over-exposure; and 800 would probably be a better choice at this time of year for shots using natural light.
 
P3200 is a confusing film for sure... (more info here: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/tmax-3200.688182/#post-8312858)

I've just got back from the office christmas party shot (and metered and developed!) at 3200. It was fine. Grainy as hell, but fine. The "box" speed is 3200, it's DX coding is 3200. If I'd shot it at 800, these images would have been 2 stops brighter... Personally, I can't imagine giving these 2 more stops of light without under developing... Shooting this film at 100 is - as NIge says - 5 stops over...

(Below images developed in Rodinal which isn't the best for high grain films and has probably made things worse)

2019-12-06-tmax3200-bessa-06.jpg

2019-12-06-tmax3200-bessa-03.jpg

2019-12-06-tmax3200-bessa-02.jpg

My suggestion would be to avoid any confusion for a beginner and stick some HP5 Plus in there and shoot that. Once your son has got the hang of the basics he can move on to the trickier films. As always though, we're here to help!
 
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Another vote for a 400 ISO film pushed to 800 or higher. I used to push Tri-X to 3200 to get grain like Ian's got above but could have used a better developer for slightly finer grain had I wanted to.
 
FujiLove said:
Why is this thread not safe for work?

(And no, I didn't come here looking for boobies [emoji14] )
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Sorry guys I've no idea how I managed to flag it as NSFW...

Thanks so much for the great information. Reading the posts is slowly bringing back some long forgotten information. It really is a great help!
 
Nomad Z said:
Its nominal speed is 1000, and Kodak suggest using it at 800 to keep things in line with normal film speed increments (so a slight over exposure)...

https://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sites/prod/files/files/products/F4001.pdf

To answer the question in the OP, changing the camera's setting doesn't change the behaviour of the film. The setting in the camera is only for the built-in light meter and, as such, only changes the suggested (or automated) exposure settings. As noted above, setting to 100 would result in over-exposure; and 800 would probably be a better choice at this time of year for shots using natural light.
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Yeah, I did set the camera to 800. My couple of shots were OK. My son found his shots over exposed, but that was due to being a novice.
 
Harlequin565 said:
P3200 is a confusing film for sure... (more info here: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/tmax-3200.688182/#post-8312858)

I've just got back from the office christmas party shot (and metered and developed!) at 3200. It was fine. Grainy as hell, but fine. The "box" speed is 3200, it's DX coding is 3200. If I'd shot it at 800, these images would have been 2 stops brighter... Personally, I can't imagine giving these 2 more stops of light without under developing... Shooting this film at 100 is - as NIge says - 5 stops over...

(Below images developed in Rodinal which isn't the best for high grain films and has probably made things worse)

View attachment 262827

View attachment 262828

View attachment 262829

My suggestion would be to avoid any confusion for a beginner and stick some HP5 Plus in there and shoot that. Once your son has got the hang of the basics he can move on to the trickier films. As always though, we're here to help!
Click to expand...
Makes total sense, thanks H565.
 
I love grain
When I shot and developed B&W 30+ years ago, I used to shoot HP5 (400) at 1600 to photograph indoor gigs, outdoor gigs, and prob some other stuff, and then pull it back in developing. With a big aperture, everything but the subject was not only blurry but really grainy as well, so pics were quite “expresssive”

I also used to go the other extreme and use PANF and print it with high contrast filters on that Ilford multi-contrast paper that you used to use the coloured filters on the enlarger

Oh those were the days, drinking beer in the darkroom and inhaling all the chemicals !

Sorry for thread drift on a Friday night
 
Why not try some Ilford XP2 instead? It's a black and white film but it's processed using the colour C41 print film type process, so sending it to a film lab to be developed is usually cheaper (it's no good trying to home develop it using a standard black and white film developing kit though, if that's the aim, as it will ruin it!).

Plus, there's a good trick with XP2: Set the camera to 400 ISO (or ASA) and take your photos normally on a dull or cloudy day. However, if the sun comes out and it's a nice bright day, you can turn the ISO/ASA setting on the camera down to 200 ISO and carry on shooting on the same roll of film (but don't forget to switch back to 400 ISO if the sun goes in!). Then send the film off to be developed normally (no need to ask them to push or pull the processing) and all should be well.

That exposure latitude means that XP2 is a nice, friendly (providing you remember how to work the ISO trick, but that's optional, not compulsory, - so you can just leave it at 400 ISO if you want to keep things simple!) black and white film to use. Hope this is useful.
 
Sev112 said:
I also used to go the other extreme and use PANF and print it with high contrast filters on that Ilford multi-contrast paper that you used to use the coloured filters on the enlarger
Click to expand...
That's still how Multigrade works. As for the beer and chems, get back there! (y)
 
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