How should I develop Kodak T-Max 100 if it was overexposed by about 1.5–2 stops?
Asked 8/6/2016
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I shot Kodak T-Max 100 in an Agfa Click II, which has a fixed shutter speed of about 1/30 s and aperture choices around f/11 (sunny) and f/8.8 (overcast). Compared with Sunny 16, my exposures may be roughly 1.5–2 stops over, so the film was effectively exposed closer to EI 25–50.
I usually develop with Adonal/Rodinal and scan the negatives, with occasional darkroom printing. For black-and-white negative film, should I just develop T-Max 100 normally, or should I reduce development (pull) for the overexposure? If using Rodinal, is there any reason to prefer 1+25, 1+50, or 1+100 for this situation?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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If it were me, I would develop at the normal recommended time. Why, you overexposed 1 2/3 stop; that will bring out shadow detail. T-Max does quite well with over exposure. Please do not over think this. If your camera is a bit old the shutter speed will be off from what you set it to, i.e one of my cameras set to 1/500 is actually 1/350. Go ahead develop normally all will be good.
Another thought, during developing do not think about pulling a film, it will make little difference. It is when under exposing one should give thought to changing the developing time.
Okay, I am speaking from fifty years of experience, with hundreds of rolls of developed film. Overexposed film gained little if any from changing developing times. However under exposer gained much from extending the developing times. From personal experience at a football game the flash quit. From then on I shot that game at three to four stops of under exposure. During developing I needed to extend developing, results were serviceable for newspapers. Testing overexposure I did not see any results that proved pull development worth while. With B&W over exposure can be adjusted during printing, not so much with under exposure.
Again, one to two stops over exposure, develop normally. Truly it will be okay. Keep it simple.
Originally by user52913. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user52913
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For black-and-white negative film, about 1.5–2 stops of overexposure is usually not a problem. T-Max 100 generally tolerates overexposure well, and the main effect is often better shadow detail. Based on the answers, the safest choice is to develop normally rather than overthinking a pull process.
With negative film, changing development time matters more for underexposure than for modest overexposure. Also, with an older camera, the real shutter speed may differ from its marked value, so your actual exposure may not be exactly what you calculated.
If you want to use Rodinal/Adonal, one answer suggests semi-stand development at 1+100 as a reasonable option for overexposed film. But normal development is still likely to give good results.
So the practical recommendation is: develop normally first. If you later find the negatives too dense for your workflow, then experiment with reduced development on future rolls. Since you’ll be scanning, a slightly dense negative is often still manageable.
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