Topic: Push/Pull Film?

[Steven.]

Hey everyone! So about a couple months ago I started shooting 120 film and now I moved down to 35mm (weird order, right?) and was wondering about pushing/pulling film.

I know what pushing and pulling is, but how can I use it correctly?

For example, if I have some Ilford 3200 and pull it to 100, would that turn out really bad?
or on the other hand, if I had 125 speed film and pushed it to 1000 or something would that be okay?

I know pushing increases contrast (I think), but I could only find so much stuff on google.

Anyone care to share? 

Thanks in advance.

[choppert]

Hello

My simple understanding would be that pushing and pulling film a couple of stops would normally give OK results.  (100 up to 400, 3,200 down to 800)

Pulling a 3,200 ISO film to 100 would probably give some crazy results.  Contrast and all those sorts of things aside you'd probably have huge grain for a 100 ISO photo.  Give it a whirl and see, you might like the results.  One man's meat is another man's mustard.

Other FWs will be able to give more specific advice, though I imagine the underlying sentiment will be "have a go and let us know"

Chops

[DS]

Hi & welcome.

I push film quite a lot and rarely pull it (unless I meter wrong). The short answer is it depends on the film and developer combination and what's acceptable to you in terms of grain and contrast. Some films are fairly forgiving, others not so. Some developers, like microphen and diafine will push better than others, like rodinal. Searching Flickr, Apug and such is a reasonable way to get a handle on what is possible with different combos. The massive dev chart is also a good place to look at: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

Otherwise I'll echo Chops and say experiment and see what you like

[Alan]

If you shoot iso100 film @ iso800 you need to compensate at the developing stage.

you have overexposed the film by 3 stops and generally speaking you
compensate by 20% per stop in developing.

So you underdevelop by 60%

as mentioned some films react better than others to this but I only know of one . .

Fuji Acros100 ! as mentiooned in another thread.

[Urban Hafner]

So how far have you pushed Acros? I've seen it exposed at ISO 1600 (http://caffenol.blogspot.com/2010/03/juliette.html ), but it seems that this only works if you know how to correctly scan the result.

Urban

[Francois]

Pushing and pulling development is a way to control contrast.
If your scene has a lot of contrast, overexposing and pulling development will bring the image into a printable range. Usually, pulling ultra high ISO film is pretty pointless since the film is mostly geared towards push processing jobs.

A high contrast night scene exposed on 400 ISO film at EI 100 that is pulled processed will give some pretty incredible results with unusually high details even in the deepest shadows.

On the other hand, push processing will increase contrast more rapidly. Pushing low ISO film is also pretty pointless. Pushing 100 ISO film to EI 400 would work... but I just see no reason to do it. Pushing it further would just make the image unreadable (if even present at all). Don't forget that information that isn't recorded in the first place can't be developed. It all has to do with those little silver crystals. I know that 400 ISO film can be pushed quite a bit. EI 1600 is definitely not out of reach for it.

To know if something makes sense, you have to remember that B&W film has at most a 9 stop range... and that every scene you're shooting has an even bigger range than that! Processing doesn't increase or decrease sensitivity. It just gives you the illusion that it does.

[Jeff Warden]

I agree with the advice about pushing/pulling two stops or so, but not more unless you're prepared for aggressive results.

For me, let's say if I only have a roll of iso400 film (which is never, hehe):
 - In bright sun, I use iso 250
 - In normal or lower contrast I use iso400
 - "Golden hour" images that need to be handheld, iso800
 - Interior photography with challenging light that need to be handheld, iso1600

And then I use the massive devchart for hints on how other photographers adjust developing with the chemicals I use. 

The best approach I think is to first shoot at the manufacturer's recommended settings and develop the film to their specs, and see if you like it.  Then experiment and have fun with it.

Another "best approach" of course is to always have more than one kind of film if your refrigerator is big enough  :-)  Using films like Neopan 1600 indoors and Plus-X 125 in the Sun is a good approach.  I usually like the results better if I use fast and slow films as they were intended, as opposed to forcing one film to do too much.  The problem with that approach is that the films have a different grain structure and that bothers some folks. 

Welcome to Filmwasters!

Cheers,

Jeff

[Mojave]

Pushing and pulling development is a way to control contrast.

I never knew that Francois. You have just given me a new tool. Thank you!!

[Francois]

You're welcome
That's why I'm here

[Alan]

I have only ever pushed or pulled film by 1 stop maybe 2 stops once.

excellend advice and tips for sure above!

[Steven.]

thanks for the replies everyone. the only reason i want to know is because i was given some 3200 film and my yashica electro 35 gsn only goes up to 1000  

i'm still reading the responses a 2nd time, but i think i have a better understanding now.

**edit: i was reading around and found a couple sites that say some higher speed films like t max 3200 are actually 800 speed. does that also apply to my ilford delta 3200? sorry i've only shot 100-400 speed film before so all of this is very foreign to me 

[Francois]

Exposing a roll of 3200 ISO film at EI 800 is just a 2 stop difference. It should be quite an easy process to do. Check the Ilford literature on it. They usually are quite good.

[Windy]

I had a go at pushing film a few weeks back at the local HebCeltFest. I shot legacy pro (neopan) 400 @ 1600 and stand developed in Rodinal for 90 mins (Andrea's advice).

Some of the results


The Party's Over, HebCeltFest 2011 by windy_, on Flickr


Willie Campbell - Open Day Rotation. HebCeltFest 2011 by windy_, on Flickr