[Leica] Don't push that film ...

[daniel.ridings at edd.uio.no (Daniel Ridings)]

Mark Rabiner wrote:

>>>So you are underexposing these shots a stop?
>>
>>Not consciously, Mark. That was the point of using a 1.4 lens ... to get
>>an extra shutter speed _without_ under-exposing.
> 
> 
> They don't look a stop under but my point being with a subject having
> tonality just in this range it could be a stop under and it would not 
> matter
> much in the production of a viable image.

Yes, it dawned on me after re-reading your letter. Since there are no 
shadows (to speak of), and a very narrow tonal range, it could have been 
pushed or shoved all around and still get a decent print.

> We'd never know.
> Did you take a general reading and open up a stop?

Incident light reading ... about the same thing.

> When it first came out before the Tmax developer was invented and everyone
> was using D76 1:1 with it we all felt it needed to be set at 320.
> This was the first tab grain film.
> We were taught to be paranoid about exposure and agitation.
> Most of that being baloney on the long run.
> And they fixed the speed thing in a few years it's up to snuff (400) now.
> At least it as 5 years ago the last time I used it.

I only started using it withing the last year, and then almost 
exclusively with Xtol. As you suggest, it does hold up well up around 
the 640 and 800 range. I arrived at that conclusion basically by using 
your method, or a variant of it. I noticed time and time again that I 
could get by with a little less exposure. Funny thing about Tmax ... 
even when you look at the negative and think "that'll never work" ... 
there's a lot more detail than you would expect when you get around to 
making a print. I guess we don't really need negatives that are so thick 
they're bullet-proof. Thin's fine (wish _I_ was ...)


> I've been shooting and buying late 70's Vintage Nikors this month.
> I just landed a 105 2.5 AI.
> 
> By the way here's a Nikor I'd just gotten an AI 50 in the mid 80ss and shot
> this wide open with Agfapan 400 in Rodinal.
> http://rabinergroup.com/ImagePages/Sydney.html

Whoa! He pops right out at you. Must be gorgeous on paper.

I've got my eye on a 105/2.5 too. A lot of these classic lenses are 
going for a song. I kept all of my old bodies (well, not all of them) so 
I can still use them. Work fine on the D100 too with an external meter. 
Might even work by stopping down for all I know.

Now ... if only the Summiluxes from the same day would fall in price :-)

Daniel