Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Whenever anyone asked me what they should do for general black and white street photography with real, not chromegic black and white film I advise them to do what I do. Which is Neopan 1600 @ 1600 in Xtol 1:3. I seem to go between this and Neopan 100 in the studio or for tripod stuff. Hardly ever using the 400. As I seem to be getting better than what I always thought of as "400 results" from my 1600. With certainly full shadow detail. I develop my Neopan 1600 in Xtol 1:3 for 11 minutes. The rest you'd have to interpolate for the way you do it: My temp. is 70 degrees F. I agitate every minute. And for the first full minute. That's it. The results are remarkable. If you showed me those 16x20 prints 20 years ago I'd guess the ASA was slower than 400. 300! Which they never made that's just how I judge my quality. Darkroom 16x20s more than hold together without looking stretched full range they have a real vitality. And you get your cake and eat it too. Amazingly fine grain AND the appearance of great sharpness. And I pre soak. How you'd interpolate for that I don't know. Could go either way. Maybe I used to know. As others seem to be using 2 - 3 minutes more than me maybe that's it. Mark Rabiner 8A/109s New York, NY markrabiner.com