A Question about Film
I'm looking for advice - I mistakenly shot an entire roll of 100 ISO black and white film at 400. I took it to a B&W developing place in Quito, but all my limited understanding of Spanish allowed me to decipher, through fast talking and handwaving by the guy on the other side of the counter, is that I'm screwed. Is there anything I can do, whether it involves something special when developing the film into negatives, or when making prints, that will save some of the pictures? I know that all of the pictures will be hugely underexposed but I'm hoping there's some way not to lose the roll.
7 comments:
My understanding is that skilful developing can largely compensate for underexposure of the film, though not at the same quality level as correctly exposed film. This is certainly true for a one stop (100ASA to 200ASA) underexposure, and may be true for your situation. Jess may remember more from our Glen Echo darkroom days.
Can't help you with advice about your film crisis, but I'm sure others will have their two cents, pence or Rupees to add :).
Hope you don't have any more "tamasha's" like the altitude one. Remember when you went ski-ing with Sabah in Colorado, and thought that your headache had been cased by jumping on the bed and hitting the ceiling?... Hmmm, mabe there was another factor to be considered.
Please take care, M---- says! You don't need to seek out the excitemnt; it'll happen anyway!
All hope is not lost. I have a habit of shooting film at the wrong ISO. Better to shoot the whole film at the wrong setting than only half!
D is right: You need to find a good camera store, so maybe hold onto the film for a bit. The negative development can be adjusted to compensate for the wrong exposure times. If you shot 100ISO at 400ISO, all your negs are under-exposed. Pics will be dark, negs will be white - I'm guessing that the negs will need a much shorter time in the developper.
Sounds like you were lucky in getting down in time from Cotopaxi - and the guide sounds reliable/responsible.
Nige, Hang on to you your film and take it to a professional lab only. They will be able to push the film when they develop it to the rating you had set the camera. According to www.Photonotes.org "Push processing increases the contrast and graininess of the film and you usually lose a lot of shadow detail." Quito must certainly have a professional lab(s) if you don't want to wait till later. At least you won't have wasted a film!
lol, Lindy
Thanks all for your advice. I'll hang onto my film until I come across a good developing lab, and until I can speak enough Spanish to explain the situation.
Nothing new to add, just a vote with the others. My understanding is the same -- if they know about it when developing the film, they can adjust the process but the photos will be grainier.
Hi Nige , glad that you made it down in time . I am adding my vote to the not repeating that again . I had one experience with altitude sickness which luckily did not allow to progress any further and I came back down the mountain the next day .I couldn't figure out why I had no energy and a mild headache but had done enough reading to recognize the symptoms eventually. It was in the Eastern Sierra and only at about 10,000 feet or a bit more. My camping partner was not too amused at ending the trip early but I insisted!
I am enjoying reading your blog and seeing the photos . Keep it up!
Stay safe , lol from Jill
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