Overexposed film, under or overdevelop?

[boochap]

I tend to overexpose FP4 by +1 stop to give me more details in the shadow.

For normal contrasty outcome, should I be under or overdevelop the film? and by how much?

[sabahan]

Originally Posted by boochap I tend to overexpose FP4 by +1 stop to give me more details in the shadow. For normal contrasty outcome, should I be under or overdevelop the film? and by how much?

Shorten the dev time by 33% of your normal time

[student]

Originally Posted by sabahan Shorten the dev time by 33% of your normal time

Why? May I ask?

[kex]

if the highlight and shadow area is within ard 5stops,i would just develop as per normal..

if it is more than that,i might give ard 10% less developing time.

33% less dev with 1stop over exposure will get a real thin neg..

[photobum]

Yes, Kex is right. The latitude of FP4 is quite wide. Therefore, shadows and highlights within 5 to 7 stops in exceptable. I used to overexpose my HP5 two stops above metered readings and it is still very printable

[boochap]

Originally Posted by photobum Yes, Kex is right. The latitude of FP4 is quite wide. Therefore, shadows and highlights within 5 to 7 stops in exceptable. I used to overexpose my HP5 two stops above metered readings and it is still very printable

hilight to shadow spread is determined when I do the metering, right?

say if the spread is >7stop, I should underdevelop by how much, in order to get to the normal constrasty film.

[photobum]

Originally Posted by boochap hilight to shadow spread is determined when I do the metering, right? say if the spread is >7stop, I should underdevelop by how much, in order to get to the normal constrasty film.

Oh... you are talking about the Zone System. Do a N-2. For FP4, probably around 20%.

[boochap]

Originally Posted by photobum Oh... you are talking about the Zone System. Do a N-2. For FP4, probably around 20%.

Oic.. got into zone system without knowing it. i had managed to get that before by trial and error on 35mm, forgotten how to do it again.

what is N-2? 20% as in shorter dev time by 20%?

[photobum]

Originally Posted by boochap Oic.. got into zone system without knowing it. i had managed to get that before by trial and error on 35mm, forgotten how to do it again. what is N-2? 20% as in shorter dev time by 20%?

N-2 refers to Normal minus 2 stops, a contraction of say, from Zone VIII to Zone VI.

Reduction of 20% developing time is say, from 10 mins to 8 mins.