Can any one give me some tips on using 3200 for facial or glamour shots. I`m trying Tech PAn and TMZ for fun, and hoping for some nice results. I use Canon AE1s so I cannot rate it over ?? 800/1000?Im not sure the top iso. Any comments? Thanks anyone

-- Thomas Horan (Fishman57@aol.com), October 18, 1998

Answers

Reply to TMZ for portraits

TMZ has quite a bit of grain, to state the obvious you are probably going for that "grainy look". If you are happy with the metering in your camera just get a reading at 800 for a given f-stop/shutter speed then add 1,2 or 3 stops for a 1600/3200/6400 rating. If your camera has an apeture priority "A" setting on the shutter speed dial it should also have up to a +/- 2(stop) compensation on either side of the "A" so you may be able to meter at 1600/3200 iso.

Good luck!!

P.S. use a developer with high sharpness or the grain will look fuzzy.

-- Michael Haas (incept@the-wire.com), October 19, 1998.

TMZ is a fine film, despite its grain. I use it rated at 1600 and developed in HC-110 for 6 minutes @ 75F. It also works well in Rodinal, 9 minutes @ 1:50 @ 75F, which will give you even more grain. Not surprisingly, it's optimized for contrasty low light situations. If your camera's meter doesn't go higher than 1000, try hand metering, or simply extrapolate a setting. As for Tech Pan, I have no experience with it personally, but I find Ilford Pan F to be a superb fine grain film, if that's what you want. Probably a lot less demanding than Tech Pan.

-- Peter Hughes (leonine@redshift.com), October 20, 1998.

FWIW, I rate it at EI 800, developed in T-Max dev for 9.5m at 24 deg C. Very clean, sharp grain, which does wonders for reducing the effect of skin "blemishes". Possibly because of the grain, it doesn't seem to work well with woolen clothing, or finely-patterned fabrics.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), October 20, 1998.