Using high ISO film at high speeds - any IQ issues likely?

Naboo32

Naboo32

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Andy
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First off, my apologies if this question is a little naive, but I couldn't seem to find much info on this elsewhere and I'm pretty new to 35mm film :(.

I went out today with a camera loaded with b&w ISO 1600 (Fuji) film, with the intention of shooting mostly indoors, or in shady areas (lighting-wise :D) around the city. In the end, although the sky was grim and overcast, most of the exposures that I made were out in the street, where the F stop that I wanted to use for subject isolation was giving me shutter speeds over the 1/1000th mark (in some cases).

What I would like to know is; is there going to be an issue with image quality (apart from the obvious graininess associated with ISO 1600 film), by shooting 'fast' film at such fast speeds :shrug:?

It strikes me that the main purpose of this film is to suck whatever detail it can out of dimly lit situations, at 'normal' speeds, rather than to offer blisteringly fast shutter speeds in broad daylight :thinking:. So, I'll find out anyway in a week or so, but to save me from wasting the rest of the roll, I'd like to know what the experts think: Am I 'wasting' this film by shooting it this way (where ISO 400 would do just as well) and (more importantly) will the shots come out OK when using it this way :|?

Thanks in advance for all input (y)!
 
Providing the shots are properly exposed, I shouldn't think that there's going go be any issue with IQ other than the grain, tbh... in fact it's similar to shooting digital and forgetting to reset the ISO to something sensible after an indoor club shoot the night before (been there, done that, more than once :bonk:) As you say, it's a bit of a waste of the low-light capabilities of the film, and the 1600 isn't necessarily as nice looking film as the slower, more balanced films, but I wouldn't cry over it. To be honest, I usually just use HP5+ and push it a couple of stops if i need it, rather than buying specific 1600 stock, it seems to work okay with perceptol at stock dilutions, though I've not really experimented much further than that :shrug:
 
I always used to push 400 film rather than use stock 1600, unless I need something like Tmax 3200.

Fuji Neopan 400 pushed 2 stops and developed in Tmax developer was better than most 400 speed films, if you get chance, try it, you will see why :)
 
Thanks for the replies, guys :)!

I must admit, I'm not developing the film myself (at this stage) and will be paying (a premium :() for my local photographic shop to do it. Hence, talk of 'pushing/pulling' film is rather going over my head at the moment.

If I am suitably impressed with the results that I can produce with an SLR and b&w film, I may well invest in the developing gear and give it a go myself. For the moment though, I'm just trying this out to see how it compares with the (faux) b&w, C41 process film that I've been using up until now.

Still, it sounds like all I'm going to suffer with these images is some grain :shrug:. If that's the case, I can live with it, as I wanted to see some grain anyway ;).

Here's hoping that the prints come out OK :naughty:!?
 
Fuji 1600 colour neg film is quite good...I've used it inside a church and the colours and grain are not too bad, but IMO it's more happy at 800asa and also found it doesn't mind lots of exposure (e.g. using a flash gun) and the results are better.

Fuji 1600, about 1/30 sec with camera shake, probably sigma 24mm.
img020-800px.jpg
 
Thanks for posting that, Brian :).

The grain looks to be just about what I would expect for ISO 1600 and as I'm only really looking to have 6"x4" prints made, it should work fine for me.

Obviously, your shot was taken at a (much) slower shutter speed than I've been using today, but from what the others have said, it should still expose properly even with just a 1/1000th sec flash of light :shrug:. Being a of the digital generation of 'toggers, I'm still a little suspicious of film :LOL:.

Hopefully, I get the rest of the roll used up tonight (using slower shutter speeds) and then I can see how Neopan 1600 handles being shot at the various speeds and lighting conditions :|.
 
***Being a of the digital generation of 'toggers, I'm still a little suspicious of film***

Well horses for courses, and if I owned a top DSLR would use digital and film at/for their individual advantages....so with IS and less noise would say some DSLRs win for hand held low light colour shots.
 
First of all, B/W film has huge latitude, that is to say that you can capture usable negs a loooong way either side of a perfect exposure.
I think Neopan 1600 would be better shot at iso 1000 in the dark and dingy, like Ilford 3200, that would bring down your shutter speed.
The thing with the shutter speed is, quite apart from detail sucking, in all likelihood when shooting film there's a good chance you are using equipment of some age, I kinda feel that expecting this equipment to still be able to produce an open and shut to 1/1000th of a second accurately time after time, a bit tight.
 
joxby said:
First of all, B/W film has huge latitude, that is to say that you can capture usable negs a loooong way either side of a perfect exposure.
I think Neopan 1600 would be better shot at iso 1000 in the dark and dingy, like Ilford 3200, that would bring down your shutter speed.
The thing with the shutter speed is, quite apart from detail sucking, in all likelihood when shooting film there's a good chance you are using equipment of some age, I kinda feel that expecting this equipment to still be able to produce an open and shut to 1/1000th of a second accurately time after time, a bit tight.
Click to expand...

I am indeed using SLRs that are well past their 'sell by' dates, but I hope that they are still capable of following the commands of the exposure meter :shrug:.

I shot most of the rest of the roll of ISO 1600 (b&w) film tonight - hopefully, it responded well to the 1/50th - 1/100th sec shutter speeds, which were suggested by the camera's built-in meter :|. If not, it was a lot of hard wok for nothing :puke:!

I hope to finish off the roll tomorrow and get the prints back before the end of next week. Then we'll see just how 'forgiving' ISO 1600 film really is :naughty:.

Thanks (again) to everyone who posted (y).
 
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