Film Diary series is a project to showcase a roll of film shot on a camera in the same day.
Location: Holland Village Singapore
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Carl Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2.8
Film: Kentmere 400 pushed to 800
Developer: Kodak Tmax Professional Developer (1:4), 10 mins, 20°C.
Scanner: Epson V600
I rarely pushed my film because I don’t quite like the harsh look pushed film gives.
However, this time round I have decided to push my Kentmere 400 one stop up to 800, for no reason, just for fun.
When pushing the film one stop up, we are subjecting the film to less exposure. So, we have to compensate for the loss of light during developing.
The developing times of Kentmere at ISO 400 is 5.5 minutes in 20°C. So, I guess to develop at ISO 800, it should be doubling the time? Hence, I make it a 10-minute developing time.
Let’s see how the images turned out:
Kentmere 400 pushed to 800

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)
I started shooting at about 5.45pm and it happened to have a very good weather that day with strong evening sun. With ISO 800, I used f/8-11, shutter speed 1/250th. So it’s my mistake for overexposing the shots.
I did some exposure adjustment in the Epson software to make the photos less striking.
The high ISO is only useful in the late evening or under shelter.

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Holland Village, Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)
As time passed, the sky got darker. That’s when the benefits of ISO 800 kicked in.
It allowed me to shoot at 1/125 f/8 or sometimes f/11 if the subject is bright colour such as a white wall.

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Selfie, Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800 (2017)
How do you think of Kentmere 400 pushed to 800?
I think it definitely makes the photos a lot more grainy.
Anyway, do you realised that in the first two shots, I was trying to be Fan Ho? Of course it didn’t work out.
Film Diary #1: Kodak Tri-X 400 on Leica M6
Film Diary #2: Tudorcolor XLX 200 on Leica M6
Film Diary #3: Ilford Delta 400 on Leica M6
Film Diary #4: Ilford FP4 Plus 125 on Yashica T5D
Film Diary #5: Kodak Color Plus 200 on Leica M6