In article <50pk2l$cgj@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>, htl10@cus.cam.ac.uk says...
>There are MANY films faster than 800ASA; even 1000ASA. I just have my
>Fuji film book with me; FujiChrome Provia is in 1600ASA. And I know Kodak
>has a Ektar 1000ASA print film. As for B/w, you can get Kodak T-max P3200; >supposedly pushable to Asa 12500.
Hmmm, several recent posts make me wonder if the writers bothered to read
my post, or even the original poster's post....;-) For those who didn't
read them, here they are, again......[with *'s added for emphasis ;-]:
In article
>This seems to apply both to B&W and colour.
>Even when push processed I just can't seem to find a film that will
>[*]truly[*] give a rating of over 800 ASA.
>
>For example if you push process a 400 ASA film by two stops, what would
>have been mid tones, become highlights. However on close examination
>there seems to be much less detail in the shadow areas, than would have
>been there had the film been exposed two more stops and developed
>normally.
>
>There have been very good 400 ASA B&W films for decades (TriX & HP5) and
>now the same is true with colour. Some films and developers will give
>fair results at 800 ASA, but beyond this there seems to be little
>progress.
>
>So is there really an 800 ASA plus film ?
If you mean, "Is there really a high-quality film *truly* faster than 800?",
I would say no. True film speed is determined by shadow density, and pushing
film does little to change the shadow speed that is inherent in the emulsion
(it just increases contrast, resulting in progressively more density on the film for a given exposure as you move up the tonal scale toward the highlights). In color negative materials, both Fuji 800 and Ektapress 1600
make good-quality prints when exposed at 800 ASA. A couple of slide films
designed to be push-processed for normal results are acceptable at 650 ASA
or so. Tri-X, TMZ, and some other B & W films will produce very good results
when exposed around 800 and processed in developers designed to maximize effective speed (like Acufine, and others). But, if the standard is a *good-quality, full tonal range image*, I have yet to see anything that can
provide that at a speed significantly above 800 ASA (though fresh Konica
3200 exposed at 1600 can be fun..., as can TMZ exposed and processed for
2000-2500 - but high quality, they aren't).
Hope This Helps