In article <329497d1.0@news.nucleus.com>, edwards@nucleus.com says...
>curious (jone0089@gold.tc.umn.edu) wrote:

>: It entirely depends on your usage -- how consistent your processing
>: is, and whether you like tight grain or a bit of a raw edge to your
>: work. Plus-X, Kodak's 125 entry is nice and forgiving, works very
>: well with D-76 or T-Max developper and has a more classic feel to it.
>: Agfa 125 has very similar characteristics. T-Max always seems to have
>: a very artificial feel to it -- too fine grained for my tastes,
>: (except the 3200 at 1600 is nice). I have heard several of my
>: photographers complain they don't like the characteristics of FujiPan
>: film.
>: At the newspaper we always shoot Tri-X 400. You can push it to 1600
>: for low light, you can pull it nicely to 200 and have fine grain. But
>: it is really a matter of taste and pocketbook.

>A lady at a local professional photo lab mentioned the same thing, her
>preference was Tri-X which she regulary pushed to 800,and pulled to 320
>and even 100... What does all this pushing and pulling do to the image
>quality, especially Tri-X pulled to 100 vs a 100 iso film?

Tri-X is a VERY versatile, very good film (that has been around a VERY
long time....;-). Pulling film results in lowered brilliance, along with
lowered contrast (an excellent film for this is Fuji Neopan 400 rated
at 200-250 - wonderful shadow detail, without the usual drawbacks of
pull-processed film), often resulting in having insufficient density
range for good blacks and whites when printed on normal paper grades
(raising the grade defeats the purpose of pulling...). BTW, I took
pull processing to the extreme for a show I put together (appeared
in a couple of dozen museums years ago...) called "Soft Images" - I
exposed Tri-X at 25, processed in POTA developer (almost 20-stop
range! But VERY low brilliance...). Neat to be able to shoot the
inside of a building and the sunny street all with the same exposure,
or see detail in dark, shaded wet bark, and also see the sun in the
sky in the same print... Tri-X can also be exposed at 800 for near-normal
contrast, using Acufine developer (price paid is in larger grain and a
slight loss in sharpness and tonal "niceness" compared with D-76 and
400). Pushing further results in loss of shadow and/or highlight
information when printed, though careful dodging/burning/bleaching/fogging
can restore some of it. BTW, my favorite B & W films are the non-pro
versions of Plus-X and Tri-X, TMX, and Fuji Neopan 400.
Hope This Helps