One of the challenges I’ve encountered as I dive deeper into the technical side of black-and-white photography is settling on a single film and developer. If you’re like me, you might feel there are so many options available that it’s hard to commit to just one. For years, I shot almost exclusively with Kodak Tri-X, a classic black-and-white film. It’s incredibly flexible—whether I’m pushing it, pulling it, underexposing, or overexposing, I’ve always been able to rely on it for a usable image. When it comes to developers, I’ve been a Kodak D-76 fan for the same reasons: it’s cheap, versatile, and forgiving.
But now, with Kodak prices rising and less free time (having a kid will do that to you), I’ve started exploring alternatives. I’m leaning more toward Ilford HP5 these days, a film that’s very similar to Tri-X in terms of flexibility and performance, but at a more affordable price point. I’ve also switched from D-76 to Kodak HC-110 as my go-to developer. HC-110 comes in a concentrated liquid form that makes it easy to mix only what I need, and it stays shelf-stable for much longer than D-76, which is a huge advantage now that I’m not developing as frequently.
One resource that transformed my understanding of film photography is John Finch, a photographer and YouTuber from Pictorial Planet. Finch goes beyond the surface-level techniques and provides a methodology that fine-tunes film speed and development to individual workflows. His approach addresses the fact that the film speed on the box is arbitrary, designed under lab conditions that rarely align with personal shooting environments. This blog post documents my experience applying Finch’s methods to achieve precision in my film development process.
The Myth of "Box Speed"
Box speed is often taken as a given in film photography, but Finch's work reveals that this speed is simply a starting point. It's based on specific lab conditions that don’t necessarily translate to every photographer’s unique development process. By following Finch’s method, we recalibrate the film’s speed to better match our specific setups, from the chemicals we use to our development techniques.
For example, shooting film at box speed and developing it per the standard instructions often leaves potential on the table. Factors such as chemical temperature and mixing technique impact the final image quality. By tailoring development to my process, I’ve started achieving negatives that produce superior darkroom prints—something crucial for a larger, personal project I’m working on.
John Finch’s Film Speed Testing Method
John Finch’s approach is all about getting precise with your exposure and development workflow. He explains it much better than I can (check out his original video here), but here’s a quick summary of the steps I followed:
Set up your camera at the box speed of your chosen film (in my case, HP5 at 400 ISO).
Film Base Plus Fog Frame: In subdued light, cap the lens and take a completely black frame for later use in determining "maximum black" on your prints.
Take test exposures of a perfectly evenly lit, mid-gray-toned surface (I used a grey couch cushion). Use your camera’s light meter or a hand-held meter to determine the correct exposure for “Zone 5” in the Zone System. If you’re unfamiliar with Ansel Adams’ Zone System, the idea is to divide the tonal range from pure black to pure white into 11 zones, with zone 5 being a mid-gray. Decrease exposure by 4 stops to get the “Zone 1” exposure, which represents the darkest part of your image that still retains some detail. Then continue taking exposures, increasing by 1/3 stop intervals, until you reach "Zone 1 + 2 stops." This will give you the data points to analyze how your film performs across exposure ranges.
Develop the film according to the chosen developer’s instructions (in my case, HC110, which I mixed 10mL in 290mL of water at 68°F for 5 minutes, using the Ilford agitation method).
Set up the enlarger and make test prints using the Film Base Plus Fog frame. Starting with a test strip (I used 8 exposures at 1 second each), determine the time that gives you maximum black on the print. Once you have that, print your Zone 1 frame for comparison. Repeat the process for each exposure until you find the frame where the print is "just off black"—that frame tells you how your film should be rated in that developer.
My Results
For this test, I used a Minolta Maxxum 9 paired with a Minolta AF 28-70mm f/2.8G lens. I set up my grey couch cushion as the test surface, and following Finch’s method, I shot from Zone 1 up to Zone 1 + 2 stops, using 1/3 stop intervals. My development was done with Kodak HC110, mixed at a ratio of 10mL of concentrate to 290mL of water, with a 5-minute development time at 68°F.
Negative strip and test print on the light table. After the image of my hand, you can see the negative becoming progressively more dense as the exposure is increased by 1/3 of stop.
Here’s where things got interesting. After setting up my Beseler 23CII enlarger with a 50mm enlarging lens at f/8 and 9.5 inches of height, I made my test strip for maximum black. I ended up using 1-second exposures, not 3 as Finch suggested—using 3 seconds nuked the paper. At 1 second, I found my “maximum black” in 8 intervals.
When I printed the Zone 1 negative, I was surprised to find that it hit just off black right at Zone 1, meaning I was getting the full 400-speed performance from HP5 with HC110. Thinking I might have made an error, I reached out to John Finch through Instagram (you can find him here). He confirmed that HC110 is known for delivering the full box speed of HP5, and it wasn't unusual to see such results.
Printed test strip on the light table. Each change in tone is an increase in the paper's exposure time of 1 second
Wrapping It Up
Using John Finch’s method has already started to transform how I approach my film photography. I’ve learned that optimizing the film speed and matching it to my developer can have a significant impact on the quality of my negatives and, ultimately, my darkroom prints.
If you're a film photographer looking to get the most out of your negatives and prints, I highly recommend trying this method for yourself. It’s time-consuming, but the results speak for themselves. You can check out John Finch's original video here, which goes into even more detail, and follow his method step by step.
Stay tuned for future posts where I’ll be testing other film and developer combinations, including Ilford Delta 100 and Kodak Tri-X. I’ll be diving deep into how these combinations perform in different scenarios and sharing more results along the way. There’s also a part two for this process of optimizing your negatives; using a similar method to dial in the ideal film development time. So look out for that post coming down the line later on.
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http://www.pictorialplanet.com