Got told my negatives were too dense and it changed everything about my developing process

I took a roll of HP5 to a local lab in Portland last month and the guy said my negatives were way thicker than they should be. He asked if I was compensating for underexposure and I told him I just followed the times on the Massive Dev Chart. He laughed and said those times are a starting point not gospel. He told me to cut my development time by like 20% and agitate less. Tried it with a roll of Tri-X last week and the scans came out way cleaner with actual shadow detail. Has anyone else had a lab tech or random old head give you advice that made you rethink your whole workflow?

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uma3062d agoTop Commenter

Wait, the Massive Dev Chart guy laughed at you? That's wild. I mean, I've been using that chart for like three years and just assumed those times were, you know, the actual correct times. Never once thought to question them. Maybe it's just me but the idea that a lab tech would just straight up say "those are starting points" is kind of blowing my mind. I always thought they were like the Bible of development, guess I was wrong. Gonna have to re-think my own process now honestly.