Yes there's a happy middle approach, some initial testing is worthwhile, particularly to find your own personal speed index & development times for a particular film / developer combination.
I'd suggest you shoot at 100 ISO then bracket by 2 stops either way in half stop increments.. If your using 35mm just shoot, take the camear into the darkroom and in the dark open the camera back wind on 2 frames and cut the film only processing what you've exposed that way you can probably do 3 development tests per film.
Ian |