Thursday, September 16, 2021

Fomapan

 I spent an hour at the Botanical Garden with my Kodak Reflex II.  I shot a roll of Fomapan 400 with the continuing hope that one of my usual developers would yield results that I can live with.  I processed this roll in PMK Pyro.







The negatives were very thin, looking like they could have used a couple more stops exposure or quite a bit more time in the developer.  

Meanwhile, Adorama had a half-price sale on Across II, so I picked up five rolls.  I also still have a few rolls of expired Tri-X that I like.  I'll play around with my few remaining rolls of Fomapan, but I'm not real optimistic about the prospects of getting what I want in regard to grain and tonal values.

6 comments:

Jim Grey said...

Sure seems like that your play is to buy films you like in large quantities on sale and freeze them, rather than keep trying to make budget films work for you.

Mike said...

I have seen some decent results from Fomapan, but I haven't been able to duplicate them recently. Looking back at the few rolls of the film I used in the past I see some that looked basically ok, so I'm thinking there could be some faults in the film's production. Meanwhile, I was alerted by a friend to a sale at Adorama on Acros II in 120, so I picked up five and am looking forward to seeing if the new version will meet my expectations. I also still have some expired Tri-X which continues to give me good results.

Mike said...

I should add that at present my only real issue is with the available 120-format films. For 35mm I'm perfectly happy with Kentmere in both 100 and 400 speeds; it is great stuff at a reasonable price.

Jim Grey said...

What do you develop the Kentmere in? I've had it commercially developed and haven't liked the results much.

Mike said...

I usually shoot Kentmere at a stop less than box speed and then develop in PMK Pyro. It also does pretty well in HC110 at full speed. I like the tight grain and the tonal range with good detail in shadows and highlights. My inspiration for using Kentmere came from Rick Drawbridge, who posts his work on Photonet and Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/31253629@N08/)

Jim Grey said...

Good to know about HC-110. That's becoming my usual developer - easy to use, one shot, stores well long term. I have plenty of b/w film right now but when I clear through my stock I'll try Kentmere again. I've only ever had the stuff commercially developed and I've never been thrilled with the results.