The complaints with this particular film have been on n' off for years. Maybe the fact that the sheet film footprint of it was limited while Fortepan/Bergger 200 was still around didn't turn up the microphone enough. I read plenty of complaints even from Europe about the 120 version, which might or might not be analogous. Perhaps the students and casual contact prints who work with the sheets aren't all that fussy to begin with, and can't tell their own scratches and air bubbles from actual film defects. It's a shame. The potential uses for this film in high-contrast situations are pretty remarkable if it could ever be trusted. I too hustled when Ilford film was temporarily in short supply, and might still have a box of 8x10 FP4+ in the freezer due to that panic. I thawed one out not long ago and it was still perfect. But this film and esp HP5 have very different printing personalities than TMY, which fortunately, I stocked up on pretty good in 8x10 when it was a lot cheaper than it is now. For 4x5 I prefer Acros in the mtns at least; but it has recently gotten even more expensive than TMY. In roll film it is
a bargain.
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Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings
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