FOMA iso 100 negative film: any opinions?

[Jiri Vasina]

Well Kirk, the reciprocity characteristics is not that good - check the datasheet at Foma's website - basically, you have to adjust exposure starting at times of mere 1sec (add 1EV), at 10sec you have to add 3EV (expose for 80sec), and instead of 100sec exposure, you have to wait for 1600sec (like 27minutes) with the shutter open!!

But if your exposures are not limited by the time, if your composition and idea permits exposure for so long, the resulting negatives are nice and good to work with further...

[Ron Marshall]

I've used the 200 and found it to be close to FP4, with a bit more contrast. A very nice film, which I shoot at EI 125. Can't comment on the 100.

[cobalt]

I use the Arista.edu Ultra also. I love this film. I prefer to develop in in Tmax or Acufine.

[cobalt]

One more...pardon the sloppy repair (light leak!) via Photoshop.

[Joakim Ahnfelt]

I shoot it in 9x12cm and 13x18cm (and 120rolls too), develop in R09 (Foma's Rodinal equivalent) and like it a lot. I develop the smaller sheets in HP Combi Plan tanks, the larger in trays. It's my main slow film...

I've just bought the same things. 18x24 and R09 but haven't tried it yet. What times do you use for 18x24? Just curious for a starting point.

Cheers

[Jiri Vasina]

Joakim, my maximum size (so far ) is only 13x18cm. But anyway, I expose the sheets at EI 80, develop in tanks in R09 1+40 @ 20°C for 10:30min, agitation first 30sec continuosly then one inversion every minute. I do a presoak of 5mins.

For the larger sheets developed in trays, I don't do a presoak (not enough trays, not enough space to place all the trays; and I always fear someone will run into the bathroom, so want the sheets to be safe as soon as possible). I develop for 12mins with continuous agitation (rocking the tray all the time). But I finally got a Jobo 2830 tank and will also develop the 13x18cm sheets in a daylight tank...

Please, use these times only as input for your tests, not for something important...

[eddie]

hi,

i use it and love it. i use it for pinhole and lens photography. i use the pinhole designer to figure my reciprocity. it works great.

i develop it with hc110 dil g (1:119) for 18 min. 68 degrees. agitation for teh first min and then every 3rd after that. i also use dil. h for 9 min with agitation every 1.5 min.

enjoy.

eddie

[Scott Davis]

I do the Fomapan (the Arista.EDU variant) 200 5x7 in Pyrocat HD, 1:1:100, in a Jobo Expert drum. I rate it at 100, and I have no issues with uneven development. I use mine for pt/pd printing. Yes, it has horrible reciprocity issues, so for shots I'm planning on using longer than 2-3 seconds indicated exposure, I switch to FP4+. At 5x7, The two films (Fomapan 200 and Ilford FP4+) are very hard to distinguish, except that the Foma is less red-sensitive. It's less than full panchromatic, more than orthochromatic.

[Jiri Vasina]

Foma 200 and Foma 100 are very different animals, they have different sensitivity, different speed, different reaction to developers. Do not generalize knowledge with one to knowledge with the other.

But I like both of them, too (although the 200 variant I know only in rolls)...

[Joakim Ahnfelt]

Thank's Jiri