First impressions fomapan 100

[Gary Tarbert]

hi , i have now shot about 25 sheets of Fomapan 100 in 8x10 format , first impressions are favourable , Exposure correction for reciprocity is huge , i had some 30 second exposures middle of the day overcast , metered 4 secs average @ f45, But the negs look good Just souped them still drying !. , Will share some of the images on the forum once i scan , The correction for Reciprocity is the thing i will need to adjust to coming from Acros where 4 secs is 4 secs , But at $10 a sheet it is getting a bit exy , I land 8x10 Fomapan at $4 a sheet , We in Australia actually buy Foma at competitive pricing because there is a Aussie distributor .

[pdh]

How curious. I recently shot half a dozen sheets of it in a wood with deep but dappled shade.
It metered at 8s but the "best" exposure was 16s.
People do seem to have very mixed experiences with this film. It must be more to do with our individual tools, preferences and processes than the film itself, surely?

[Gary Tarbert]

How curious. I recently shot half a dozen sheets of it in a wood with deep but dappled shade.
It metered at 8s but the "best" exposure was 16s.
People do seem to have very mixed experiences with this film. It must be more to do with our individual tools, preferences and processes than the film itself, surely?Not really according to Fomapans tech sheet the correction for a 10 sec exposure is 80 secs or 3 stops The correction for a 1 sec exposure is 1 stop so because i have not used the film before i used 20 secs and 30 secs , for my metered 4 secs and density not hugely different , Showing a real reciprocity issue

[pdh]

You may be misunderstanding my point or perhaps I have not been clear.
All I'm saying is that my recent experience is that for an exposure that metered for 8s, I got a perfectly adequate result by only doubling that - i.e. One stop more.
This doesn't really accord with foma's own estimate of their own material's reciprocity, although your recent experience does accord.
So I was simply observing this variance and wondering out loud about it

[Gary Tarbert]

Sorry didn't mean to to sound like that !Interesting , I am still in the early stages with this film , But from my limited experience i would guess if you went to 32 secs instead of 16 you would only see a half stop or less difference anyhow. Cheers Gary

[David Aimone]

What your development process with Foma 100?

[mdm]

I like it in pyrocat, which seems to keep the highlights scannable, but the shadows do block up real quick. When it sings, it really does. I am considering changing over to 100% foma 100 when my film stocks run out. I can get whole plate foma 100 aka wephota np22 off the shelf for nzd 3 a sheet delivered. And 5x7 is easy enough to find.

[David Aimone]

Try pyrocat 1+2+100, that works well for me. I really didn't think much of Foma until someone suggested that approach...

[Gary Tarbert]

What your development process with Foma 100?My first attempts were with R09 1:50 7 and a half minutes @ 20degrees celsius

[DKirk]

Trying out the Foma 400 - For me (volume/agitation issues with Paterson Orbital tank aside) it seems to prefer Diafine somewhere in between 4 to 5 minutes in A and B (tried both with, and without a pre-soak - aside from some shooting issues and uneven processing from agitation and just too much chemistry, the pre-soaked seem better and more even than those following the instructions to the letter. . .)

BTW you can get very thin negs with 1:100 Rodinal for 8-9mins, so I wouldn't waste my time with this dilution.

[Gary Tarbert]

Trying out the Foma 400 - For me (volume/agitation issues with Paterson Orbital tank aside) it seems to prefer Diafine somewhere in between 4 to 5 minutes in A and B (tried both with, and without a pre-soak - aside from some shooting issues and uneven processing from agitation and just too much chemistry, the pre-soaked seem better and more even than those following the instructions to the letter. . .)

BTW you can get very thin negs with 1:100 Rodinal for 8-9mins, so I wouldn't waste my time with this dilution. hi i think once you get to 100.1 it seems to be more the stand developing for up to an hour scenario , I believe this works well for this film , I have only done stand develop for fuji Acros at 1.100 for an hour not my favourite recipe . Regards Gary

[Paul Metcalf]

but the shadows do block up real quick...
How do shadows "block" up in a negative film?

[axs810]

Post some example photos :)

[mdm]

It's all SEmantic. Just be careful not to underexpose or over develop because there will either be no details to scan in the shadows or the highlights will be unscannable. Plenty of examples on this forum.