Foma Fomapan 100 in rodinal : exposing and developing

[Aldo]

Goodmorning,

i have no experience with foma film but reading other post i saw great work with this film (fomapan 100 or arista version).

it's an old style emulsion and like other films every photographer find a personal workflow.
In general the main problem is about real speed ( in combination with a developer) and contrast control. I read that is a high contrast film.

In Rodinal i saw fantastic shot on flickr but no much information on developing time. I need a base point for a project in hight contrast situation.

From flickr the best combinations in Rodinal are :

100iso 1+50 7-8 min

https://www.flickr.com/photos/aybalaostia/48082992603/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28854821@N04/49185589218/

50 iso 1+100 stand

https://www.flickr.com/photos/seoirseosial/48644867782/

100 iso ? 1+50 no time

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29891484@N07/49636689803/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77126852@N00/33752069701/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kittacabe/9982530885/

any tips ?

thank you !

[Scyg]

Since many of these appear to be scans from negative, I'm not sure how much useful information you can get from them. Scanning directly from a negative can do things no traditional paper would be capable of in terms of rescuing otherwise unusable or at least substandard negatives.

[rjbuzzclick]

I shoot AristaEDU 100 @100 and develop in Rodinal 1+50 for 6:30 at 68 degrees. This is for hand inversion. If I'm developing 4x5 in a rotary tank I give it about 15% less time. I adjust my development time based on the temperature of my chemicals using the Ilford chart for whatever my room temperature happens to be.

I shoot this film in 35mm, 120, and 4x5 and find I get pretty much what I expect in shadow detail whether I'm spot-metering or using sunny 16. In my opinion the beauty of this film lies in the highlights which can block up pretty easily. I should mention that I wet print my negatives and scan the prints for posting.

Note that none of the above is based on any kind of rigorous testing. I just adjusted my exposure and development over time as I narrowed in on what I liked.

[Corran]

I shot a bit of Foma 100 in 120 way back and I think I found an EI of 50 and Rodinal 1:100 was a decent combo. Lately, using 5x7 sheets, I've been happy with Pyrocat instead.

Shooting a couple test sheets isn't a huge cost. An EI of 50 is generally a good place to start with Foma films. And don't forget about reciprocity with that film!

[Aldo]

thank you for yours reply !

my problem is that i can't do any test ! i'm not at home ( Italy - covid 19 lockdown ) but i have my 4x5 with me. I'have only ten 320tx and i can buy ilford hp5 or foma100.

i have experience with fp4 @100 and rodinal. 4x5 tanks , hand process , 20 degree Celsius , first minute continuos agitations , than every 30 seconds. 13 minutes developing.

Foma 100 can be a good choice i believe.

ei 50 and rodinal stand 1+100 1h is very forgiving ( not perfect ... )

reciprocity problem : my problem is too much light and contrast for this project!

[Corran]

If I were to be shooting a large amount of film without any testing beforehand with an unknown film and developer, I would consider shooting 5-10 "test sheets" all at your planned EI, and then set them aside. Later, when you are ready to develop all of the film you shot, you could take those test sheets and one-by-one develop them in your developer / dilution of choice and adjust your time and technique till the negatives were satisfactory, and only then move on to the "important" negatives. This assumes a lot of things - like consistent contrast and EI - but it's better than going in blind and potentially ruining your important images until dialed in. But if you find your EI was bad for the intended photos - say because your meter was poorly calibrated or you tended to overexpose the images by placing the shadows too high on the scale - you might be in trouble.

A good friend once did an academic photo project, and every shot he took he would shoot 2 sheets or more of (4x5). Later, he adjusted to taste by developing large swathes of negatives, and then adjusting the next batch. I think 12 at a time because he shot like 1000 negatives.

[peter schrager]

thank you for yours reply !

my problem is that i can't do any test ! i'm not at home ( Italy - covid 19 lockdown ) but i have my 4x5 with me. I'have only ten 320tx and i can buy ilford hp5 or foma100.

i have experience with fp4 @100 and rodinal. 4x5 tanks , hand process , 20 degree Celsius , first minute continuos agitations , than every 30 seconds. 13 minutes developing.

Foma 100 can be a good choice i believe.

ei 50 and rodinal stand 1+100 1h is very forgiving ( not perfect ... )

reciprocity problem : my problem is too much light and contrast for this project!
if you have too light and contrast you take pix at almost 100ASA no problem; I do it all the time
learn to develop by inspection and you will get amazing negatives all the time....just get a dark green filter and a foot switch...

[Aldo]

In the last 3 years i shoot only wet plate collodion plates , developing problems are at the moment of the shoots. Film shooting is not so easy if you want a hight quality result.

Inspection developing can be a solution. Maybe 100-80 iso exposing for the shadow.

Thanks for sharing your experience .

[Daniel Casper Lohenstein]

i like fomapan 100@50 in r09 1+100 11'30' - see link below. tschau

[Iga]

Hi !
I shoot it at box speed.
My time for Rodinal 1+50 is 7min.
BUT: I develop two 13x18 sheets in modified Ilford drums with only 200ml of developer.
I scan for enlargements and contact print for Lith only.
Best,
Igor.

[barnacle]

An interesting range of times: I shoot at 80ASA and develop Rodinal 1+50 at 9 minutes; top end of the massive dev chart figures.

Some caveats:

- I develop to scan; I don't have printing facilities at the moment. It may be I need to change things later when that becomes available.
- I develop six at a time in a Combiplan tank which takes thirty-forty seconds to fill and the same to empty, so I don't want to have too short a development time.
- Development is by rocking the tank gently along the film plane for 5-10 seconds every minute; no inversions as the tank isn't sealed
- 2 minute wash; 9 minute develop; two minute wash; six minute fix (10:1 hypam, used as one shot). No stop bath.

All very standard; at my current unpracticed level of competence I'm more concerned with removing variables from the equation that sudden flashes of wonderful and not being able to repeat!

Neil

[Dan6077]

Hi !
I shoot it at box speed.
My time for Rodinal 1+50 is 7min.
BUT: I develop two 13x18 sheets in modified Ilford drums with only 200ml of developer.
I scan for enlargements and contact print for Lith only.
Best,
Igor.

Hello Igor
Can you tell me more about the modifications done to the Ilford drum to process 2 - 13x18 sheets of film at a time
And how you go about processing the film

I am currently using Cibachrome tubes fir single sheet rotary processing

Thanks

Dan