Film choices: Black and white film on 4x5"

[anyone]

You can certainly try stand development with Foma 100, but even vigourous agitation should not be impossible. Some, have mentioned they get easier blown out highlights with Foma films, but I have not experienced that. Maybe with enlarger printing, but a good scanner can take a high dmax.

The idea of stand development was to use little amount of chemicals and get quite even shadows. My Jobo drum takes 1.5l of chemicals, and currently I do not have access to a device for rotation.

 

[MartinN]

This was the most satisfying exposure

Graflex Crown Graphic, 210 f9 Repro Claron, Wephota Fo5 Lith film

I exposed for ISO 6, 1/2s f16
and overdeveloped with HC-110 1:80 stand, however this exposure and dev was just spot on.

I will cut the dev time in my next experiments, ISO6 seems to be OK, but you simply can't find a more difficult
film than the Lith Wephota FO5.

The Repro Claron may be radioactive, but I keep a good distance when sleeping. So tiny and convenient for a 210.

 

[anyone]

Oh no, it seems I'm stocking up way too much: couldn't resist on a package of odd-size FP4 sheet film (6x13cm) that I plan to use in a normal 4x5" film holder. Maybe also at some point of time in a Hasselblad sheet holder, if I come across one cheaply. Kameratori has one, but way too expensive.

 

[MartinN]

If one is not too picky, bw film keeps well, like you said

 

[anyone]

... unfortunately, the old film stock does not perform well with heavy fogging and low contrast. Pity!

 

[MartinN]

... unfortunately, the old film stock does not perform well with heavy fogging and low contrast. Pity!

Maybe you have invested in too fast film ? Last year I shot chromes, expired 24 years ago and acceptable results. Film is not perfect, and therefore I accept sub perfect results.

 

[anyone]

Turned out that part of the reason is: there is a difference between FP4 and FP4+. Mind the plus. 3 minutes more developing time will make a difference, I'm quite sure.

 

[RodK]

That's true, but an expired film that is not reliable anymore is also not that helpful. On the other hand, if B&W film is stored in the freezer, it will last at least a decade. But I will follow this approach and stock up another 100 package of Delta 100 4x5".

Concerning new film choices, I'm torn in between "improve the technique with what you know already", i.e. try to further improve my shooting with the Delta 100. On the other hand, I'm curious to try new films.

Now I read a few reviews of the RPX25 that I want to share here:

Film Review – Rollei RPX 25

When I first learned about the RPX line of film I was pretty excited, these days we often get news of discontinuation of films more than the addition of a new film stock. I was

www.alexluyckx.com

Films i love: Rollei RPX 25 — Oliver Grimm Photography

Every now and then you are confronted with what I call a ‘grower’. It may be a record, a movie or in this very case a film. Growers don’t show their quality at first sight—some of them do but not many. They grow, with every time we hear the track, watch that movie or use and develop a film.

www.olivergrimm.info

Rollei RPX 25 Black and White Film

Late in 2013, three new black and white films were launched by eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d=k||c.toString(a)}k=}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k){p=p.replace(new…

www.uklandscapephotographer.com

The contrast seems to be hard to handle, i.e. the chance to get shadows without detail seems to be high. Resolution is reported to be excellent. if handled properly, it seems very promising to me.

Be careful with freezing film in current freezers. The defrost cycle not only causes freezer burn on meat. but can significantly effect your film. It is better to just refrigerate around
40 degrees Fahrenheit or 4-6 Centigrade. This will not cause as much deterioration of the emulsion. Also very old film does better with the addition of 1 oz/29ml Benzotriazole per liter of working strength developer. (Same for old printing paper.) The quite old freezers that required periodic defrosting by the user, did not have this issue. Hard to find today and very inefficient, but...