Anyone Ever Shoot FP4 At 64 ?

[koraks]

The only slow-medium film I've pushed successfully, and the manufacturers claim a speed increase for, is Fomapan 100

That surprises me, given my experience that it struggles to reach 100 in most cases. Maybe I'll give it a try one of these days to see what happens. What developer did you use?

 

[blockend]

That surprises me, given my experience that it struggles to reach 100 in most cases. Maybe I'll give it a try one of these days to see what happens. What developer did you use?

Rodinal 1:50. The instruction sheet says it can be pushed two stops, so I tried it for giggles expecting nothing much. The results were pleasantly surprising. They don't match a 400 film at box speed, but are definitely useable.

 

[koraks]

With rodinal even; that's certainly remarkable. Well, as I said, maybe I'll give it a spin some time.

 

[Jos Segers]

In most conditions I shoot FP4+ at 64 ASA and develop in Pyrogallol.

 

[craigclu]

I usually have more film in a camera than I will be apt to quickly use and try to take a frame of a Kodak Gray Card with a Stouffer RZ9 zone strip attached. It's an easy way to catch something in my technique, metering or materials going off. Just a glance at the separation at the extremes usually is a good indicator of things being in balance for me. I also have a large enough gray zone then to measure on a densitometer.

 

[ProfessorC1983]

What development times are folks using to cook FP4+ at ISO 64 in Pyrocat HD? I've been shooting on an old Zeiss Ikoflex that can't stop down lower than f/16 or faster than 1/300 so I'm effectively forced to shoot at 64 on sunny days, and not getting good results pulling it with Rodinal. My order of Pyrocat-HD has arrived but I'm confused about dev times because they seem to be all over the place. MDC says 8min for FP4+ @64 (Jobo) but 20min @125 (10sec agitation / 3min). That's quite a big range.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Hmm. I shoot 400 speed in a Super Ikonta B with a 300 top speed and f/16 limit. Even on sunny days. Not sure I follow "forced to shoot at 64" -- but if you choose to, there's nothing wrong with doing so. Many/most silver image films are box rated above their true speed, according to many photographers who test their films. A one stop pull is usually, as I recall, around 10% reduction from your standard development, or a 1 to 1.5 C temperature reduction.

I wouldn't consider the Massive Dev Chart as absolute Truth, however -- as you not, their times are all over the place. The DevIt app for Android has the same problem -- and, of course, film manufacturers will recommend times for their own products, but probably not for something like Pyrocat-HD. Have you checked what Jay DeFehr recommends for Pyrocat-HD on FP4+?.

 

[ProfessorC1983]

I suppose I simply mean that, if I want to shoot a scene in bright sun which I meter at EV 16.5, that's "technically" a one-stop overexposure at 1/300 and f/16 for FP4 box speed. Or at least, such have been my results, albeit with very limited experience. So I'm looking to pull one stop in development to make up for the inability to stop down further, unless I'm misunderstanding something fundamental (which is very possible!).

That said, I did develop such a "very sunny" roll of FP4 today for 15min in Pyrocat-HD, agitating for 10sec every 2min, and got much better results than I was used to with Rodinal! I need to do a lot more experimentation with timing and agitation schemes, but for a shot in the dark I was very happy with 15min as a starting point.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Pyrocat is widely considered a compensating developer -- that is, it will tend to rein in the highlights instead of letting them block up. There's a fairly well known photo around of an unfrosted light bulb, in which details of both envelope and (burning) filament are clearly preserved -- developed in Pyrocat. However, a one stop overexposure is entirely acceptable with almost all negative films (B&W or color), and many wouldn't consider an effective EI 64 to be overexposing or pulling FP4 Plus in any case (many Zone photographers routinely find their personal EI for common films to be a stop or so below box speed).

Perhaps I "get away" with 400 speed film in my Super Ikonta because where I live an EI above 14 is a rarity. Perhaps I meter differently from you. Perhaps I'm just more comfortable with being on the high side of a "between settings" exposure than you are. Still, though, ISO 125 should give f/16 at 1/250 even at EV 16 -- which you'd normally see only at the beach or on a snowfield.

 

[ProfessorC1983]

Thanks so much! I do think it's likely a combination of many of the factors you mention, combined with general inexperience. I regularly meter sunny scenes at or above EV 16 with my Sekonic L-208 so perhaps something is up with my meter and/or technique, which was then being exacerbated by Rodinal blocking up the highlights and that has me too skittish about "over" exposing even a little. Just based on the one roll in Pyrocat so far, I think I'll have a lot more leeway to experiment now. Appreciate the advice!

 

[Donald Qualls]

If you haven't, you should download and read the complete manual for the L-208 -- Sekonic meters are a little idiosyncratic (I have an original L-238, and it's quite adamant in not wanting to be used for reflective metering -- it'll do it, but under protest -- but it does incident as well as you could ask, if you do it right), and reading them isn't always the same as other meters.