Commercial Development for Ferrania P30 film?

[Vincent Peri]

I was wondering if there are any commercial labs in the US that can properly develop P30 film? I don't have the ability to develop it myself, unfortunately, aqnd it seems like everyone who uses P30 develops it themselves.

I normally only shoot Kodak B&W film like Tri-x and T-Max, but I'm impressed by Ferrania's perseverance in overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to finally get the film in production.

Thanks for any information.

 

[Paul Howell]

Seems that time posted on the Massive Development Chart has many listed times for P30, standard developers like D76 and Extol, so email a few of the black and white labs, like Blue Moon and see if they are willing to take a swing at it. Only rub is that some of the larger lab use auto film processors, may not the times programed for P30.

 

[runswithsizzers]

I have not yet developed my first roll of Ferrania P30 (waiting until I finish the second roll). But I have collected some references. If you haven't already read it, the place to start is with Ferrania's "Best Practices" guide which can be seen <here>. While this document is aimed mostly at d.i.y. processing, Ferrania say:

"This document includes recommendations for Lab Processing, as well as extended input from our community.
If your lab does not know our film, make sure they have this PDF or have them contact us directly at help@filmferrania.it"​

Have you talked to whatever lab has been developing your Tri-X and T-Max? Maybe you could print off a copy of Ferrania's "Best Practices..." document for them, and ask if they are interested?

Maybe you've read <this blog> by James Tocchio (with input from Ferrania’s US Director, David Bias) which says, "With high silver content and roots in cinema stock, P30 responds best when processed as a cinema film would be processed; in a low-contrast developer like D-96 and with continuous gentle agitation." (Other developers can be used according to the Best Practices document previously mentioned.) Tocchio's website also shows some nice images that were "processed and scanned by a local lab." The commercially developed negatives definitely look more contrasty than the ones hand-developed with "achingly gentle agitation" but that dramatic look will appeal to some.

Based on his extensive testing of P30 in various developers, I plan to try one of the recommendations by Scott Micciche and will process my P30 in Adox Silvermax developer. His test results are <here> and <here> - the Adox Silvermax results are in the second link.

 

[Paul Howell]

That's good to know, so maybe a commercial lab is not a good place to develop.

 

[Agulliver]

I had good results with the Aplha product in ID-11 three years ago....which suggests any commercial lab using ID-11 or D76 should be able to do a good job.