Ferrania P30 production

[Agulliver]

Regarding rewards....Film Ferrania have stated many times that colour film rewards can be converted to credits for their web shop.

they've been very transparent about the difficulties they faced and two years ago said the next we'd hear from them would be when they had achieved in-house production of P30 in 35mm.....which they appear to have now completed. So we hear from them.

Why people cannot understand those two simple statements, made many times over, is beyond my comprehension.

Definitely some people get better results at 40-50ASA than the stated 80. I tend to expose at 50 but have tried 80 and got decent results in ID-11 1+0.

This is actually designed for D96 development I think, and it's not much of a surprise that it responds differently in Rodinal 1+50, or seawater, light beer or other strange concoctions. It's an old 50s formulation made for cinema camera use. It does and will respond differently to your familiar 135 films.

That said, I like it in bright conditions. It has high contrast and almost invisible grain while still looking like an older B&W film. It's got a place in my stash.

 

[Agulliver]

Well, they're back. Tenacious lot! And I hope we are all grateful for their tenacity.

the video linked elsewhere suggests 3500 rolls are on the US market right now with continuous production reaching the market starting in October. Hopefully that's right. P30 is back in stock at several online retailers.

 

[twelvetone12]

To be fair, @railwayman3 is not wrong, I'm a backer and i did not "hear anything" from them, i discovered a thread here which links to a YouTube video, not even the actual release on their web site. I then went to the website on my own to find out. I would have been cool to receive a direct update tho.

 

[pentaxuser]

Well, they're back. Tenacious lot! And I hope we are all grateful for their tenacity.

the video linked elsewhere suggests 3500 rolls are on the US market right now with continuous production reaching the market starting in October. Hopefully that's right. P30 is back in stock at several online retailers.

Has it made it to any of the U.K. retailers as far as you are aware?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[MattKing]

Threads merged

 

[Mackinaw]

Has it made it to any of the U.K. retailers as far as you are aware?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Analogue Wonderland. Check the Ferrania P30 website, where to buy.

Jim B.

 

[flavio81]

Ferrania P30 back in stock fully produced in house apparently:

Video:

Commenter:

"Look at the tones on the skin, it has that slight orthochromatic quality, and I love it"

Pretty much the worst thing of P30 is that orthocromatic-like sensitive, which makes skin look ugly... The commenter on the video is clearly an unashamed shill.

P30 looks great, just not on caucasian/white human skin.

Maybe Ferrania believes he is a better vehicle for its announcements than Photrio? He is certainly a salesman for it

Yep, "salesman" best describes it.

Foma is compliant with ISO 9001 quality standards, not sure that has anything to do with how they rate speed of film. From a manufacturing standpoint ISO 9001 means that the company needs to be able show their products meet a global standard.

In my view, Foma is kind of honest about their ISO speeds, if you open their datasheets and look at the curves you'll see the real, true ISO of their films.

 

[Tel]

Wow. I've still got three or four rolls from the original "test" batch of P30 all those years ago. If I save it a bit longer maybe I can sell it on ebay for hundreds of dollars. Kidding aside, I'm happy that Ferrania survived covid and hope they do get around to producing color films again.

 

[cmacd123]

I don't understand the potential benefit of the QR code.
The info I can think of that I would care about (batch #/expiry date) could/should be printed on the box. I certainly don't hope I have to scan a QR code to get this basic information.

the idea is to get information not only to the batch level, but to the actuall "pancake" that the roll is spooled from. Probably an over reaction to the problems that they had with defective rolls shipped by their contractors.

 

[foc]

No problem for me just now. Worth trying again

pentaxuser

Thank you, it now worked for me.

 

[cmacd123]

To be fair, @railwayman3 is not wrong, I'm a backer and i did not "hear anything" from them

did you keep up with the Kickstarter list on the project, and update your information. they have sent out SOME info.

I have heard MORE on Facebook...

 

[twelvetone12]

I did update my info right away when they announced it.

 

[Agulliver]

I agree it's not a portrait film, though that specific photo is very nice it is not the way the lady's face is rendered that is the nicest part of that photo. Though it is entirely possible that the person making the video really does "love it". the crop presented in this frame misses out a lot of the foliage to ether side of the woman which I feel really helps frame her and makes it a good photograph. But personally I agree that her face in particular is not rendered well by this choice of film. I rarely shoot photos where a human of any hue is the main subject, and I find P30 is a glorious film for landscapes, plants, architecture, general street scenes. It's not a jack of all trades for sure, but it was never designed to be.

I will continue to use a few rolls in 135 and would love to try it in 120. My most fervent hope is that it appears in 8mm and super 8 cine film. I can see rating it at 40ASA and processing negative working *really* well in that arena.

 

[Nitroplait]

the idea is to get information not only to the batch level, but to the actuall "pancake" that the roll is spooled from. Probably an over reaction to the problems that they had with defective rolls shipped by their contractors.

They can print whatever batch/"pancake" number on the box in human readable form. It doesn't explain the user benefit of a QR code.

 

[albireo]

Video:

View attachment 311902

Commenter:

"Look at the tones on the skin, it has that slight orthochromatic quality, and I love it"

Pretty much the worst thing of P30 is that orthocromatic-like sensitive, which makes skin look ugly...

Beg to differ.

The youtuber is right. Orthocromatic film gives GORGEOUS results on Caucasian skin tones. My favourite film for portraits of white people is Ilford Ortho 80. Little/no red sensitivity so those lips finally acquire some body and shape, any beautiful freckles stand out, the texture of the complexion comes alive.

And I agree with the reviewer that the woman's tones look good in that photo.

But that's just me. I instantly gag at portraits of white women taken with ultra-pancromatic or pancromatic film. I love Foma 400, but it sucks for portrait. Same for Acros. Pale lips, cadaveric skin tones. They all end up looking like terminally ill aliens.

Perhaps you and I have a different definition in mind of what 'Caucasian' skin tones are.

 

[Agulliver]

They can print whatever batch/"pancake" number on the box in human readable form. It doesn't explain the user benefit of a QR code.

They've said that there is more to come in future updates to the app. Though I cannot imagine what, presumably they feel there will be more value to it later on. They also suggest unpeeling the QR code and sticking it on whatever negative storage you use. I guess they could do this with a label which identifies the batch and pancake but....shrugs...maybe they have something more interesting in the pipeline which would have too much text to print on a small label?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Beg to differ.

The youtuber is right. Orthocromatic film gives GORGEOUS results on Caucasian skin tones. My favourite film for portraits of white people is Ilford Ortho 80. Little/no red sensitivity so those lips finally acquire some body and shape, any beautiful freckles stand out, the texture of the complexion comes alive.

And I agree with the reviewer that the woman's tones look good in that photo.

But that's just me. I instantly gag at portraits of white women taken with ultra-pancromatic or pancromatic film. I love Foma 400, but it sucks for portrait. Same for Acros. Pale lips, cadaveric skin tones. They all end up looking like terminally ill aliens.

Perhaps you and I have a different definition in mind of what 'Caucasian' skin tones are.

I agree. I think the skin tones look great.

 

[Mackinaw]

On a related note, what ever happened to Dave Bias? I wonder if he's still with the company? Now that Ferrania has reappeared, you'd think he be active here again.

Jim B.

 

[btaylor]

Interesting you should ask about Dave, I just corresponded with him and he is still associated with them. IMO, he was treated poorly by a number of participants here and I suppose decided to withdraw from engaging. I can’t blame him, it got pretty raw. I still can’t understand the rage that has been directed towards the Ferrania project. The great news is that it is continuing in the face of all the hardships they have faced!

 

[pentaxuser]

Interesting you should ask about Dave, I just corresponded with him and he is still associated with them. IMO, he was treated poorly by a number of participants here and I suppose decided to withdraw from engaging. I can’t blame him, it got pretty raw. I still can’t understand the rage that has been directed towards the Ferrania project. The great news is that it is continuing in the face of all the hardships they have faced!

The lesson that is maybe to be learned is never overpromise even it is means that you risk understating your real position

It is always tempting to allow yourself to be carried on the " Good News Week" bandwagon and goodness know this is always encouraged. The "Rah Rahs" tend to be louder than "The Bah Bahs" but unfortunately those encouraging can also switch to being "Bahs" as well

pentaxuser

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Hopefully those nasty people have been "dealt" with and are no longer here.

 

[faberryman]

As far as film speed (and everything else) goes, you can’t believe everyone you read on the internet, in particular YouTube. Advice on Photrio is usually pretty good. Most Phiotrio members aren’t trying to become social media sensations and monetize their feed.

 

[Huss]

Strange comments about diff types of B&W films and skin tones. I've never had a problem either using ortho or pan films with skin tones. Orthos give lovely paler skin (with caucasian skin) with deep 'coloured' lips (almost black depending on lip/lipstick colour), while pans give results that one would expect.

You can see thousands of examples online just by googling Ilford Ortho, or Tri-X, or...

 

[Huss]

... Advice on Photrio is usually pretty good...

Usually.... on the Shanghai GP100 220 thread there were some users who arbitrarily insisted on ignoring the ISO 100 rating, claimed the real rating was ISO 25, shot it at that and posted their completely blown out results. Even though people who rated the film at 100 were getting excellent results.

My take on it is first do what the mfsg suggests as they are the ones that make the product. Then if you're not satisfied change as seen fit.

 

[albireo]

Strange comments about diff types of B&W films and skin tones. I've never had a problem either using ortho or pan films with skin tones. Orthos give lovely paler skin (with caucasian skin) with deep 'coloured' lips (almost black depending on lip/lipstick colour), while pans give results that one would expect.

Nothing strange in those comments. Ultra panchromatic (strongly 'red sensitive') and not orthochromatic, film gives a paler overall look, because it renders any red components in the skin paler. So paler capillaries, paler moles/freckles, paler lips, paler skin complexion. Close to invisible eyebrows in subjects with red hair. And so on.

One such film is Foma 400. Another is Acros (to a lesser extent). Foma 400 is strongly red sensitive. Try slapping a deep orange or red filter on when shooting portraits on Tri-X and you'll approximate the spectral rendering of Foma 400.

Here's an example, found on the web, of a portrait of a Caucasian lady taken with a strongly red sensitive film (in this case Foma 400). Inexistent lips. Weird 'moon' glow of the skin. I find this look not appealing. Great film for other stuff though.

Another Foma 400

Famille-Yashica-HD-1 by Denis GUILLAUME, on Flickr


Another Foma 400. Lips look like those of an ill person

Untitled by Vedran F., on Flickr


Here's a portrait, again found on the web, taken with Ilford Ortho 80.


Orthochromatic garden II by Pyha Laer, on Flickr

Another ortho

Me - At home - June 2020 by massimo cavatorta, on Flickr

And another

Untitled by Jay DeFehr, on Flickr

If Ferrania is close to ortho-chromatic in frequency response, it'll be an excellent film for portraits.