Film Ferrania p30

[pbromaghin]

I suspect the truth is that this film hasn't had the kind of research devoted to it pre-launch that bigger, better resourced companies like Ilford can afford so we are building up a body of knowledge by "the cut-and-try" of users to a greater extent than may be true of other films

pentaxuser

It's not really a secret that this is exactly what is going on and was known from the beginning. As a bumbling hobbyist, it excites me to be able to be a part of it. In my profession I spend my time on the other side of this transaction, and I would never let my customers get hold of my Alpha product. This is just fascinating to watch.

 

[Ces1um]

So I'm wondering when P30 will be readily available. I would imagine the pre-orders are filled by now and most of the film shot. The results have been posted here and their own website. They must have some idea of what the best practices will be. Not to say that's all that needs to be done before they can offer it to us. Likely they will still have production issues so we can't expect huge batches to start flowing and they have their supply and distribution chains to work on. I'm sure there is still a lot of work ahead of them but I'm curious if they have some sort of full production release date set in their sights? One year from now? Two? Three? For P30 I mean, not for their colour slide film. As I understand from their kickstarter update that's justifiably a long way off at this point. I'm betting even if they do have a date in sight there's no way they'd tell us unless they were 100% sure of it.

 

[grommi]

After all those contradictory results, I have a vague assumption that at least 2 different batches of the P30 with different properties were made. And I guess that many folks like me are waiting for an official statement of ferrania concerning the speed and dev time thing. E.g. look at BACs perfect result with ferranias former suggestion of 8 minutes shot @ EI 50 in Rodinal 1.50 vs the recent 14 minutes @ EI 80. That`s quite a difference!

 

[twelvetone12]

I'm not 100% sure but there should be two batched - in mine the edge markings are surely different from the "first batch", but I don't know if the formulation was tweaked.
I did my second roll (@40 iso in Beutler) but I'm not really enthusiastic about the results, and it seemed the film would have wanted a stop or so more light. The film is ferociously contrasty, too much for my taste, unfortunately.

 

[Scott Micciche]

I found contrast well controlled with reducing agitation and using D-96. I look forward to shooting my last 3 rolls after seeing some great results, chemical combinations and techniques posted.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Once more dear friends unto the breach. Contrast is controlled by development and not by exposure. If the results are too contrasty then reduce the development.

 

[twelvetone12]

I developed by first roll following the indications by Ferrania at box speed, it was so underexposed I almost got no images. For the second roll I exposed it more so at least I got images, which are ok but too contrasty for my taste. For my third roll I will cut development time, I don't recall mentioning that I overexposed the film to get lower contrast.

 

[grommi]

Once more dear friends unto the breach. Contrast is controlled by development and not by exposure. If the results are too contrasty then reduce the development.

The result always depends on both parameters, development and exposure. I guess we all understood that.

 

[Ces1um]

I developed by first roll following the indications by Ferrania at box speed, it was so underexposed I almost got no images. For the second roll I exposed it more so at least I got images, which are ok but too contrasty for my taste. For my third roll I will cut development time, I don't recall mentioning that I overexposed the film to get lower contrast.

That's very strange. I exposed one roll at iso 100 and still got usable (albeit darker) images. I had no issue whatsoever with box speed. There really must be multiple different batches.

 

[twelvetone12]

I think I'm going to split the next rolls and also try different developers and see!

 

[trendland]

That's very strange. I exposed one roll at iso 100 and still got usable (albeit darker) images. I had no issue whatsoever with box speed. There really must be multiple different batches.

Unusable bw film? ???
That sounds realy Not Good to me.

With regards
PS :
Try Fp4 with different E.I. (without ANY corections) you will have results I would
name as "usable" within 5-7 stops.
And I would name some of them as
"quite good" within 3 stops !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ces1um]

Unusable bw film? ???
That sounds realy Not Good to me.
With regards
QUOTE]
I think you may have misread my post that you quoted. It says USABLE, not UNusable. I've had no major issues with the film whatsoever. I actually like the film quite a bit.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The result always depends on both parameters, development and exposure. I guess we all understood that.

Within the useful range of exposure (the film's latitude) contrast is indeed dependent of the slope (gamma) of the H&D curve which in turn depends on development. I stress 'useful range'. Outside of this range other factors like exposure may come into play.

http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2/FILMCON/#Contrast Curve

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Has anyone developed this film in a staining developer?

 

[twelvetone12]

After some experiments, I finally tamed the beast to a tonality of my liking. 25 iso in Beutler for 5 minutes did it. I'm also happy that the Swiss flag did not come black!

 

[grommi]

... I finally tamed the beast to a tonality of my liking. 25 iso in Beutler for 5 minutes did it.

Looks very good. 1+1+10?

 

[twelvetone12]

Thanks! The dilution was 1+1+8.

 

[Lanthanum]

I'm about to develop my first roll of P30 (pictures from Sicily). Planning on using Ilfotec HC 1+31 in a Jobo ATL-1500 at 24 degrees for 5 minutes (5 minute pre-wet before dev). Water stop bath and then 6 minutes Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4. Sound reasonable?

 

[Scott Micciche]

I'm about to develop my first roll of P30 (pictures from Sicily). Planning on using Ilfotec HC 1+31 in a Jobo ATL-1500 at 24 degrees for 5 minutes (5 minute pre-wet before dev). Water stop bath and then 6 minutes Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4. Sound reasonable?

This seems too long at that temperature with constant agitation.

I used 5 minutes, 30 seconds initial, 1 inversion each minute with really nice tonal range.

 

[grommi]

"then 6 minutes Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4"

I highly recommend to make a clearing test with the fixer. The P30 could be heavily overfixed with this settings. Maybe a higher dilution (1:10) would be better. I got clearing times of a few seconds with regular strength fixer. Don't expect perfect results with first trials, this film is a delicate diva.

 

[jimjm]

"then 6 minutes Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4"

I highly recommend to make a clearing test with the fixer. The P30 could be heavily overfixed with this settings. Maybe a higher dilution (1:10) would be better. I got clearing times of a few seconds with regular strength fixer. Don't expect perfect results with first trials, this film is a delicate diva.

I also noticed quick fixing times with P30 - test clip cleared in less than a minute in fresh Kodafix 1+3. I've been fixing for about 3-4 mins total since then.

Do your own test, but I've found it clears faster than any other B/W film I've used.

 

[Lanthanum]

Thanks everyone, will definitely take on board your input, will re-evaluate times for dev and fix.

 

[twelvetone12]

Yesterday I did a long darkroom session and I managed to print some P30 frames. At the beginning I was very skeptical about this film: harsh contrast, "alpha" status, very underexposed frames at 80iso, the bummer that I was waiting for the color film, and lastly that I had to expose it a 25iso to get some tonality in the frames.
But boy I had to change my mind! At iso 25 & 40 it prints beautifully on grade 2 paper (I use Adox MCC). At the two different EIs it has a very very different character, with a hard bite at 40 and much softer at 25. I did an enlargement at 30x40cm and I can't see grain!
Now the bad is that you cannot buy more of it and it seems it will be very expensive, which is a bit of a bummer for me. And also that you have to overexpose it so much to get shadow detail. I recall somebody that did some sensitometric testing and the ISO came out 16! Even at 25 it find it difficult to use as a general-purpose film. I wish Ferrania do some testing and publish the resuts to have some documentation on the film.

 

[GregW]

I really enjoy working with this film-based on just the first roll. I shot it at 80ish. Used an Exakta Varex IIA with a 20mm Flektogon. Printed on grade 2 paper. Can't wait to get some more. I like how it seems to behave as if you have a yellow filter on.-can't put one on the Flektogon without vignetting.

 

[jonasfj]

I am surprised that nobody does a serious attempt to assess the ISO and development times in a structured manner? Just shooting something at random, developing and looking at the negatives does not cut it.

http://www.halfhill.com/speed1.html
http://www.halfhill.com/speed2.html

This is a fairly easy method!

Cheers,

Jonas