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FOMA Films Advice sought

white.elephant

Member
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Apr 5, 2008
Messages
197
Location
Pittsburgh,
Format
35mm RF
Greetings All

I've been reading a lot about FOMA films and their 'old style' look. People talk about it feeling like a film from the 1930's. So, before I purchase, I'm looking for advice on developers (I currently use mostly Xtol and some Rodinal), differences between the various ISO speeds, etc. Any thoughts would be welcome.

Again, looking at using it for the different look, embracing it, as it were.
 
I shoot lots of Foma 100 at box speed, and develope in Pyrocat-HD. I love the results, I suppose thats why I shoot so much of it. I shoot almost as much Adox CHS 25 art, and Rollei Ortho, all give the 'look' I am after.
 
I have shot Foma 100 at box speed and developed in Rodinal 1:50 with very good results (120 film).

I've shot 35mm Foma 200 at 125 and developed in X-Tol 1:1 and also in Rodinal 1:50. In both developers, I got great blacks and midtones, but the highlights were a little hot, so I would adjust something were I to use it again.

-Laura
 
I've always found it rather slow. Last time I shot a roll of AristaEDU.Ultra, I purposely shot it as a 50 speed film, and the negatives still weren't overly dense in the shadows. It does look wonderful though, if you get it dialed in. I would consider it a somewhat finicky film.
 
I shoot Fomapan 100 (120) at box speed and normally develop it in Rodinal 1:50, with good results. One of my latest shots, scanned from negative, and minimal contrast added in post processing (Yes, hybrid workflow, but I don't have a complete darkroom - yet). It have tried it with good results in Fomadon P (D76 clone), so D76/ID-11 should work as well.

Henrik
 
I really like Foma 100 at 100, developed in Rodinal. It is the first pairing I've developed that jumped out at me as distinctly different than my other work. I went with Rodinal 50:1, 20 minutes, 15 seconds initial agitation, 8 seconds every 5 minutes.

A few shots from a zombie walk in Seattle (Autocord):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4760896355
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4760892975

A few shots from Artopia in Seattle (Zenobia):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4740711639
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4741032557

Good examples of the sort of detail and tone I've been getting from the pair. I thoughtlessly tried running Fomapan 400 t 400 through a similar process. The results were disappointing - lots of grain and not very sharp. Workable in medium format but not something I'm likely to try again:

Zenobia again in similar lighting conditions:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4811885509
...ignore the fact that I scratched the heck out of this negative somehow...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/4817662528
 
Fomapan 100 is a very good film, certainly better than one would expect given its price. It's very consistent from batch to batch, and I have yet to encounter any manufacturing defects.
However, there are two things I don't quite like about it.
First, its long exposure behaviour is the worst of all films I know (though in some situations this may be used to your advantage, and besides, its Schwarzschild characteristic is well documented and consistent, so it's quite controllable).
Second, it has a tendency of building up contrast very quickly. In high contrast situations this is a nuisance, because if you curtail the development you risk reducing the local contrast too much. Whenever I tried to do minus development with Fomapan 100 I got muddy midtones and very thin shadows.
 
ralnphot said:
I shoot lots of Foma 100 at box speed, and develope in Pyrocat-HD. I love the results, I suppose thats why I shoot so much of it. I shoot almost as much Adox CHS 25 art, and Rollei Ortho, all give the 'look' I am after.
Click to expand...

This is really helpful, thanks, because it is the look I'm after. I'll investigate those films as well.
 

Great warning, thanks.
 

Any suggested time/temp?
 

Thank you so much, great info, love the look of these images.
 

Have you tried pulling it?
 
white.elephant said:
Any suggested time/temp?
Click to expand...
For 1+50, I develop for 7 minutes at 20 degrees centigrade. 10 seconds agitation when I start, and then agitate for 10 seconds once per minute. For me, that is usually 5 inversions of the tank.
 
Necator said:
For 1+50, I develop for 7 minutes at 20 degrees centigrade. 10 seconds agitation when I start, and then agitate for 10 seconds once per minute. For me, that is usually 5 inversions of the tank.
Click to expand...

For Fomapan 100 MDC states 8-10 for 1+50 @ 20c
did this give you blocked highlights and did you adjust accordingly?

It gives 7 miniutes for 1+100 @ 20c

I'm in the process of dialing in Foma 100 myself and would appreciate ANY actual user observations with Rodinal
 
I haven't used the 100, but love the 200 and like the 400. I usually shoot the 200 at EI 160 and develop in Rodinal 1:50 for 9 minutes.
 
I finally did the dull procedure required to find my personal EI with Fomapan 200 (5x7" sheets) Nothing as inspirational as lightly textured walls as subjects.

I emphasise personal, but my result was to rate it at ISO 100, and develop in D76 1+1 20 degrees C for 6 minutes for a 5 stop SBR.

This is for silver gelatin printing.

For salt and cyano printing I rate it at ISO 64 and develop in D76 1+1 20 degrees C for a basic 8 minutes, but usually 25-30 % over, to gain higher contrast.

Regards - Ross
 

These are all the reasons I love this film for pyro use. It was made for it.
 
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