foma r100 - rich blacks, smooth tones

[pierods]

Hi,

I tried foma's R100 and I obtained rich blacks and wonderful, smooth tones.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierodesalvia/2613242343/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierodesalvia/2613241133/

Now it isn't just one photo, it really is all of them.

I asked Foma for their "secret" but they wouldn't cough it up (I don't blame them...).

Now, is it because of the film itself being a positive? Or maybe the developer is a staining one?

What negative films does that?

 

[pierods]

Well,

that's the problem. They give you a kit. The kit tells you to develop twice with a bleach and a re-exposure in between, with very specific times and temperatures, nothing magic.

As far as the developer goes, this is all I could pull from Foma's people: "The contained developer is profoundly different from LQR", which is the nice way of saying something profoundly different...

I tend to think it's a regular developer, but positive film must be so chock full of silver and the process so optimized that the results are fantastic.

Opinions?

 

[frdrx]

Well,

that's the problem. They give you a kit. The kit tells you to develop twice with a bleach and a re-exposure in between, with very specific times and temperatures, nothing magic.

As far as the developer goes, this is all I could pull from Foma's people: "The contained developer is profoundly different from LQR", which is the nice way of saying something profoundly different...

I tend to think it's a regular developer, but positive film must be so chock full of silver and the process so optimized that the results are fantastic.

Opinions?

I've read a rumour in one Czech photographic forum that the developer supplied with the developing kit contains something called ‘D88 dissolving agent’, which probably is or at least contains potassium thiocyanate (KSCN). Whether it is true or not, I do not know. I agree that Fomapan R100 gives amazing results.

 

[ghost]

So- it's a B&W slide film? Or could you use any film with this chemistry?

What formats is this kit available in?

hmmm...could be the answer to a little project I have been thinking of for a long time...

 

[frdrx]

Yes, it is a B&W reversal film. You probably can process other films with the kit, but you would have to do a lot of testing to obtain satisfactory results. It is available in the following formats: standard 35 mm (36 exposures) on a triacetate base for stills, and 16mm, 2x8 mm and 2x8 mm DS8 on polyester base for movie cameras. Unfortunately, it is not produced in 120 rolls.

 

[pierods]

It's basically a reversal kit for b&w. The first developer surely contains some form of silver halide solvent (being a thiocyanate or a hypo), it's quite common.

I think the first developer is nothing more than common paper developer with this silver halide added.
I've just finished processing an Efke roll (KB50) following Ilford instructions but using Kodak d-19 plus hypo as the first developer and Kodak T-Max developer as a second developer.
These are preliminary results:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3461/3376439619_1111cb2568_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3640/3377256160_0e9f617920_o.jpgha

Have you reversed less silver-rich films, like Delta, Tmax or tri-x? Did you get the same results?

 

[pierods]

Yes, I've reversed T-Max films before.
Some examples here:
http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=634613

What developer?