Fomapan 100

I'm gonna order some 4x5 sheets and was wondering has anyone used this (duh, I know). How does it react to HC110 Dil 'B'( other than it develops)? Any tricks of the film or possible problem areas I should be made aware of?

Uh, it tends to smell wierd in the presoak water. Otherwise, a lot of people say it looks a lot like APX 100.

Foma films seem to require much shorter development times that other films.

As Brad says times are far shorter than all other films.

I now use - Delta 100 & Delta 400, and HP5, but have also used Tmax 400 & Tmax 100, FP4, EFKE 25 and Forte 200, for all these films my normal dev time is around 15mins in Pyrocat HD.

In comparison my time for Fomapan 100 &200 is around 10 minutes, anything longer and the contrast rises excessively. I also need to use it the Fomapan 100 at 50 ISO. There are plenty of threads about Foma films and this seems to be the general concensus.

Ian

I can't help you with the HC-110 question. My developer of choice for this, and most other films is either D-76 or XTOL. I'll use HC-110 every now and then if I need to mix up really large batches of developer for sheet films in trays, but not for much else. The film itself, and be advised that my experience is with small and medium formats, is good stuff. It has more grain than equivalent speed films from the big three, but in large format you won't have a problem with that. HC-110, dilution B is a fast working developer, and this film can build high levels of contrast quickly with slight over development, so I'd be careful about that. You might want to experiment with higher dilutions, and the resulting longer development times, to give you a better level of control.

I use it in 5x4 with Rodinal and enjoy it. Easy to use and cheap. I'm sure some day there will be a reason for me to use something else, but it suits me just fine at the moment.

Somewhere on here J Brunner listed some starter developing times for HC-110 with other films, and someone added some times for Foma. Found it: David William White added (for Arista Edu Ultra 100, same thing) @100, 6.5 minutes, diluted 1:50. Brunner said 20C, agitate first 30s then two inversions every 30 seconds thereafter, and I assume White's is the same regimen.

another ditto for Brad S

I use dilution "h" (1:63) at 9 min @ 68f 5sec agitation every 30sec. I could probably back off that time a little as well.

Good luck!

johnnywalker said:

Somewhere on here J Brunner listed some starter developing times for HC-110 with other films, and someone added some times for Foma. Found it: David William White added (for Arista Edu Ultra 100, same thing) @100, 6.5 minutes, diluted 1:50. Brunner said 20C, agitate first 30s then two inversions every 30 seconds thereafter, and I assume White's is the same regimen.

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So with a tank that only takes 13.5 ounces, I could say pour off 8.1 ounces of Dil 'B' solution and add 5.4 ounces of 20C water to get a 1:50.. I can pour this from my stock solution.

vdoak said:

another ditto for Brad S

I use dilution "h" (1:63) at 9 min @ 68f 5sec agitation every 30sec. I could probably back off that time a little as well.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Or 6.75 oz Dil 'B' with 6.75 ounce 20C water at this time. Both are doable. I would probably go with the shorter time as this a) allows me to move through faster for constraints of home life and b) well within the 'Do not use HC110 under 5 minutes as results are difficult to control' requirements.

That's OK. Now considering Arista.edu 100 4x5 sheets. It's cheaper. I can get more from Freestyle. The technical literature for A.E shows a basic equivalency to other films, namely the TMax's with HC110, six minutes. So I think I'm gonna try the published time for TMax100 sheet film and start there, see how close it is and make adjustments.

Christopher, look up member 'bliorg' here on APUG. He uses Foma 100 and HC-110 developer for some really nice tonal qualities. Andrew Moxom has also liked that combination a lot, but I'm not sure he has samples here.
The roll film (120) has a blue base that curls like hell, but prints nicely. Fairly fragile emulsion, which is bad since it curls so much - it's actually easy to damage the emulsion with the edges you cut when you file your negs). Works great in Pyro developers too.

Have fun. The price is certainly right.

- Thomas