Fomapan/AristaEdu Ultra reciprocity numbers

I'm going to be shooting AristaEdu Ultra 100 in 4 x 5 next month. I've never used this film before. Seems like some of you out there have been using/testing Fomapan, e.g. Ian Grant, etc.

I believe Ian mentioned that you could use Ilford FP4+ numbers but not quite sure.

Can someone provide some reasonably dependable reciprocity numbers?

Much Appreciated

Dwain

I can't tell you exactly the full range of reciprocity failure, but I've used it a fair bit for pinhole work.

For me, using mainly Kodak Xtol as developer, the following exposure times versus metered times have worked:

Under one second metered = exposure time.
1s metered = 2s exposure
2s meteres = 4s exposure
4s metered = 12s exposure
8s metered = 30s exposure

Those times have worked fairly well for me, but I only shot 50 rolls of it, so I wouldn't call myself a veteran with it.
It's worth mentioning that my normal processing in Xtol has 3 minute agitation intervals.

As always when you use new film, bracket. And test with a few sheets first; both exposure and development.

Good luck!

- Thomas

Thomas' numbers sound pretty much like what I have heard as well, though I have also heard reports of total shadow loss despite compensation, and I have also heard complaints of poor overall contrast. I'd like to find out for sure, as I just took shipment of a 50 sheet box of 8x10 from Freestyle.

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I can't tell you exactly the full range of reciprocity failure, but I've used it a fair bit for pinhole work.

For me, using mainly Kodak Xtol as developer, the following exposure times versus metered times have worked:

Under one second metered = exposure time.
1s metered = 2s exposure
2s meteres = 4s exposure
4s metered = 12s exposure
8s metered = 30s exposure

Those times have worked fairly well for me, but I only shot 50 rolls of it, so I wouldn't call myself a veteran with it.
It's worth mentioning that my normal processing in Xtol has 3 minute agitation intervals.

As always when you use new film, bracket. And test with a few sheets first; both exposure and development.

Good luck!

- Thomas

Click to expand...

The 4 x 5 will be processed using Rollo Pyro but when at home, I take my film to a lab (Cox B&W Photo) be processed which uses Xtol, so I'll keep those numbers in mind.

Thanks for the Info Tom!

Dwain

Tom,

With a developer like Xtol you will have lots of shadow detail. But I usually don't get that hung up on it. Black is so important as a foundation for a print, that a little lost shadow detail isn't the end of the world.
It's a really beautiful film that prints extremely well.

Watch out for runaway contrast when you process it. This is one reason why I slow down agitation, to avoid blocking up the highlights. Foma 100 is sensitive to how you process the film, and reacts very well to changes in your technique.
The agitation alteration helps shadow detail too, because when you slow down the agitation intervals you have to develop longer, which subsequently helps film speed and shadow detail. You actually change the film curve somewhat doing this, which gives you a lot of room to play around and vary your results to your liking.

Have fun!

- Thomas

Toffle said:

Thomas' numbers sound pretty much like what I have heard as well, though I have also heard reports of total shadow loss despite compensation, and I have also heard complaints of poor overall contrast. I'd like to find out for sure, as I just took shipment of a 50 sheet box of 8x10 from Freestyle.

Click to expand...

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I can't tell you exactly the full range of reciprocity failure, but I've used it a fair bit for pinhole work.

For me, using mainly Kodak Xtol as developer, the following exposure times versus metered times have worked:

Under one second metered = exposure time.
1s metered = 2s exposure
2s meteres = 4s exposure
4s metered = 12s exposure
8s metered = 30s exposure

Those times have worked fairly well for me, but I only shot 50 rolls of it, so I wouldn't call myself a veteran with it.
It's worth mentioning that my normal processing in Xtol has 3 minute agitation intervals.

As always when you use new film, bracket. And test with a few sheets first; both exposure and development.

Good luck!

- Thomas

Click to expand...

My tests and use showed that it wasn't as bad as Foma's figures and at 1 sec needed about an extra half stop, and at 10 seconds a full stop extra, that was low eveing daylight.

I think your figures are close to the Ilford ones, which I suggested using, the problem is that the type of light, low daylight as opposed to artificial light makes a big difference and it's easy for people to run a few test frames.

Ian

In low light levels a touch off over exposure is preferable to underexposure,