How fast to Push ILFORD FP4

Graham Hansford · Jan 19, 2005

Has anybody got any advice on how far you can reasonably push Iford FP4 film with a normal developer.

I am trying to see what I can get out of an old Zeiss Ikon folding camera and have a chance this weekend to take some nice "New Baby" photographs.

Since we are having the usual unpredictable cloudy British winter I am trying to gauge my options on how far I can push the film. I cannot seem to find any information or data for anything above 200. I usually develop my films in Ilford LC29. I fully understand the principles of pushing but need advice and guidance on this particular film.

Thanks in advance, any help would be appreciated.

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

Graham, I've never pushed it beyond 200 and the Massive Development Chart will have the times for your chosen soup.

May I ask with our unpredictable weather why you don't use HP5+ ? It pulls to 200 and pushes to 1600 very well in my opinion.

Graham Hansford · Jan 19, 2005

I usually do use HP5 but wanted to test this camera with a nice fine grained film. I have jumped the gun and loaded the camera, this opportunity has turned up, but unfortunately the weather hasn't!

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

Yep know what you mean, I looked at the Massive Development Chart and they show FP4+ souped in LC29 rated up to 200.

For those quick changes I have a film retriever which cost just a few pounds. It means I can rewind my film and then retrieve the leader to use the film another time.

fschifano · Jan 19, 2005

TPPhotog said:
Yep know what you mean, I looked at the Massive Development Chart and they show FP4+ souped in LC29 rated up to 200.

For those quick changes I have a film retriever which cost just a few pounds. It means I can rewind my film and then retrieve the leader to use the film another time.

Well that film retriever isn't going to help Graham very much. If I'm not mistaken, his folder uses 120 roll film. Graham, if you can get some Diafine FP4+ does really well with an EI of 250. Otherwise, unload the camera in the dark and use some tape to seal the paper. You can always reload it another time.

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

fschifano said:
Well that film retriever isn't going to help Graham very much. If I'm not mistaken, his folder uses 120 roll film. Graham, if you can get some Diafine FP4+ does really well with an EI of 250. Otherwise, unload the camera in the dark and use some tape to seal the paper. You can always reload it another time.

Good point I saw the 35mm shooter but missed the "old Zeiss Ikon folding camera" bit in the thread

gainer · Jan 19, 2005

Before you decide if you need pushing try setting your meter at 500 and reading the Zone III shadows. Sometimes that helps when the scene brightness range is not too great. It's not really pushing. A narrow range scene will usually move up the scale with an average or incident light measurement, giving more toe room than you need for good prints.

NikoSperi · Jan 19, 2005

A while back, I went out to try some street photography around early evening. I picked up a roll of Delta 3200 from my stash, and out I went. It was getting dark fast, so I decided to push it a stop and shoot at 6400 EI.

When I got home, I unload the roll to discover it's not Delta 3200, but FP4. Here is what it can look like for nearly a 6 stop push...

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

NikoSperi said:
A while back, I went out to try some street photography around early evening. I picked up a roll of Delta 3200 from my stash, and out I went. It was getting dark fast, so I decided to push it a stop and shoot at 6400 EI.

When I got home, I unload the roll to discover it's not Delta 3200, but FP4. Here is what it can look like for nearly a 6 stop push...

That looks amazing, can I ask how you processed the negs re which soup, dilutions and timings?

NikoSperi · Jan 19, 2005

HC110B - 65 minutes - one agitation every 5 minutes.
I do not enjoy printing these under an enlarger (massive understatement). Scan and tweak in PS before going digital is by far the most viable option... but it works, and that was the point, right?

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

NikoSperi said:
HC110B - 65 minutes - one agitation every 5 minutes.
I do not enjoy printing these under an enlarger (massive understatement). Scan and tweak in PS before going digital is by far the most viable option... but it works, and that was the point, right?

Thank you kindly, I know it won't be as good with 35mm but I have got to give that a try I've never seen FP4+ pushed like that and I thought I was addicted to pushing the soul out of film.

NikoSperi · Jan 19, 2005

You bet. Although I doubt anyone would willingly put themselves through that ordeal. 'twas just that so many people told me to give it up and throw the roll away that I HAD to give it a shot in the soup...

TPPhotog · Jan 19, 2005

NikoSperi said:
You bet. Although I doubt anyone would willingly put themselves through that ordeal. 'twas just that so many people told me to give it up and throw the roll away that I HAD to give it a shot in the soup...

Now that I really can relate to. It's unbelievable what film can be put through and still produce an image. It's not something I would have tried, but seeing your results it's got to be worth a roll just to see what comes out the other end.

TimH · Jan 20, 2005

NikoSperi said:
You bet. Although I doubt anyone would willingly put themselves through that ordeal. 'twas just that so many people told me to give it up and throw the roll away that I HAD to give it a shot in the soup...

Believe it or not, but after reading about your little experiment on photoSIG I just had to try it... Unfortunately, I managed to get just 1 printable negative. I think I underexposed most of the other negs.... (scanning the negs may be a solution, but my scanner doesn't accept medium format). Anyway, it was fun to push a film that much and still get acceptable results.
I used Ilfotec hc developer (1+31); 55m, agitate every 5m.

modafoto · Jan 20, 2005

TPPhotog said:
Thank you kindly, I know it won't be as good with 35mm but I have got to give that a try I've never seen FP4+ pushed like that and I thought I was addicted to pushing the soul out of film.

Why not try the ultimative:

Efke 25 pushed to ISO 25000

I will try FP4 @ 6400, too (just for the fun of it)

modafoto · Jan 20, 2005

TimH said:
(scanning the negs may be a solution, but my scanner doesn't accept medium format)

Cut your negs into suiting pieces and scan them seperately. Then stitch them together in Photoshop (stop hitting me, you APUG guys).

NikoSperi · Jan 20, 2005

It ain't easy keeping detail in the shadows, is it? Pretty interesting, particularly the "presence" in the doorway I at first hadn't noticed.
Another from the roll... maybe not too new for some.

g0tr00t · Jan 20, 2005

I accidently developed FP4 as FP5. I rolled my own film and forgot that I rolled FP4 into 1 of my ISO 400 canisters.

So I developed it as FP5 in D76 1:1. I will get pics loaded when I get home today.

Michel Hardy-Vallée · Jul 3, 2005

modafoto said:
Why not try the ultimative:

Efke 25 pushed to ISO 25000

I will try FP4 @ 6400, too (just for the fun of it)

I might just try it.... Let's see, 10-stops push... in Rodinal 1+50 (I want good shadow details, you see), we give it 50% time increase per push, that would be 454 minutes, or 7h30. Easy: watch the first two Lord of the Rings movie, and give it a shake each time Frodo DOESN'T look worried. That will space the shaking time enough, for good shadow details, you see.

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