Ilford FP4 or Fuji Acros 100 ?

I tried Thorntons two bath with Acros and was not happy.I found I had to increase the amount of carbonate in the second bath to get enough contrast for normal subjects, and then it was too much for contrastier scenes; not ideal for roll films.
I am getting better control with the pmk.
Bottom line though, is that it is a great film.

Acros in Pyrocat/similar is superb. Not much staining, super sharp and wonderful tonality. I tested Exactol lux against HC110 on the same scene with Acros and the tonal separation was far better in the low to mid values, the grain was finer and the apparent sharpness MILES better with the Exactol lux. Pyrocat should be the same. If you look in my gallery, Spanish Olive was shot using this combo (5x4) and the original is a 23" print which is grainless and super crisp.

I am not really keen to use staining devs out here, so I will experiment with FX-39. V fine grain and I agree, a modern look which does not suit everything. Still, I prefer it by far to TMAX100 and even tho the negs look similar to the eye, my TMax readyloads print with little life (drab...dunno how to describe) whereas Acros quickloads print much closer to what I am looking for. I still prefer trad films in look tho. I've become less happy with FP4+ on smaller formats and so I am experimenting with Foma 200 instead.

weasel said:

I tried Thorntons two bath with Acros and was not happy.I found I had to increase the amount of carbonate in the second bath to get enough contrast for normal subjects, and then it was too much for contrastier scenes; not ideal for roll films.
I am getting better control with the pmk.
Bottom line though, is that it is a great film.

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weasel,

Carbonate ? You mean Sodium metaborate ?

I found one can have good Acros negatives with Thornton's 2-bath for subjects from normal to low contrasts (8 to 4 stops), just by varying time in baths A and B (2x 2mn to 2x 7mn) with corresponding EI 50 to 80.

Lowering the metaborate amount to 7gr in bath B allows shooting high contrast scenes (10 stops, 2x 2mn 30s ).

Anyway, one cannot obtain comparable negatives on the same roll shooting both contrasty and 'normal' scenes.
Do you manage to do that with PMK on roll film ?

Marc

I have used Ilford 125, TMax 100, and Acros 100. All of those are great film. I have to go with Acros 100, but not but much.

Jeff

John Roberts said:

I have not used Fuji film but have used FP4 exclusively for some time. Acros is now available in the UK at competitive cost to Ilford and I am curious if anyone has used both films and have a preference for one over the other. In other words would there be any advantages/ drawbacks to switching to Fuji?

Regards,
John Roberts.

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I use both films in small and medium format. In the studio I just use FP4 for portrait and nudes. For architecture or landscape I use Acros. Both films are souped in XTOL 1:1,
Serge

Yeah, it's pretty impressive for night work. In 120 the only film to compare it with is Delta 3200(EI 800), at least for long night exposures, because the lack of reciprocity failure really makes up for it's slow speed (EI 25-50 for me) when faster film start to fail.