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Ilford FP4+

Alex1994

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Jan 22, 2010
Messages
129
Format
35mm
Hello

I've just been wondering how everyone goes about using this film. I have decided to make it my main film as I enter B&W developing at home (with a tank). It is ideal due to the speed, and I will be taking it with me to Greece and will be shooting here at home in quite bright sunny conditions but also in the evening. The speed is ideal.

So, what E.I do you guys like to shoot this film at? Is it recommended to push it to 160 or even 200 ISO? (I'll be using D-76 developer in my tank). Strengths and weaknesses? Anything interesting and helpful for someone who will be shooting and developing some 5 rolls of the stuff (35mm) in the space of 2 months, please post here, I have lots to learn ;-)

Thanks in advance

Alex
 
I avoid pushing whenever possible (it's a sacrifice of shadow detail to do so) and I get full box speed of 125 when I develop it in PMK.

When I used to process it in D-76/ID-11 1:1 I shot it at 125 also. Some will suggest shooting at EI 80 or 100 and reducing development slightly I imagine.

Don't shoot at higher than box speed unless you have specific reasons.
 
How are you going to get it to last that long? Were it me in Greece, 5 rolls might not last one day. I shoot it at box speed, and used to soup in D-76 1+1, now I use Pyrocat-HD 1+1+100. Either way it prints up beautifully for me, but I give the edge to Pyro. You can push it one stop easily, still gives excellent results.
 
Hi there

I also plan to take a lot of Kodak Ektar with me for 10 rolls total. However I guess it's always better to have too much than too little so I may increase the order.

When you say push up a stop does that mean up to 160 or 200 ISO?

There seems to be slight discrepancy between dev times on the Massive Dev Chart and the official Ilford Chart - which to follow?
 
Def more film. I took a day trip to Savannah, Ga and made a conscious effort to shoot less and still went though 5 rolls in 8hrs time.
 
I've shot it at iso 250 (one full stop), and had great results.
Take 5 rolls of HP 5+ with you and not worry about pushing, shoot 125 in daylight/bright, 400 for night/low light, and color for your basic touristy stuff.
 
**********
Greek sunlight is magnificent. Decide what you "need" to make your b/w photograph--shadow detail or highlight detail. It might be difficult to have both in the same shot. My compromise was to drop to a lower EI, then soup in "semi-compensating" D23 film developer and let the highligts take care of themselves.
 
Thanks once again for replies. As I said I'm a total newbie so I'll stick to as few films as possible and 1 developer. Taking a few rolls of HP5+ seems a wise decision. I'm thinking 10 rolls of FP4+ and 5 rolls of HP5, along with the customary 5 rolls of Ektar.

Also, how to make the photos not look washed out and grey - in other words how to increase contrast slightly above normal?
 
If your pictures are washed-out and gray, you likely are underexposing and/or underdeveloping your film. Without seeing it, I'd only be guessing. "Newbies," as we all once were, tend to underexpose film until they learn how to use and read a light meter. If you are already underexposing the film, increasing development will make your images look harsh and gritty. (You are in effect pushing the film.) Learn to bracket your exposures until you are confident with your technique, and try to avoid increasing development to make up for underexposure.

Peter Gomena
 

Actually John it's very easy to get excellent detail in the highlights & shadows here in the Greek/Aegean sunlight even in the middle of the summer.

I do drop the effective EI of all my films, roughly in half and while I process in Pyrocat HD I know I'd get good results in D76 as well. I often find the sunlight harsher in contrast in the UK, here there's just so much light bouncing around it's less of a problem.

Ian
 

Generally, I agree with what Ian said. A 1 stop pull will give fine results. Some dodging/burning might be required, but overall it shouldn't be that hard. That said, there's a fine detail that is very important: proper metering. A TTL meter can easily be fooled in conditions like that, resulting in underexposure. An incident meter would be the best choice for taking quick readings. Without one, a gray card is a good substitute. Without a card, the palm is the best choice IMHO. It doesn't get a tan, so it has remarkably stable reflectance throughout the year. If you're going to use your palm as a point of reference, add a stop to your exposure, either by opening the aperture, or by halving the shutter speed indicated. I've used it and the results were very good actually.
 
Good point, I use an Incident meter & a spotmeter and get the same exposure with either. It's rather hard to get burnt out skies here in the summer

Ian
 
Hi there Anonymous

Could I clarify that being new I do not plan to make my own prints, I'll be scanning the negs. My observations so far is that there are many ways of killing the cat!

1. Let's say I use 125 as my E.I, box speed. I then whip out my grey card and take a reading (all I have is a centerweighted averaging system on my OM-1, so I fill the frame with the card, or close). Let's say it tells me to use 1/125 and f16. Do I then use these exact settings to take the picture, or raise to f/11 to bring out shadow detail?
 
Alex1994 said:
Hi there

There seems to be slight discrepancy between dev times on the Massive Dev Chart and the official Ilford Chart - which to follow?
Click to expand...


With a manufacturer's film and manufacturer's developer I'd always favour that manufacturer's times. Ilford times for Ilford films and developers will always get you close. The only exception I have come across is D3200 with both DDX and Perceptol where it is better to dev at times quoted for the next speed up.

pentaxuser
 
Alex, if you have a gray card and point your lens to it, you just use whatever your camera's meter tells you, f/16 - 1/125'' in this case. If you had to use your palm as a "gray card", you'd need to use something like f/11 - 1/125'', or f/16 - 1/60''. Keep in mind though that you need to be careful about how you place your card. It needs to face the light, just like your main subject, in order to get a useful reading. If you feel that the subject brightness range is big and there are deep shadows and strong highlights, then you need to add some more exposure, like +1 stop. It's basically what Ian said about halving the box speed and pull processing; you get nice shadows and prevent highlights from blowing out. So, you may as well shoot at EI50 and process according to the directions provided by Ilford (see page 3). That should be a good starting point. EI50 isn't as bad as it sounds, you won't need a tripod, there's a lot of light, at least with normal and wide lenses. Actually, you can afford losing a stop from a yellow filter if you wish to use one.
 
OK I think I'm slowly seeing more clearly. As I will have lots of film I guess I can shoot different rolls at different E.Is, some 50 and some 125. So you reckon that +1 exposure for scenes with bright and dark areas does the trick - I'm with you there. What, however, is the interest in pull processing the entire roll of film? Obviously I will be faced with scenes of varying contrast.
 
Many of us do tests to determine the optimal film speed & development times for a film in average lighting conditions, usually that equates to a drop in film speed, in the case of FP4 my speed tests showed 80 EI. In fact I'd been using 80 EI since FP4's release, prior to that i used FP3.

At 80 EI I get the tonality & shadow detail I require, any faster and I lose shadow details.

Ian
 
OK so the interest of exposing FP4 at EI 50 or 80 is to increase tonality and shadow detail? Do you mean pulling the entire roll or over-exposing just selected contrasty scenes?
 
Do you have have a camera for color? Can you rewind film and use it up later on? Have you thought about filters (KR3 or KR6 for color over noon), orange/red for the FP4+? All this needs to be known before you can make a good decision.
Your restricted choice of film of Ektar plus FP4+ is not bad, but extending it with, say 3 HP4+(pushed to 800) plus 3 Portra800 per week would make a lot of sense (to me). I guess you don't like to use flash, or do you?

Be really careful/thoughtful about exposure with your in-camera meter when white buildings of light stone is in the picture. As a safety margin, dial in ASA 100 for FP4+ and Ektar and especially 640 for the Portra800 and the pushed HP5+.

Most importantly, enjoy your holidays and the company of the Greek people as much as you can!

P.S.: I once ran out of Tri-X (documenting a book signing in a bookshop) and had to push my remaining PF4+s to 250. I developed them in Kodak Xtol (in 1+2) and the results were *so* nice. Since then I cannot understand people anymore who say 'never push FP+'. Only ASA 250 won't get you far in the evenings...
 
Thanks for dropping in mattone. I plan to shoot mainly B&W in my OM-1 and mainly colour in my Minox 35 (as someone mentioned, the usual touristy stuff for the small camera while the SLR will give me control over my B&W). I may slip a roll of B&W into the Minox for street photography.

Like I said I'm taking some HP5 with me as well, so I will have 3 different films. Not sure about pushing HP5 to 800, I guess I may as well try it. Likewise I'll try FP4 at many EIs to see what results I like for future use.

I have been to Greece many times (my mother is Greek and I speak Greek) so even if the photography goes t*ts up I'll still have a nice holiday.

Thanks for all the input so far! This really is a very informative and helpful forum!
 

Take it easy. You may end up trying to do too much. Always dangerous for a newbie and you may end up not remembering what you did with an individual roll.

Rate the fp4+ at 64 and the hp5+ at 250 and dev in d76 1:1 (or straight if you prefer). d76 is a fine developer and your choice of film is also excellent.
 
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Since you are going to be carrying so many films, keep a small note pad in your kit bag, or where ever, and write down what you did with which roll, and label each roll accordingly. When you finally get to process them, you will have the info needed to develope properly.
 
Thanks for all the advice - I thought that shooting films at different EIs and not noting anything would be a bad idea! I may take some Portra along for family portraits and the like, assuming they would prefer it over B&W and Ektar gives quite bright red skin tones.
 
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