Processing FP4

I have Ilford FP4--NOT PLUS--(old film) 35mm film to process and cannot find a formula for development. Any suggestions? Thank you.

A couple of years ago a found a 100ft roll of FP4 in a box in my garage.
It must have been through a couple of house moves and got lost in the shuffle.

I was intrigued as to if it was still any good so I wound a few feet on to a 35mm cassette.
I just used FP4+ developing times and they seemed pretty good.

So, my point is use the FP4+ times as a starting point; I think that will certainly get you close.

good luck

Lismoreian said:

I have Ilford FP4--NOT PLUS--(old film) 35mm film to process and cannot find a formula for development. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Click to expand...

Quoting from Ansel Adam's book, The Negative, in HC-110, he rates FP4 at 80 and gives 4.75 (N) & 8 (N+1) minutes in 1:7 dilution. for 1:15 dilution, 7 (N-1) & 10.75 (N) minutes.

Cheers for the information. I will give both recommendations a try as I have a few rolls here to develop. Thank you.

Lismoreian said:

Cheers for the information. I will give both recommendations a try as I have a few rolls here to develop.

Click to expand...

Silly question, but... Do you have the original boxes and are there not any recommended times included ?

Silly question, but... Do you have the original boxes and are there not any recommended times included ?

Click to expand...

I thought about that and while I have the orignal can that I found the film in the instruction sheet was not in it, it was a bulk roll.
I don't remember if it was in there when I opened the can or maybe I opened the can 20 odd years ago and lost the sheet.
I'll have a scout around and see if I still have it somewhere.

The only thing I have are my notes from a few test rolls I did to see if the film was still useable.

I tried FP4 @125 for 10.5 minutes in Microdol X 1 +3 @ 25C which was a bit too contrasty needing grades 1 to 1.5 to print.
Then I did one same ISO for 9 minutes in Microdol X 1 + 3 @ 25C which was much better.
Note these where at 25C, it's a bit hot where I live so I just develop at whatever temp the water comes out of my tap at; so if you find these helpful adjust the times for your temperature.

I have two rolls that a friend gave me. They are exposed but, when...I do not know, nor does she. So, I will give it my best. I do not have access to microdol or hc-110 yet, may wait until I can get these developers. All I have is d76.

You could always cut up the rolls into 1/2's or 1/3's and process one of the pieces then adjust from there for the rest.
I don't have any advice to give with FP4 and D76 but you could just try the times for FP4+, I doubt they will be changed much from the original FP4.

Lismoreian said:

I have two rolls that a friend gave me. They are exposed but, when...I do not know, nor does she. So, I will give it my best. I do not have access to microdol or hc-110 yet, may wait until I can get these developers. All I have is d76.

Click to expand...

After looking at the Massive Dev Chart, I would take the HC-110 times with a large pinch of salt. Been looking in a couple of old books, and whilst I can find the old FP4 listed, no other dev times are listed.

Did come across a table for Paterson chemicals Pat_Chem_Jul91 - Interestingly, it gives identical times for FP4 and FP4+

Might be worth dropping Ilford a line to confirm.

Original FP4

100ASA, 8mins in ID11/D76 @ 1+1

I prefered the tonality of old FP4 to FP4+ - but hey thats probably just me :rolleyes:

The FP4 that Ilford produce now is far better in terms of both quality and consistency

FP4 is noticably grainier than FP4+

Have fun with it

Martin

I will post the formula that I end up using and the results. The film is old, I am guessing 10 years so, who know what will come of it. Thank you!

Lismoreian said:

I have Ilford FP4--NOT PLUS--(old film) 35mm film to process and cannot find a formula for development. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Click to expand...

********
My old notes, from 1979, are Rodinal 1+75, ten minutes, 20 deg C; D76, 1:1 7 minutes, same temp.

I have an instruction sheet from Oct 1990 it says:
ID11 (D76) Stock 6.5 mins (125 ASA)
For 1:1 dilution 9 mins
for 1:3 dilution 15 min
hope that helps
Mark

I'm not sure if the OP or some one else is still in need for recommended development times for FP4, but in case anyone's interested, these times are from my original FP4 leaflet:

ID-11 (stock), EI 125, 6 min (G=0.55) or 8.5 min (G=0.7)
Microphen (stock), EI 200, 5.5 min (G=0.55) or 9.5 min (G=0.7)
Perceptol (stock), EI 64, 8 min (G=0.55) or 10.5 min (G=0.7)
Ilfosol (1+29), EI 125, 9 min (G=0.55)

ID-11 (1+1), EI 125, 7.5 min (G=0.55) or 11 min (G=0.7)
ID-11 (1+3), EI 125, 11.5 min (G=0.55) or 16.5 min (G=0.7)
Microphen (1+1), EI 200, 7 min (G=0.55) or 12 min (G=0.7)
Microphen (1+3), EI 200, 8.5 min (G=0.55) or 16 min (G=0.7)
Perceptol (1+1), EI 100, 9 min (G=0.55) or 13 min (G=0.7)
Perceptol (1+3), EI 100, 13 min (G=0.55) or 19 min (G=0.7)

If anyone is interested, I have the times for the same Ilford developers for the original Pan F and HP5.

I also have ID-11 times for HP4 and HP3, although I'm not that sure if they would be still useful for film of that vintage.

Aron