Svema / FPP Super Positive

Hey folks - I've taken a loooong hiatus, and finally decided to return!

Anyways, I picked up a couple rolls of FPP (Svema) Super Positive film. I used it a few years ago, and things came out great, this time, not so much.

I've attached a picture that I snapped with my phone, with the film against my MacBook screen, so sorry about the moire artifacts. They look denser here than in reality.

I used D-76 in the past, but all I have with me on the moment (I'm on vacation) is Ilfosol-3. Roll 1, developed in 1+9, 7 minutes @ 21c. The results were super thin. I

Roll 2, I shot a couple of blank frames with the lens cap on to see what the density of "black" would be. Souped 10 minutes, same thing, though [just] noticeably darker. The images are there (and damn, are the gorgeous), but they're not easily viewable unless I place the film on a solid white surface.

I don't have a densitiometer, but I set up my lux meter under a tungsten lamp. Placing the dark frame of the film over the sensor cut the reading by a factor of 4, which works out to an OD of 0.6 [the base-10 log of 4).

The highlights are absolutely crystal-clear.

I shot both of them outside, in bright sun, at ISO 0.8 (metered at ISO 6 and exposed +3 stops). Even though the film is ortho, I loaded it into the tank in the dark, no safelight. I have no idea what happened or why they came out like this.


Anyone have any experience with this film? Did I massively under-develop? Did I somehow manage to fog it? I'm tempted to try another roll in D-76, but it's expensive, and not exactly a practical film stock, as novel and fun as it may be.

If anyone has any input, I'd tremendously appreciate it!

This is an extremely fickle film, but being orthochromatic means you can develop by inspection via safelight.

The best results I've gotten have been rating at box speed and developing in xtol 1+1 for 11 minutes.

Bronson Dugnutt said:

This is an extremely fickle film, but being orthochromatic means you can develop by inspection via safelight.

The best results I've gotten have been rating at box speed and developing in xtol 1+1 for 11 minutes.

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Those are more in line with what I've been seeing posted elsewhere! I suppose I'll be throwing some XTOL in with my next B&H order!

What kind of safelight do you use? I haven't been able to find spectral sensitivity data for the film!

htmlguru4242 said:

What kind of safelight do you use? I haven't been able to find spectral sensitivity data for the film!

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I use a Celestron FireCel rechargable hand warmer/astro flashlight. The flashlight mode uses 4 red LEDs; the kind designed not to blind you when you're making astronomical observations. Probably 630-660nm, easy to hang on a door hinge or wherever. Mine is an old model without a white LED flashlight so I'd be very wary if that mode could be accidentally engaged in a newer model.

AFAIK the Super Positive is a repackage of this stuff. There's no explicit data sheets that I see, but it is probably comparable in spectral response to any other ortho film. Try shooting a color chart and let us all know for sure.

Bronson Dugnutt said:

I use a Celestron FireCel rechargable hand warmer/astro flashlight. The flashlight mode uses 4 red LEDs; the kind designed not to blind you when you're making astronomical observations. Probably 630-660nm, easy to hang on a door hinge or wherever. Mine is an old model without a white LED flashlight so I'd be very wary if that mode could be accidentally engaged in a newer model.

AFAIK the Super Positive is a repackage of this stuff. There's no explicit data sheets that I see, but it is probably comparable in spectral response to any other ortho film. Try shooting a color chart and let us all know for sure.

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I'm actually working on adapting my direct view spectroscope to my AE-1, so I can shoot a daylight spectrum onto the film and get an exact spectral response! (Because I definitely need another product to piss of my girlfriend with lol.) I'll let you know!

Good to know that a regular red safelight is fine - my usual safelight is about 630nm or so, so I'll give that a try next time I shoot a roll.

I've got a bunch of this rolled from bulk in cold storage... so much for my inventory skills. Might try a series of developers this evening.

I posted about this film some years ago and recall the distinctive yellow tint when scanning as a color positive.

Bronson Dugnutt said:

I've got a bunch of this rolled from bulk in cold storage... so much for my inventory skills. Might try a series of developers this evening.

I posted about this film some years ago and recall the distinctive yellow tint when scanning as a color positive.

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Did you develop by inspection under safelight?

Nope, not in any of the prior examples IIRC. I shot a few frames after lunch today all within 1-2 stops of each other (around ~f2, 1/30s). My 'darkroom' isn't light tight so inspection wasn't a ready option.

After 3 minutes in stock D-19 (first attempt, at random) exactly one frame showed any detail.




Presumably this represents underexposure, but I rated at 0.75 ISO. Maybe it doesn't store well, even when cold.

It is capable of producing 'normal' slides for viewing & projection, but not this time.

If anyone shoots Harman direct positive paper and has any advice that may apply here, especially in regard to exposure & development, feel free to chime in. That's the only other media I can think of that is analogous to this stuff.

I obtained a datasheet from Svema, which recommends 5-8 minutes at 20c in the following MQ developer, which they term UP-2:

- Metol - 5g
- Hydroquinone - 6g
- Anhydrous Sodium Sulfite - 40g
- Sodium Carbonate - 31g
- Potassium Bromide - 4g
- Distilled H2O to make 1L

This is (somewhat) similar to D-76 IIRC, though D-76 has a pH around 8.5?, whereas Svema lists UP-2 as ph 10.2, so I'll probably just soup my next rolls in D-76, which is recommended as a developer on the page that Bronson Dugnutt linked to in their post on Monday.

htmlguru4242 said:

I obtained a datasheet from Svema, which recommends 5-8 minutes at 20c in the following MQ developer, which they term UP-2:

- Metol - 5g
- Hydroquinone - 6g
- Anhydrous Sodium Sulfite - 40g
- Sodium Carbonate - 31g
- Potassium Bromide - 4g
- Distilled H2O to make 1L

This is (somewhat) similar to D-76 IIRC, though D-76 has a pH around 8.5?, whereas Svema lists UP-2 as ph 10.2, so I'll probably just soup my next rolls in D-76, which is recommended as a developer on the page that Bronson Dugnutt linked to in their post on Monday.

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Not really D-76, closer to a DK-50 or DK-60a with helluva lot of extra bromide and a lower pH. Thanks for the info!

Here is the info sheet, in Russian (which I do not speak, I used Google Translate)

That formula & time provide better results than something random off the shelf.

FPP Super Positive @ ISO 0.75 (f/1.8, 1/30s); -1, 0, +1 ... +4
UP-2 stock, 5' rotary @ 74F



The +2 and +3 frames are decent.



It was overcast today so maybe that or underdevelopment/film age accounts for the apparent speed loss.

Well, damn, that was quick.

FPP claims that the film is "low contrast", but none of the results I've seen could be classified as such ...

As far as I know, there are only two other films like this out there. Fuji makes a direct positive microfilm, and Eastman Park Micrographics makes an ImageLink branded one as well (though I believe they're now defunct). There are several sheet films available for direct x-ray duplication as well.

Speaking of X-Ray film, once I can get actually usable results here, I want to try enlarging onto (standard) X-Ray film to do cyanotype contact prints. I've really dialed in my cyanotype process recently, and I built an integrating UV exposure meter with an ML8511 IC and a microcontroller a couple years ago, which makes consistent timing in varied / varying sun conditions a snap. I'll post that project one of these days once I get it written up.