Testing FP4 and ID11

[Ian Burgum]

Hi guys
First post so hope this makes sense.
I've been testing 5x4 FP4 and come up with 64 as my film speed. This was based on using my spotmeter to get .10 density for Zone 1. So i did some developer time testing today using ID11 at 1+1 at the recommended 11 min. This gave a Zone V111 reading of about .95. I increased the Dev time by about 25% but this gave me a Zone V111 of about 160!

So i was wondering if anybody else has come up with similar results?

 

[DREW WILEY]

ID-11 is apparently the same as D76, so yeah, that would be fairly close to my own preferred "N" result: FP4 @ ASA 50, 10 min @ 20C, 76 1:1. But I
switched over to pyro developers quite awhile back.

 

[Ian Burgum]

Cool, at least I'm on the right track. I was just a bit suppreised that 3 mins extra dev time made such a difference. If the rain holds off I'm going to to have a day out with the camera tomorrow, and then I might do another Dev test before I process them.

 

[flavio81]

Hi guys
First post so hope this makes sense.
I've been testing 5x4 FP4 and come up with 64 as my film speed. This was based on using my spotmeter to get .10 density for Zone 1. So i did some developer time testing today using ID11 at 1+1 at the recommended 11 min. This gave a Zone V111 reading of about .95. I increased the Dev time by about 25% but this gave me a Zone V111 of about 160!

So i was wondering if anybody else has come up with similar results?

I dont want to be offensive, but how can you say 64 a priori, that is, before developing the film for the first time under your conditions?

And also, isn't 64 too slow? FP4 gives moderate contast at 125 and can be pushed to 500 without problems.

 

[BMbikerider]

I cannot see the point of testing ID11, or for that matter D76 with FP4. It is generally recognised that FP4/ID11 is the benchmark of all B&W films and has been thoroughly tested already by the Ilford company. They will have far more spohisticated equipment than yours. How do you know that you spotmeter is 100% accurate? How do you control the development? You can rest assured that the Ilford development laboratories are absolutely spot on and cannot be improved upon and the times/ratings given will suit the vast majority of photographers.

Is this another attempt to find a problem that doesn't exist?

 

[Ian Grant]

I cannot see the point of testing ID11, or for that matter D76 with FP4. It is generally recognised that FP4/ID11 is the benchmark of all B&W films and has been thoroughly tested already by the Ilford company. They will have far more spohisticated equipment than yours. How do you know that you spotmeter is 100% accurate? How do you control the development? You can rest assured that the Ilford development laboratories are absolutely spot on and cannot be improved upon and the times/ratings given will suit the vast majority of photographers.

Is this another attempt to find a problem that doesn't exist?

The testing is quite valid and worthwhile, it's not just of the film/developer combination but also the OP's working methods, equipment. meter etc. It's about finding the best EI and development time that works best for him.

I used FP4 for many years in ID-11, mostly replenished in Paterson (35mm & 129 and Jobo (5x4) tanks (inversion) or in deep tanks. Like many others I always shot FP4 at 80 EI to get slightly better shadow details.

Film speeds and development times aren't absolute for B&W films they can be varied to suit the tonal range a user wants from the film/developer combination and that may mean a variation from the published EI & times.

Ian

 

[Ian Burgum]

I dont want to be offensive, but how can you say 64 a priori, that is, before developing the film for the first time under your conditions?

And also, isn't 64 too slow? FP4 gives moderate contast at 125 and can be pushed to 500 without problems.

No worries my friend you are not offensive. I think i wasn't clear in my first post. I've shot and processed quite a bit of 5x4 and felt that the shadows were too thin. I checked everything spot meter etc. and everything seemed accurate. So I thought i would do some testing and followed the plan in the 'Negative'. However I was surprised when I got 64 as my speed which seemed a bit slow to me. Anyway, Ive shot quite a bit today so i'll wait to see what these look like.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Hi guys
First post so hope this makes sense.
I've been testing 5x4 FP4 and come up with 64 as my film speed. This was based on using my spotmeter to get .10 density for Zone 1. So i did some developer time testing today using ID11 at 1+1 at the recommended 11 min. This gave a Zone V111 reading of about .95. I increased the Dev time by about 25% but this gave me a Zone V111 of about 160!

So i was wondering if anybody else has come up with similar results?

Your values sound reasonablebut you could increase the dev time to only 10% to get closer to a highlight density of 1.2,which I believe is closer to target.