Ei 125 B&w 120 Film Options

[mfogiel]

I would like to shoot some medium format film at wider apertures with my Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes. The ideal EI for open shade daylight would be around 125 ISO. My favourite film for this kind of speed would be Fomapan 200, but last time I tried it, it turned out that it was curling like crazy. I am in favour of old style tonality, and would prefer to pull the film a little. Are there any good options around ? Has anybody tried Fomapan 200 in 120 lately?
Thanks
Marek

 

[ChrisN]

I've just bought 10 rolls of Ilford FP4 for the same reasons. I haven't exposed any of this batch yet. I was pretty happy with the results (at box speed) when I last shot this film several years ago.

 

[Fotohuis]

Fomapan 200 E.I. 125 in D74 1+15 for 5:15 minutes at 20C.

The last batches exp. date 2015 are OK. But all Fomapan 120 roll films are more curly because they are made on Polyester base. The interesting thing is that the new FP200 is on Clear base not Blue.

 

[Austerby]

I use FP4+ and Acros 100 in this speed range and find them both work very well in Prescysol EF. I love using slow MF film.

I keep meaning to try Rollei 80s and Adox CHS100. There is also Rollei RPX100 available in 120.

Example: Acros 100 in Prescyscol EF: Hasselblad 500cm and 80mm Planar


Side-deck netting by Vidwatts, on Flickr

 

[mfogiel]

Robert,
I've had the following issues with Fomapan 200:
1) Terrible curling in 120
2) Great difficulty to reproduce gradation in the sky - in fact also your photo has a completely white sky
3) Black holes in the negative
Lately, I have experimented with Fomapan 200 35mm, fixing it in alkaline fixer, and the hole problem has disappeared. For portraiture also the 2 point is not so important, so do you have any advice on how to minimize the curl?
In alternative, is there some APX 100 clone in 120, without the curl problem?
Thanks
Marek

 

[Fotohuis]

1) Curling depends on:

Type film: Polyester or Tri-Acetate
Type wetting agent
How fast the film is drying

I can not say FP 200 has a terrible curl. Compared to Efke 25 it's rather flat 🙂
But I am printing with an enlarger between glass, A.N. glass so it doesn't matter to me.

2) Gradation on the sky (highlights) depends mainly on the developer time. D74 1+15 is a pretty new developer so it's not optimized so far.

3) Black holes in the negative (Black dots or White (pinholes?)) Black dots was a production problem in the previous version FP200 120 roll film. This problem is solved by Foma.
For film it's doesn't matter if you're using an Acid type fixer or Neutral type fixer unless you're using a staining type developer.

 

[Fotohuis]

An APX 100 clone is not available yet. Very close is Fomapan 100 especially when developing in Rodinal.
But it's also a Polyester layer in roll film so about the same curl.

 

[venchka]

While I love the Arista.EDU Ultra 200 (Fomapan 200) in 4x5, my best results in 120 have come from Kodak Tmax 100. Both developed in Xtol 1:3 with continuous agitation in a Jobo drum.

Wayne