Favourite budget film emulsions

Anybody else tried Shanghai GP3 for 120? I was pleasantly surprised with the results, but the film but the curling is a nightmare!
 
Use Kentmere 400 and very happy.
i had a "lot" of small holes and dots when i scanned.
i now do a pre-wash with Photo-Flo, very diluted.
The Kentmere dries flat.
That's all i want!
Use HC-110, prefer to Blazinol(almost old Rodinal).
 
Fomapan is a soft emulsion so use a hardening fixer like the old Kodak powdered fix. I scratched fp100 but was using a non hardening fixer. Hardening should help the problem.

I'm looking at possible replacements for Fuji 100 & 400. I still have abou a hundred rolls of 400 and 20 of 100 but the day is approaching quickly that I'll run out. I shoot more 400 than 100 but wan a good supply of each. I don't mind grain for my documentary work as I feel it adds to the feeling of the image sometimes.

I've used quite a bit of HP5 but never been knocked out with FP4. I don't like Tri-x since its re formulation several years ago. I have to rate it at 250 to get adequate shadows. Tmax is ok now that's it's been re formulated several times but I just don't care for the look.

This brings me to trying fomapan 100 & 400. I've been quite pleased with 100 and haven't shot any 400 yet. I went back to D76 1:1 and love the tonality and open highlights and luminous tones. It scans beautifully and will wet print some this week. I haven't shot any 400 yet.

I'm also going to shoot some 200. I've used the 200 in sheet film for years and it's by far my favorite. I platinum print and it responds to exposure and development almost perfectly and produces beautiful luminous images. I'm anxious to see how it does in 35 and 120. This might be my standard film.

I've also tried Kentmer 400 and have some 100 to shoot. I exposed the 400 at 400 and ran in D76 1:1 for 16-1/2 min @ 68f. Nice negs and scans well but needs a touch more development / contrast. It has potential IMO. Now to test the 100.

I used formulary non hardening fixer but with fomapan I'm either going to do a hardening bath or go to Kodak powdered fix.

I suspect I'll standardize on Foma film but don't know about 400 speed. I read a lot of people saying it's much slower than 400 so it might give UFG developer a try with it or just use Kentmere or go back to HP5. I do really like HP5. I'd like to have the emulsion in both 35 & 120 if possible.
 
Use Kentmere 400 and very happy.
i had a "lot" of small holes and dots when i scanned.
i now do a pre-wash with Photo-Flo, very diluted.
The Kentmere dries flat.
That's all i want!
Use HC-110, prefer to Blazinol(almost old Rodinal).

I used to have pinholes with one of Kodaks films until I realized it was due to gas bubbles caused by too strong a stop bath. I went to a water bath and no acid between developer and fix and have never had another problem. I'm now using an alkalin fix and water stop and had no problems.
 
It would be fomapan 200 but

It would be fomapan 200 but

A couple of years ago i bought some fomapan 200 in 120 , the tones were great but it had a lot of debris and marks on it , acording to the info I could find the factory has sorted the problem ,so I bought 10 rols , big mistake they are actualy worse , used 2 rolls gona throw the rest away . Cant be just me , the second roll I even used distiled water . Might try the 100asa but at one roll at a time.
 
I don't go for the lowest bidder. This is for your photography.

Therefore, I don't buy the cheap Chinese stuff. It might be OK for testing cameras, but that's it. The quality seems to be too variable.

My favorite films are Adox, Ilford, Rollei/Maco and Kodak. There are enough choices and variety among those that I don't need anything else. Plus, I like those films, so I support them by buying their product so they will make more.
 
Just in case anyone is interested

Just in case anyone is interested

I didnt buy the fomapan because of the price , I liked the tones and wanted to suport an indipendant manufacturer , but I cant suport a film which is just going to waste my time and posibly lose good pictures . I did buy some polypan 50 which I was very happy with , its sharper in 35mm than the fomapan is from either my bronica etrsi or my fuji gw690 .
 
Anybody else tried Shanghai GP3 for 120? I was pleasantly surprised with the results, but the film but the curling is a nightmare!

Plenty of threads if you google it. It isn't dirt cheap, but slightly cheaper if I compare it to 120 B&H prices. Maybe it is changed now.
Quality is also slightly less, I would say. It seems to be fine as long as you not switching to "normal" quality film.
Very thin film. Fixing time very short.
I have it in 120 and 4x5 for now just to play with this formats.
 
100% crop from fomapan 200 fuji gw690111

100% crop from fomapan 200 fuji gw690111

16139945896_07864e48cc_z.jpg
 
To echo what x-ray said, I've been pretty happy with what I get out of Foma 100. I haven't shot a lot with it, maybe 10 rolls or so. I did have one weird quality issue. There was a human hair under the emulsion that lifted off during development. It only effected 2 frames. For the price (especially the re-branded) I'm willing to take the chance.

This one was developed in D76 1+1.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ptwFWk][/URL]
 
Well FP200 is a difficult type emulsion to make. It is a mix of hexagonal and cubical type Silver crystals:

556599703_b63dbe510a.jpg


The film can be done in R09/ Rodinal but with pronounced grain but very sharp. Xtol/Fomadon Excel W27 1+1 is much better but no surprice because all Tgrain type emulsions are doing less in R09/Rodinal. Even Ilford Delta films seems to be "ugly" in it.

The FP200 must be exposed around iso 160 for Xtol or iso 100 in R09/Rodinal and iso 80-100 in an Ultra Fine Grain type developer like Windisch W665 (great results you can get with this combination!).

It is the softest emulsion from Foma. Normally FP100/400 shoud not give any issues with this, if you are buying the premium Fomapan professional films and not Arista EDU because these are the pre-production rolls like Ilford PAN 100/400.
Unfortunately you won't reach iso 400 with FP400 because in most developer it is iso 250 only. However it has a very nice grey tonal range.

190902189_6ae2a9a45a_z.jpg


FP200 in R09/Rodinal (35mm)



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FP200 in Xtol 1+1 (35mm)



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FP400 E.I. 250 in Rollei Supergrain 1+9 (roll film)

Since a year all Fomapan 120 roll films are made on clear Polyester layer with double non-curling layer (100um). A self adhesive sticker is closing the film when ended. All 35mm films are made on grey tri-acetate 125um and are DX coded in a premium 35mm cartridge.

If you want quality you are buying Foma's premium materials, not the rest waste of their films and then complain on all fora how bad it can be.


A sensiometric test with FP200 E.I. 100 in W665:

3426183001_27cc69a22d_z.jpg


35mm and without noticable grain.

Concerning the price: In the Netherlands you can get FP100 (professional) for less then Eur. 3,25. An average price for Ilford FP4+ will be around Eur. 5,-
 
I'm a fan of Fomapan 100 like nearly everyone else it seems. I develop in Rodinal 1:100 and often shoot at 200 or 400 and get it for about $3/2.50 euro per roll. I've also shot a bit of Lucky SHD 100 which could be nice at times but there was a lot of halation.

My biggest photography regret of 2014 was when I found a store in China that sold fresh Acros 100 for $2 a roll and not buying everything they had.
 
Crazy price about Acros 100. This film has become so expensive here in W.Europe last two years.
But also Eur. 2,50 for FP100 is an extremely good price if you meant the Fomapan 100 135-36 or 120 roll film professional.
 
Crazy price about Acros 100. This film has become so expensive here in W.Europe last two years.
But also Eur. 2,50 for FP100 is an extremely good price if you meant the Fomapan 100 135-36 or 120 roll film professional.

It definitely has. I'm based in Switzerland and I buy online through this store http://www.ars-imago.ch/fomapan100classic1353610pieces-p-13328.html I think the price has actually gone up a bit since my last order, but still not bad. If you buy in blocks of 10 it'll cost 2.76 eur per roll, but not sure how much extra shipping and tax would be to NL.
 
Thanks about the link. I know the owner of the shop personally. The problem will be the import duties and then Dutch VAT 21% will be added too, apart from the handling costs by post, every time Eur. 15,- for a package. So it will be expensive films then too. :bang:
 
I like Fomapan 200 I also rate it at ISO 200. It is a beautiful film with midtones that just glow.

Rollei Retro is not APX 100 the old Rollei Retro was APX the new ones are Aviphot and other mfg. products in disguise. If you only shoot 35mm ORWO UN54 isn't a bad film at all.

Any issues with the Orwo being its essentially (from what I've read) a motion picture film? And, just in case, any resources for doing reversal processing on the film? Thanks.
 
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