jawarden
Well-known
A couple from today with the non-alpha P30. Experimenting with exposure and developing. The light was pretty artless, overcast and some snow flurries, but good fun and a nice walk anyway.
DanskDynamit
Well-known
Probably they will as the slide film will never happen.
HHPhoto
Well-known
Thanks. It demonstrates the problems of P30.
The shadow on the right is an open shadow which gets lots of reflective light from the left side. But nevertheless has limited detail. With e.g. Delta 100, TMX, Acros, PanF+ or Adox HR-50 you would have got significantly better shadow detail.
And the highlights have almost no detail. Again, with Delta 100, TMX + Co you also would have better highlight detail.
And lower overall contrast = better tonality.
My point is:
My test results with P30 compared to the established films is that P30 cannot compete in quality with the other films. It has no single advantage to them, but some significant disadvantages (like the problematic tonality / density curve, low real sensitivity and much higher price).
Film Ferrania has to convince me as a potential custumer why I should choose P30 instead of the other establishd films. But P30 is not convincing.
I am not against Ferrania, not at all. I am one of their Kickstarter backers, and I wish them well.
But I want the best quality and best price-performance ratio for my money.
And I currently get that from Ilford, Kodak, Fuji and Adox.
Cheers, Jan
jawarden
Well-known
You missed the biggest problem with the P30 image you're describing - there are no colors, which clearly demonstrates P30's objective incorrectness, a problem, a lack of quality, and a catastrophe. I mean, where is the color?? With e.g. Portra, Ektar, Superia etc you would have significantly better color so why would anyone use inferior and more expensive P30? Surely there are no occasions when removal of color would be a reasonable creative choice for any photographer.
P30 is an unusual film for sure, and renders differently than anything else I've personally tried. Anyone considering a project with P30 would do well to test it side by side with their current film (shoot the same scene with P30 and TMax for instance) and compare histograms to see just how different they are. Both will deliver from black to white, but on a different scale and will make the transition from black to white quite differently.
When I view a negative made with TMax I'm reminded of the realistic scene I saw through the lens, without much translation aside from the removal of color. But with P30 there is a rather heavy translation and the scene looks different from reality to me. This difference from reality can be viewed as vintage personality or catastrophe depending on what the photographer is looking for; I think what matters is whether or not the photographer likes the results, and it ends there.
I don't see P30 as an everyday utility film for me, in the same way that I don't see Impossible Project, Lomo, Svema Color 125 etc as everyday utility films. Those films also put a particular spin on reality. And like P30 you can simulate those effects on your computer or in the darkroom but it's a quite different thing to make it happen in-camera.
DanskDynamit
Well-known
Ferrania will leave Kickstarter's updating/communication system in January, looks like google is indexing too many complains there and in their own website you can only give a "like" to their updates. Smart...
Larry Cloetta
Veteran
Analog Insights 3 days ago posted a long review of P30 along with something of the history of Ferrania.
There's lots to criticize if that's your thing, and not even sure if anyone is left here who likes this film, but thought I would post the link just in case. Don't shoot the messenger, por favor.
If nothing else, some people unfamiliar with this youtube channel might find other things they have done to be of interest. Though people are of two minds on that as well.
Anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9YJle7jqg4
There's lots to criticize if that's your thing, and not even sure if anyone is left here who likes this film, but thought I would post the link just in case. Don't shoot the messenger, por favor.
If nothing else, some people unfamiliar with this youtube channel might find other things they have done to be of interest. Though people are of two minds on that as well.
Anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9YJle7jqg4