Tips for FP4

Lauffray

Lauffray

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I just got a few rolls of FP4 to test out and I have some questions for you guys, seeing as the last time I shot anything under ISO400 was uhm a long time ago !

- FP4 is rated ISO125, is there any gain in exposing it at 100 ? The aim is to simplify exposure calculations.
- If yes, how much should I compensate developing time for, if at all ? I mean a third of a stop seems a little insignificant

- I'm thinking about developing it in Rodinal, for the high acutance and to bring out that very fine grain just a little bit. Is there any gain to developing in Rodinal or am I best to go with an Ilford developer ? Any developer recommendations that would give me the result I'm looking for ?
 
Lauffray said:
I mean a third of a stop seems a little insignificant
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Yes, too insignificant to worry about
Lauffray said:
- I'm thinking about developing it in Rodinal, for the high acutance and to bring out that very fine grain just a little bit. Is there any gain to developing in Rodinal or am I best to go with an Ilford developer ? Any developer recommendations that would give me the result I'm looking for ?
Click to expand...

In my experience Rodinal and Ilford films are not a great combo, they get too grainy for me. I can recommend Xtol as an excellent developer for FP4+. If you want to 'bring out the grain' then personally I'd try HP5+ instead or FP4+.
 
Lauffray said:
I'm thinking about developing it in Rodinal, for the high acutance and to bring out that very fine grain just a little bit. Is there any gain to developing in Rodinal or am I best to go with an Ilford developer ?
Click to expand...

This was either Delta100 or FP4 in Rodinal.
rodinal.jpg
 
For me the thing that makes FP4 worth using is a certain creaminess in the midtones. Using Rodinal works against this, makes things a bit sparkly. I'm fine using HC-110 with FP4.
 
FP4 has great tonality in Rodinal but it does look gritty. My favorite developer for FP4 is PMK. D-76 1+1 gives beautiful results, too.
 
I dislike FP4 in Rodinal. Grain is awful to me.
I like FP4 in HC-110. Midtones come out for me.

That's my preference. Also, I expose FP4 at ISO 100. I think most people do.
 
Dan Daniel said:
For me the thing that makes FP4 worth using is a certain creaminess in the midtones. Using Rodinal works against this, makes things a bit sparkly. I'm fine using HC-110 with FP4.
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HC110 is my choice with FP4 also. I find with my agitation that I need to cut development times to keep contrast down. You'll need to experiment to see what works for you. In HC110 tonality, acutance and grain are excellent.

I think Ilfords equivalent of HC110 is HC. It's quite a bit more expensive. A few years ago HC110 was in short supply so I gave Freestyle's L110 which is the same as HC110. It's less viscous and easier to measure plus much more economical.
 
Don't know how you feel about homebrew developers, but FP4+ works pretty well in Caffenol C-H(RS). This was shot with an Olympus XA4, BTW.

 
Also when getting your times for FP4+ keep in mind that there is a euro version of HC110 and a US version of hc110. Im not sure if ilfords times are based off of the euro or us versions of hc110 but I find for Dil B 9 min is WAY too much. I cut development to 5:30 and get great results.
 
I have just purchased a 30m bulk roll of FP4+.
I have not used FP4 for almost 5 years, and I will develop these films with Ilfosol 3 as I do with HP5. I am quite ok with Ilfosol 3. The only issue is that it is sensitive to air, and just after opening the bottle, I am splitting it to smaller pharmacy brown glass bottles to preserve it.
 
O2Pilot, that's a beautiful image you got there.

I too have used Caffenol on FP4 and it was a good combination. I tend to use HC110 instead because I'm often time constrained and don't want to mix up a batch of Caffenol. Otherwise, I would use it more often.

x-ray, Are you satisfied with the LC110? I think my current bottle of HC110 will last me a while yet, but once its gone I need to find a satisfactory replacement. I don't want to order the big bottle of HC110 (a few reasons why) so the LC110 is a candidate.

Just looked, only 2 rolls of FP4 in my freezer :eek: I guess I've been using a lot of Tmax lately instead (topic for another thread, another day).
 
One of my fav films. Have lots of it in 100' rolls.

Back in the olden days, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought Ilford FP4 was similiar to Kodak's Plux-X.
 
I would agree with rather not using Rodinal for HP5+, but with FP4+ it is a great and classic combination. It's been a staple of many photographers here in Germany.

I can recommend 1:50 with dev. times around 15 minutes at 20 degress Celsius. Remember, grainlessness is not everything ;-)

Do keep us posted how your pictures turned out -
Greetings, Ljós
 
rfaspen said:
O2Pilot, that's a beautiful image you got there.

I too have used Caffenol on FP4 and it was a good combination. I tend to use HC110 instead because I'm often time constrained and don't want to mix up a batch of Caffenol. Otherwise, I would use it more often.

x-ray, Are you satisfied with the LC110? I think my current bottle of HC110 will last me a while yet, but once its gone I need to find a satisfactory replacement. I don't want to order the big bottle of HC110 (a few reasons why) so the LC110 is a candidate.

Just looked, only 2 rolls of FP4 in my freezer :eek: I guess I've been using a lot of Tmax lately instead (topic for another thread, another day).
Click to expand...

I started using HC110 in 1975 and have processed thousands of rolls in it so I know it inside out. I'm unable to see any difference in the final results with L110. It's lower viscosity which is easier to measure.
 
I have shot many hundreds of meters of FP4+ and developed in different developers.

Never saw any difference from shooting at 100 or 125.

It works very well with Rodinal 1:50 IMHO. My favorite dev for FP4+ is ID-11 (or D-76) 1:1 because it gives finer grain and excellent tones.

With Beutler you get awesome tones but more grain than with ID-11.

FP4+ is quite a tolerant film, it will give good results with almost anything if well exposed.
 
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