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-   -   FP4+125 Any reason not to make this my go to film for all formats?. (http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=13249)

GoodOldNorm 13th June 2020 05:32 PM

FP4+125 Any reason not to make this my go to film for all formats?.
 
Any love out there for FP4+ in 35mm,120mm and 4x5? Is FP4+ the best choice as an all rounder? What film would you use if you could only pick one?

B&W Neil 13th June 2020 06:29 PM

It all depends what type of photography you are doing.

FP4+ is a great film for a large number of situations but it may not be your first choice for using in a night club photographing musicians.

I tend to take a less resticted approach and try to use the best suited film, that provides what I looking for, with a particular subject.

Neil.

Richard Gould 13th June 2020 07:37 PM

I agree with Neil, FP4 is a great film if you are mainly doing Landscapes, but if you fit in some low light photography then maybe a faster film is better, I also tend to match film to subject, for me I loke fomapan, and use both 200 and 400, as this time of the year, under normal circumstances I would do a fair bit of hand held very low light work I need a faster film, although this year all of my lows light work at places such as Hamptome museum is out of bounds, a victim of covid, and I stocked up on 400,
Richard

Mike O'Pray 13th June 2020 08:02 PM

Norm, my own feelings echo that of the others. I'd go for a 400 speed and if there is any chance you do want to do shots in poor light conditions which require a faster speed then HP5+ would be my choice For the "nightclub" type of scene it can be relatively successfully pushed to 3200 and certainly to 1600. Depending on your choice of MF it may be that you can use MF in a night club scene at 1600 thereby avoiding the graininess that might arise in 35mm in such situations unless the prints are truly going to be very large.

In LF such matters as graininess are irrelevant and even here in poor outdoors light which we suffer for quite a portion of the year in the U.K. 400 might still be useful

Mike

mpirie 13th June 2020 09:33 PM

I stick to FP4+ for the vast majority of my work. It's not exclusive, i will use others like Pan-F and Hp5, but if i look back at my catalogue.....nearly 90% of it was shot on FP4+.

Having said that, I shoot almost exclusively landscapes.

Mike

alexmuir 13th June 2020 11:05 PM

I may be suffering a bit of deja vu, but I’m sure someone posed exactly the same question very recently. I like FP4, but don’t use it very often. HP5 is, apparently, the best selling B&W film. It does pretty much everything you would want, and can handle a large range of lighting conditions. It is the film I would recommend to anyone coming in to film photography. If, however, you knew that all your subjects would be static, or you lived in a place where the light was generally pretty intense, then FP4 would be a good choice, especially in the smaller formats.
Alex


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Stocky 13th June 2020 11:18 PM

I'm not a regular LF user. My choice for 35mm and MF is HP5+, and I use two developers depending on the speed that I need: Pyrocat when 200 is enough, ID-68 (Microphen-like) when more is needed.

GoodOldNorm 14th June 2020 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stocky (Post 133920)
I'm not a regular LF user. My choice for 35mm and MF is HP5+, and I use two developers depending on the speed that I need: Pyrocat when 200 is enough, ID-68 (Microphen-like) when more is needed.

That appeals to me, have you ever tried Fp4+ at EI160 developed in microphen?

Rob Archer 14th June 2020 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm (Post 133921)
That appeals to me, have you ever tried Fp4+ at EI160 developed in microphen?

I've used it at EI 200 in ID68 (home-brew Microphen) 1:1 14 minutes (15 with 120 film) at 20 DegC with excellent results.

It's an excellent and very versatile film.

JOReynolds 14th June 2020 03:36 PM

What film?
 
Some years ago I embarked on a project to photograph the rotting street doors of tenement dwellings in a small town in the south-west of France. The doors are of oak or poplar, both relatively pale when weathered, and the sandstone reveal is also beige. I couldn't afford a 5x4" camera with a Super-Angulon and my enlarger only goes up to 6x9 so I settled on 120 Delta 100 at ISO 50...100 and, after some experimentation, I chose Rodinal 1:50 as developer. I learned how to print it on Multigrade IV with a Multigrade 500 head, usually at grade 2½ or 3. I needed fully-exposed negatives to be able to pull detail out of the shadows.
There's a great deal to be said for standardising and I am sure that FP4+ and Fomapan 200 would be just as good. The main thing is to be able to predict the outcome.
If you can process soon after exposure then fresh Delta 3200 is great for low-light work - probably better than HP5 or Fomapan 400, pushed.


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