I’m battling with Fomapan 400 and Rodinal development times at the moment. I know it is not recommended to use Rodinal with this emulsion. There is nothing on the Massive Dev Chart (and for good reasons, the consensus seems to be that the results are shite). But hey, it is my life and I have certainly seen some good results at lower dilutions.
I’ve tried two methods so far. First, box speed, 1+80, with stand development for 60 minutes. Minimal agitation for 10 seconds to start, then nothing more. Because of the dilution, I did this in a 450 ml tank to get the right amount of developer (ie 5mls of Rodinal in 395mls of water) sloshing around the film, with one filled and one empty spiral. The 250 ml tank wouldn’t have had enough developer in the solution from what I read. The results were interesting:
I like this image, it seems sharp (and to me, paradoxically dreamy) and I can live with the grain. However, the light was poor and I had to use the Summaron fairly wide open at around f/4 or f/5.6 with a slowish shutter speed. I was wildly guessing exposure too, since sunny f/16 seems a distant memory.
Today, after more torrential rain, the sun unexpectedly put his hat on and came out to play. I took the opportunity to wander down the Southbank since it is always good for photos (and I am beginning to feel like a stalker around the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich where I shoot most of my test rolls).
The light was bright when it wasn’t obscured by clouds – sudden and dramatic changes in lighting were the norm. I wanted to get the exposure right so I would know that wasn’t a factor if the results were crap, so I took along the little Sekonic L208 as an aide.
There were some great subjects, particularly the sculpted, brutalist and dramatically sunlit architecure of the Royal Festival Hall. The sun and shadows on the concrete reminded me of some rock climbs, the edges were really well defined, looked ‘imposing’ and I thought ‘jackpot’.
Hubris 101… I only had Fomapan 400 with me and it was a little too bright for it. Top shutter speed of the If is 1/500 so I shot the roll pulled at EI 200. I’ve read that Fomapan is not a true ISO 400 film anyway.
How to develop? Despite everything, some pixie in me fancied the APH09 (from now on I’ll call it Rodinal), so I hunted the net for stuff on pulled Fomapan 400 and found 16-18 minutes with minimal 2 inversions every 5 minutes. This was appealing. Unfortunately the results turned out to be somewhat underwhelming. Overdeveloped, lumpy and grainy. Some of the subject matter was suited to this though.
Here is a selection of the photos:
This works OK for me. The grain etc works well in this context and it seems sharp.
These two appeal to me too, interesting light and dark.
However, this one below would benefit from less visible grain I think (and a lens slightly wider than 3.5cms). The light was working really well on it but it isn’t immediately obvious. And the person walking behind should jump out at the viewer a bit more to scale the composition.
However, the ones that got away were a bit heartbreaking. There was a lovely shot  of a chef smoking a cigarette, framed nicely in the skateboard park (what I used to call Cardboard City where the homeless people lived in the 1980s) – he was oblivious to me taking the shot and it was a great candid portrait. However, it looked like a 100% enlargement from a much bigger image, the pointillist grain just destroyed it. Scream…
The pictures of the RfH were muddy as hell and simply don’t look good, I couldn’t even bring myself to scan them. Sculpturally they were gorgeous and for some reason there was nobody there. The big sheer faces of the concrete weren’t defined well enough even though the light and shadow really threw them into relief. A lost opportunity I think, but soooo close.
Bottom line is that I don’t really quite know what to expect being new to this etc etc (grrrr…). What is acceptable? How personal is what is acceptable? Is what I’m doing achievable with this combo? Â Are my neophyte developing skills militating against good results, and so on? Â Do I have unrealistic expectations of a ISO 400 film? I haven’t enough experience to compare except by looking at results from other people and that is doing my head in. Most people obviously only post images they are fairly happy with and proud of – we don’t usually get to see the real dogs. And I believe HCB himself had a few of those. He certainly cocked-up his coverage of the 1968 Paris student riots.
However, for some subject matter, both the stand-development, and the longer agitated development, the grain works well (IMHO) in the photos shown above, I like the grittyness of the latter and the slight dreamy quality of the former. But I’ll have to experiment more. I found the results from the Foma 100 with Rodinal just what I was looking for (images a few posts below).
2nd bottom line – I’m getting to know what to expect from this developer/film combo so I know what to concentrate on in future. However, the Foma 400 has nearly run out and I’ve replaced it with Tri-X for a new experience. And I’ve read a great deal about Rodinal with this venerable old film. Some hate it, others (usually high ranking cadres of the High Church of Rodinal) love it. I’m really hoping I’ll be in the latter group
Once I’ve found the combo I like I will stick with it. At this stage I’d be mad to ignore the sweetie box, who knows what I might be missing. Fomapan is cheap and worth experimenting with although relatively little data is available. Tri-X has something like 50 years on the clock, so there is lots of data and a huge number of photos available.
<Rubbing hands with anticipation />
by skinnyvoice
show hide 5 comments
the summaron is a very nice lens and sharp too. I regretted selling it
I used this film some years ago with Pyro. Pretty good results. Noticeable grain, tight and sharp. My main film is Neopan 400, but, as you know, Fuji have made a DUMB move by discontinuing it in 120 (BOO!!!!!). As I only have five rolls left, I have been looking for a replacement. Fomapan 400, Tri-X, HP5 and Rollei film are the contenders. As my main developer is Rodinal HP5 is ruled out (HP5 HATES Rodinal). My other developers are HC-110 and Prescysol and all three are good with Tri-X. So Tri-X it will probably be. I will try a few rolls of the Rollei to be sure. My usual developing method with rodinal is 1:200, agitate for the first minute and then let it stand for three hours with a five second gentle agitation after 1 and a half hours. Temperature doesn’t really matter (18 to 24 degrees will do). The negs (metered or Sunny 16) are fine with surprisingly low grain, great tone (esp with APX) and you can push Neopan 400 or Tri-X to ISO 1600 no problem, or mix ISO 200-1600 on the same roll. But I find ISO 800 slightly better for shadow detail and highlight retention. In MF it’s devastating. BTW, I love the above pix, esp the second from top. Excellent stuff.
I’m going to try your Rodinal dev, sounds interesting & gets me away from the 30secs for 15mins tyranny. I know what you mean re HP5 & Rodinal, though I don’t dislike the results, they suit certain subjects. I’ve got quite a few rolls of 120 Neopan 400 in the freezer (thank you Silverprint). I’ve never thought of using Tri-X at ISO 800 so I’ll try that too (I usually use it at ISO 200,320 or 1600). I must use Formapan again. The photos on this post were among the first I developed so I’m glad you liked the results! Probably because I was flailing around then I didn’t give Formapan a fair try. I have a box of Formapan 4×5 to use with the pinhole & I’m plucking up courage to load the darkslides. Zone 2 here in London is *dusty* but I MUST bite the bullet soon, our flat isn’t going to get less dusty and I really want that 4×5 goodness
Try foma 400 at iso 200 develop 12min 68 degrees in rodinal 1/50 . You’ll get lots of mid tones and grain but wonderfully images. I have shot this with a Leica and love it.
Thanks for the tip, will try that too