The dictionary I have defines Formidable thus:
“to be dreaded or viewed with respect; likely to be hard to overcome, resist , or deal with.”
This just about sums up my feelings when developing my first roll of Fomapan 400. Being a ‘newbie’ to Black and White film in September 2020, I got through my first 100 feet of Ilford HP5+ and my chosen Fotospeed FD 10 developer and felt as though I had learned much and gained a little confidence as I started to get consistent results. Through the spring and summer months I reverted to using various colour films. Having reached October and my developing chemicals were now exhausted, I felt it a good time to return to a period of Black and White film again. But should I stick with what I ‘know’ or take the opportunity to try something else?
I decided after a little research to buy 100 feet of Fomapan 400 along with HP5+ (just in case). In addition I chose to try a different developer namely Fomadon R09
I chose a local preserved railway event for my first time out with my new film.
There are a number of ‘recipes’ for this Film/Developer combination and I chose the folowing as my starting point:
Fomadon R09 diluted 1:50 @20℃ for 12 minutes
Stirred continuously for the first minute and then for 4 seconds every 30 seconds
IlfoStop – 30 seconds
Ilford Rapid Fix for 7minutes and 30 seconds
Washed for 6 minutes
Rinse Aid for 1 minute
I have to say I was relieved to find I had images at the end of the process and scanned them as usual on my Epson V370
Just look at that grain! I knew beforehand that the R09 would accentuate this feature of Fomapan 400.
I did take a roll of HP5+ on this trip and while I don’t like making comparisons I’m interested in seeing the films characteristics side by side.
In the meantime I’m looking forward to my journey with Fomapan 400 and hope it’s not a dead end 😝
arhphotographic 