Contax IIIa, Opton Biogon 2.8/35, Ilford FP4+, Fomadon LQN

[iangreenhalgh1]

Very pleased with how this came out, much better than I've been able to get from fp4+ before. Two or three of these are with my 1938 Sonnar 1.5/50, see if you can spot em.


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23

#24

#25

#26

#27

[Attila]

One of your best series for sure, if we count winter light , surely best. I like especially #1 , such a nice sharpness and clarity.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thankyou, this Biogon is really great on film. I didn't do any pp on these, not even tweaking brightness/contrast, seems I got very lucky with this Contax and the meter and shutter are both spot-on.

[Attila]

WOW, may post-war Contax was entirely dead...

[iangreenhalgh1]

Yes, I suspect mine had a very easy life with little use as it has no signs of wear at all.

[Orio]

I'm not a fan of FP4 but you make it look convincing here.

[skida]

Excellent use of shadows and light Ian. Sharp as a tack.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Thankyou gentlemen, I was very surprised at how this roll came out, as i too, am not much of a fan of fp4. I've tried it in 3 or 4 other developers and not had results as good as this, usually quite a bit more grain, although I do have some shots from the past with fp4 that came out great, those were in the minority and most were of lesser quality.

I was lucky with the light, it was crystal clear day and in the afternoon the shadows grew long, so I had lots of light/dark to work with, which suits my style as I like to try to make bw shots with plenty of black and plenty of white rather than lots of gray midtones.

[Excalibur]

[iangreenhalgh1]

I think with Ilford films, they aren't so hot in many developers, but find the right developer and bingo.

Here's some other FP4/FP4+ (I have both in bulk rolls) to compare, with developer used noted:

Konica Hexanon 4/21, AG Photographic RO9



Konica Hexanon 1.4/50, AG Photographic RO9



Meyer Primagon 4.5/35, Paterson FX-39:



Konica Hexanon 1.4/50, Paterson FX-39:



Carl Zeiss Jena Triotar 4/85, Fomadon LQN:



This was Ilford HP5, Konica Hexanon 4/21, Paterson FX-39:



I definitely prefer Fomadon LQN to FX-39 and RO9 for use with FP4, I thought I'd tried D-76 with FP4 too, but I can't find the roll in my notes so maybe not, I just bought a 5l tin of Microdol-X dirt cheap so I can try that with the Ilford films too, I have loads of bulk FP4, HP5 and Polypan 50 which is probably Pan F 50 emulsion on a clear estar base.

This is the Polypan 50, sure looks (and behaves in processing) like Pan F 50:

CZJ Sonnar 1.5/50:



Konica Hexanon 1.4/57:




Helios-103 1.8/53:

[Excalibur]

Well now I'm way out of touch with developers but my combo was Johnsons Unitol and FP4 but did try many others in between. But alas excellent Unitol has gone down the pan and so I doubt whether I'll dabble in B/W again without this developer.

My first attempts at portraiture.....eventually bought sheets of backing paper to fit on a home made frame.


FP4 dev in Unitol, camera was Medium format (can't be bothered to find the neg) with diffuser in front of the lens

[Attila]

Simple SUPERB this portrait, full with life!

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Excalibur]

[Excalibur]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Yes, it is time consuming sometimes, but I have lots of time on my hands so I don't mind, and there's no other way to do bw film work really.