Working with Ilford FP4+ 125
Dec 5, 2023 11:29:51 #
Each black and white film has its own characteristics and can really have an affect on the overall image. This series of images looks at my own Ilford FP4+ 125 results dating from 2014 through 2022, presented in time-sequence order.
Winter with deep red filter by Paul Sager, on Flickr
Ilford FP4 Plus is a fine-grained, cubic grain film. Ilford says FP4+ delivers “medium contrast and outstanding sharpness.”
B&W Winter
This organizing and analysis exercise of various film types and speeds has been a revelation. When I "returned to film" around 2012, I remember purposefully planning to investigate the various film options. These posts are a progress update on the results of this investigation.
Sandstone in B&W
One of the things I've realized is that I've rarely loaded / picked a film for any specific result. Maybe some color films were picked to match the colors to the subjects, but for B&W, I didn't consider the film grain, nor the relative sharpness, no the relative contrast of the subjects. Well, at least not initially.
Red Rocks Park
As I review my own progress and growth in B&W, I see now the results I prefer and associate with specific film emulsions that now impact my selection of specific films for specific purposes.
Alpine Valley
Introduced in 1935 as Fine Grain Panchromatic (FP), this Ilford film uses a traditional cubic grain. Even in mixed lighting, FP4 Plus delivers the details. Its grain is almost undetectable, it’s so fine. It leads to delicious sharpness.
Alpine Goat
The current version, FP4 Plus has been around since 1990.
Petroglyph National Monument
FP4+ is clearly one of my favorite films. And yet, it took an effort to collect images across nearly a decade to make this realization.
White Sands National Monument
The image above, and the first image in this post, both use the same deep red filter. I really like how this film and that filter render a dark near-black sky, although I wish I'd handled the exposure better in White Sands to achieve less grain in the image.
C-130 Hercules
What ILFORD says about the film:
“For high quality black and white photography, ILFORD FP4 PLUS is unrivalled. Its very fine grain, outstanding sharpness and high acutance make it the film of choice whenever a job demands great enlargement or the subject contains a wealth of fine detail."
Shockwave Jet Truck
These final few images come back to FP4+ after nearly four years without using this film.
Lily in B&W
The images all use the film loaded as ISO-100, where I've overridden the DX-code on the film canister with the ISO-100 setting in the camera.
Coneflowers and visitors
The film’s ability to render subtle tonal variations with clarity makes it a preferred choice for a multitude of photographic applications including portrait, landscape, and architectural photography. I don't think I'll stop using other film types as much as I'll probably use FP4+ more often.
Shannon Rovers - July 4
Winter with deep red filter by Paul Sager, on Flickr
Ilford FP4 Plus is a fine-grained, cubic grain film. Ilford says FP4+ delivers “medium contrast and outstanding sharpness.”
B&W Winter
This organizing and analysis exercise of various film types and speeds has been a revelation. When I "returned to film" around 2012, I remember purposefully planning to investigate the various film options. These posts are a progress update on the results of this investigation.
Sandstone in B&W
One of the things I've realized is that I've rarely loaded / picked a film for any specific result. Maybe some color films were picked to match the colors to the subjects, but for B&W, I didn't consider the film grain, nor the relative sharpness, no the relative contrast of the subjects. Well, at least not initially.
Red Rocks Park
As I review my own progress and growth in B&W, I see now the results I prefer and associate with specific film emulsions that now impact my selection of specific films for specific purposes.
Alpine Valley
Introduced in 1935 as Fine Grain Panchromatic (FP), this Ilford film uses a traditional cubic grain. Even in mixed lighting, FP4 Plus delivers the details. Its grain is almost undetectable, it’s so fine. It leads to delicious sharpness.
Alpine Goat
The current version, FP4 Plus has been around since 1990.
Petroglyph National Monument
FP4+ is clearly one of my favorite films. And yet, it took an effort to collect images across nearly a decade to make this realization.
White Sands National Monument
The image above, and the first image in this post, both use the same deep red filter. I really like how this film and that filter render a dark near-black sky, although I wish I'd handled the exposure better in White Sands to achieve less grain in the image.
C-130 Hercules
What ILFORD says about the film:
“For high quality black and white photography, ILFORD FP4 PLUS is unrivalled. Its very fine grain, outstanding sharpness and high acutance make it the film of choice whenever a job demands great enlargement or the subject contains a wealth of fine detail."
Shockwave Jet Truck
These final few images come back to FP4+ after nearly four years without using this film.
Lily in B&W
The images all use the film loaded as ISO-100, where I've overridden the DX-code on the film canister with the ISO-100 setting in the camera.
Coneflowers and visitors
The film’s ability to render subtle tonal variations with clarity makes it a preferred choice for a multitude of photographic applications including portrait, landscape, and architectural photography. I don't think I'll stop using other film types as much as I'll probably use FP4+ more often.
Shannon Rovers - July 4
Dec 6, 2023 08:17:27 #
Dec 6, 2023 10:28:23 #
Dec 6, 2023 10:41:35 #
Thank you John, Kathy! I've been amazed over and over when I matched the images to the film type(s) in my LR catalog.
Dec 8, 2023 15:24:09 #
Good and useful info. Thank you for posting!
(I’m very interested because am trying different B&W film. It seems that in my previous years of film photography, I just used whatever B&W film was handy, with little thought to which might work better for a particular task. Oh, well. Better to learn late than never, I guess.)
(I’m very interested because am trying different B&W film. It seems that in my previous years of film photography, I just used whatever B&W film was handy, with little thought to which might work better for a particular task. Oh, well. Better to learn late than never, I guess.)
Dec 8, 2023 18:23:42 #
William Royer wrote:
Good and useful info. Thank you for posting!
(I’m very interested because am trying different B&W film. It seems that in my previous years of film photography, I just used whatever B&W film was handy, with little thought to which might work better for a particular task. Oh, well. Better to learn late than never, I guess.)
(I’m very interested because am trying different B&W film. It seems that in my previous years of film photography, I just used whatever B&W film was handy, with little thought to which might work better for a particular task. Oh, well. Better to learn late than never, I guess.)
Same for me. Now, I hopefully have a basis for making a decision about what and why, more so than even how the basis well developed.
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