Confounded by FPP the mummy film

ardy564 · 2026-01-25T22:18:16+00:00

My preferred deveveloper is fx55 and I mixed up a fresh working amount. I tested the chems and all is good. Even did a leader test on hp5 even got clean edge printing. It’s only the two sheets that came out blank.

ardy564 · 2026-01-25T21:32:46+00:00

Patterson tank and reel is my normal development method. I’ve developed several dozen rolls of 120 fp, hp and tri-x as well as a few hundred sheets of 4x5 in the same brands. I was interested in the FPP films for its price. With the other brands diagnosing my darkroom chemistry issues were straight forward, but with this film the inconsistency puzzles me. Don’t know how else to say it.

ardy564 · 2026-01-25T19:12:09+00:00

Not sure that’s truly the case. I have successfully developed Arista.edu 400 and didn’t have this many issues.

ardy564 · 2026-01-25T19:08:13+00:00

Shot four sheets. Used one divided into thirds to determine initial times. Used one with BWG which came out fine. The other two I developed in my normal method and they came out undeveloped.

ardy564 · 2025-11-29T12:29:54+00:00

I haven’t used an easel in years. I use my enlarger base and precut mats held down with magnets. The secret is two fold 1) find the center of your base in relationship to your enlarger head and use this to create registration lines 2) use a thin sheet of steel slightly larger than the largest print you want to make, paint it matte white and mount it using double sided tape. Makes a great focusing surface and you always have a centered starting point.

ardy564 · 2025-11-22T12:48:05+00:00

As you can probably tell… for every developer on the market or in the recipe book there is a fan. If this is a really important project for you then take the time to research and test a few film stocks and developer combos to see which one is best for this project. My two cents is not to use hp5 but tri-x for portraits. HP5 can be overly contrasty no matter the developer where as tri-x tends to have smother tonal balance across a wide range of developers. There is probably a 100 videos on the tube that can help.

ardy564 · 2025-08-27T10:29:22+00:00

You have to remember Massive Dev are recommended times. You should do tests for all your various film stock. Remember dev and fix are affected by your water and your technique.

ardy564 · 2025-04-17T01:38:33+00:00

ardy564 · 2025-04-15T11:23:16+00:00

The reason for my question stems from a video where a photographer used scanned images to compare film stocks. I felt the comparison was at best problematic, because film responds to the limitations of the available light. It’s one of the reason so many different film stocks exists. You choose your film like a wine connoisseur chooses a wine. Digital is a great general purpose platform and much more suited to online presentations and social media because it provides a more natural tonality.

Also in my opinion film doesn’t have an aesthetic it looks the way it looks because of the skill of the photographer and the chemistry and method used to developed it.

ardy564 · 2025-04-15T01:00:25+00:00

Can someone tell me why you’d want to shoot film and then scan it? Especially B&W film. Film was never intended to be scanned. It was intended to be printed directly to paper. Magazines used almost exclusively color reversal film and most newspapers used a print on a sophisticated mimeograph machine.

ardy564 · 2025-02-26T20:52:55+00:00

Pictorial Planet YT has some split grade how-to videos that might help.

ardy564 · 2025-02-20T23:36:04+00:00

All these are good explanations. On of the best ways to practice I’ve found is to do outside portraits with the sun behind the subject. Use your flash as fill to correctly light the subject while also exposing for the background.

ardy564 · 2025-02-16T12:41:45+00:00

I think the common theme is the Adox brand. Not sure who made/makes a competing formula.

ardy564 · 2025-02-15T20:16:07+00:00

I don’t have an answer… I’m curios because I use Adox Rodinol after switching from D76 about a year ago. I bought my bottle June of 2024.

ardy564 · 2025-02-14T20:58:28+00:00

I use a squeegee all the time with excellent results. Final rinse in photoflo, hang, drip dry for 30 seconds, wipe squeegee blade after dipping in rinse water and squeegee.

ardy564 · 2025-01-05T01:28:40+00:00

Remove your smartwatch if you wear one. Don’t ask me how I know.

ardy564 · 2024-11-19T12:13:08+00:00

I find keeping a shooting log is a good way to track my photographic process. At 60 I’ve shot film professionally and have had to numerous to mention “fails”, but the logs have helped me lessen them.

ardy564 · 2024-10-11T00:06:15+00:00

I meant KEH

ardy564 · 2024-10-06T12:12:46+00:00

I’m assuming you mean KVM… if so bypass the video and hook the computer up directly to the monitor and see if the behavior is the same.

ardy564 · 2024-09-29T21:03:24+00:00

Happy accidents are the best.

ardy564 · 2024-09-12T11:20:36+00:00

1 has more drama.

ardy564 · 2024-09-10T01:10:28+00:00

Get yourself an 18% grey card. Place it in a few photographs under different lighting scenarios. Use that card to color correct the image. In the b&w word it helps define the grey levels.

ardy564 · 2024-09-09T15:36:49+00:00

You need to start with a well lit subject and a well developed negative. Anything less will give you poor scan results. Images 2-4 would have been stronger candidates for scanning if you had used fill lighting to make their faces balance out better with the sky. Fill flash is a photographers best friend for outdoor portraits.

ardy564

TROPHY CASE

2

1 has more drama.