Ilford FP4 PLUS
Canon EOS 30V Date & Yashica 124G
After taking part in #DeltaDefJam back in October 2017, I was keen to try the next film shooting event organised by Emulsive. It would also be a return to Home Development, something I had long since yearned for. Ilford FP4+ Party would be the one. Shoot Week would started on 3rd December 2017, Develop Week started 10th December, and Post week on Twitter, started 17th December.
Home Development
In readiness in November, I duly ordered one 35mm FP4+ and one 120 FP4+ along with some black and white chemicals for some home developing. I had preciously carried out home developing over five years ago, and was keen to give it another go. My home development had been a little hit and miss, but I suspect some of this might have been in part due to my complete lack of regard to temperatures. This time would be different. Back in September 2017 I won a colour home Tetenal C41 developing kit and some expired colour film in a donate away from Isabel Curdes on Twitter. While I have been happy to use developing labs for film recently, I owed it to Isabels generosity to give home developing a go once more. Wanting to get the process ‘back in my head’ I have started with Black & White, wishing to get used to the processing again. I will then try the colour development, which is completely new to me. Watch this space!
Camera Choice
The camera choice was obvious. I have recently spent a small fortune replacing a Canon 30V Date which I sold back in January, so I had ground and value to make up. So, week commencing the 3rd, off I went to Manchester with my Canon 30V Date loaded with FP4+. I didn’t know what to expect from a lens with a maximum aperture of F4 and a film as slow as 125ISO in December. Later in the week, I stayed more local and ran the 120 film through my Yashica 124G.
Using a changing bag and home development tank, the films were then developed in Tetenal Paranol S for 11 minutes as per instructions. After the development and a rinse with water, a stop bath to ensure that there was no more development, a further rinse with water, and then a fix for 5 minutes in Ilford Rapid Fix. This time I paid attention to the development temperature, as if I am to develop colour in the near future, I have to get the temperatures right.
The results from the 35mm film have better exposure, and I put this down to better metering on the Canon, and the inferior battery that my Yashica 124G. I should use a handheld light meter for this, but laziness does make me resort to the in-built meter.
Over the week of 17th December, I scanned the 35mm FP4+ and 120 FP4+ and started sharing photographs on Twitter using the hashtag #fp4party. Participants have shared a plethora of images taken on FP4 over the same week, and I definitely see myself using this film again, but over the summer period for the required light!
The Results
A small selection of my results from the 35mm Ilford FP4+
A small selection of my results from the 120 Ilford FP4+
I am pretty happy with the results from my Home Development, and will develop a few more Black and White films keeping a steady temperature as practise for the big step of Home Colour Development!
The full gallery of the 36 frames from the 35mm FP4+
