It has been a frustrating week. I have shot most of the Fomapan 400 now and I was a little worried.
Each frame was speckled with what seemed to be some kind of chemical fall-out. I had to clone out literally a hundred small specks on each frame.
At first I thought it was my water. I have been using the set up I have for years and have never run across this. I filter my water but I thought maybe something had happened.
So I bought a few liters of distilled water and worked with it.
Still speckles and here and there something that appeared to be flakes, small flakes.
I started to suspect ATM49, the only other variable in my set-up. I have never used ATM49 before.
I was even getting speckles with the ADOX 400 film, which is supposed to be HP5, a film I use a lot and I've never had this kind of result. It definitely was not as prominent with ADOX 400. The FOMA films were really a chore to clean up. Not so with the ADOX.
So today I shot and developed a roll in HC110. Sure, it's not fine-grain, but the negatives were as clean as a whistle. There is something here that doesn't work well with ATM49. It's a pity, because the results, otherwise, are really nice.
I don't think I'd like to have HC110 as a standard developer for Fomapan 400, though I've printed out a couple and they look just fine. The grain is there, but grain doesn't bother me a whole lot.
I'll probably try D76 and Xtol. I won't use Xtol if it can't be diluted.
Still ... I like this film. I was pleased to see that the speckle problem wasn't inherent in the film but was due to a combination of factors.
Each frame was speckled with what seemed to be some kind of chemical fall-out. I had to clone out literally a hundred small specks on each frame.
At first I thought it was my water. I have been using the set up I have for years and have never run across this. I filter my water but I thought maybe something had happened.
So I bought a few liters of distilled water and worked with it.
Still speckles and here and there something that appeared to be flakes, small flakes.
I started to suspect ATM49, the only other variable in my set-up. I have never used ATM49 before.
I was even getting speckles with the ADOX 400 film, which is supposed to be HP5, a film I use a lot and I've never had this kind of result. It definitely was not as prominent with ADOX 400. The FOMA films were really a chore to clean up. Not so with the ADOX.
So today I shot and developed a roll in HC110. Sure, it's not fine-grain, but the negatives were as clean as a whistle. There is something here that doesn't work well with ATM49. It's a pity, because the results, otherwise, are really nice.
I don't think I'd like to have HC110 as a standard developer for Fomapan 400, though I've printed out a couple and they look just fine. The grain is there, but grain doesn't bother me a whole lot.
I'll probably try D76 and Xtol. I won't use Xtol if it can't be diluted.
Still ... I like this film. I was pleased to see that the speckle problem wasn't inherent in the film but was due to a combination of factors.
