Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

By GavinBain

Options. One of the many things that I really love in regards to film photography is the options. You have a plethora of different cameras and lenses to choose from, different film stocks and developers, different paper too; if you’re a printer. Sure, you could edit a digital image with a different colour style in Lightroom for varying applications, but to me there is something to be said about having a fridge filled with film for different occasions. Something different about the tactile ability to open the fridge and grab a roll before you leave the house. Think you might need more blues in the scene? Load up some Fujifilm. Going for a warmer cast? Reach for some Kodak film. Want to mix it up? Shoot Fujifilm in the camera with a warming filter on your lens. And the advantage of having different options carries over to black and white film as well.

I am primarily a black and white shooter, at least this year anyway. January 2019 I finally learnt how to develop my black and white film at home rather than send it away, so with my new found knowledge I have only been shooting and sharing black and white film. But I’ve never really found a film that I connected with. Nothing that felt like my film stock. For the last 10 years of my photography journey (that makes me feel old and I’m only 26) when I wanted black and white film I bought Ilford’s HP5+. It was cheap to buy, consistent and every man and their dog shot it. The only exception was I shot my brother in laws wedding on Ilford XP2 because the shop near my house ran out of HP5. But the last 9 months I’ve been extremely bored with it. HP5+ is a gorgeous film, I’m not trying to say it’s horrible, but I was finding it dull. Anyone who has shot it at box speed will tell you it’s heavy on the midtones. So I spent the last 8 months experimenting with different options.

I tried pushing the film which got me close to what I was wanting, but in Townsville, Australia where we are gifted with over 300 days of sunshine a year, shooting at 1600-3200 every day is not smart. I tried different developers, stand developing in Rodinal, which gave me the grain I wanted and the contrast was close. But I still yearned for something more. I tried Delta 400 at all different speeds. Pushed, pulled and box speed and it was nice. But again I was up around 1600 to get results I really liked. Same issue with Kentmere 100 and 400 respectively.

Enter Ilford’s FP4+. I had read about it numerous times online. I’d read about how lovely the contrast is. How comfortably it pushed and pulled. Why not at least try some? So when pay day rolled around, 5 rolls of FP4+ were on a plane to my house.

The test situation.

Where I live in Townsville, North Queensland we have a lovely community of brilliant film photographers we call NQ Film. Regularly we trade gear, prints, offer tips and criticisms, and consume copious amounts of caffeine at a local coffee shop called Specialty Coffee Trader. We’re even working on a zine, but I won’t plug that here.

My only intention was to shoot the FP4 as I normally would and develop it in Rodinal. No special exposure tests. Just load it into my Canon AT1, meter it for iso200 and shoot, and my god the results are lovely.  Really lovely.  It gave me the contrast I was looking for all this time. Slightly less grain than I like but that can be forgiven. I am now an FP4 convert and now my fridge is full of FP4 and some rolls of C200 on the occasion I may want some colour images.

I would love to hear your experiences with FP4 so please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am by no means the leading expert and would love to hear from other photographers. What you’ve seen are some images shot on that first roll. Consent given by the individuals pictured in frame.

Ps. I do have a standard I hold myself to for my feature images (the image you see when advertised with the article) and I have been too lazy to shoot a proper image of a roll of FP4, so unfortunately I had to use an iPhone image whilst waiting for my coffee. Please forgive me and next time I’ll be back with bangers 😉

You can find my other submissions to 35mmc here
Instagram: @gavinbain
www.gavinwbain.darkroom.tech

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Comments

Daniel Eglin on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 04/01/2020

I am just getting in to film so will try your recommendation of Ilford FP4. Thanks and keep sharing!
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Bill Thoo on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 26/10/2019

FP4 was actually one of the first BW films I shot after returning to film. I really didn't know any better. I haven't shot HP5 yet for a comparison. I have also used Acros, JCH Streetpan 400, Tmax400 and Trix400, but I think I like FP4 as much as Acros, and a little bit more than Streetpan. It can also push to 1600 or more acceptably. I haven't quite defined why yet - I really should. Other than that, I've been shooting a bit of ultra low ISO film recently (Kodak 2238 and 2468, care of Michael Bartosek and the Negative Positives Film Photography Podcast and the Ultra Low ISO Club FB groups) and those films are really something. Low low grain, contrasty, and high acutance.
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 26/10/2019

After your recent submission Bill, you need to be careful what you say in the comments else you're going to find me nagging you to post more ... Kodak 2238 and 2468 sounds very interesting! ... ... got anything worth sharing with the world? (the edits to your post were spot on by the way - it's a great post, can't wait for it to go out!)

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Bill Thoo replied:

Comment posted: 26/10/2019

Thanks Hamish. I had a Kodak 2238 post drafted - I might get that submitted after I get back from a couple of trips coming up. Hoping to have some night sky and landscapes on 120 Cinsetill 800T when I get back. Will keep you posted.

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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 26/10/2019

Excellent! Thanks Bill!!

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Norman Rea on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 25/10/2019

I've done "film" since the 50's. 35mm,620,120,4x5, and 8x10. The "digital bug" never bit. It does my heart good to see so many young people trying "analog ( film photography)". The making of a photo with film is not the end result, but the journey.
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Robert Gambill on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 25/10/2019

FP4 all day!!! I had a really similar journey to this fi as well. I was a die hard HP5 guy for a long time, shot the occasional roll of FP4, but never thought much of it. Sometime last year I found an old roll of FP4 that I had forgotten about, popped it iny GR10 and fell in love. You're spot on about the contrast, but the other thing I'm enamored with is how smoothly it renders all tones. It's such a great combination of characteristics in one stock that, in my opinion, make it a damn near perfect B&W film. I've been shooting mostly color over the last year , but I may need to be stocking back up on this film after this article!!!

Thanks for the great read, Gavin!!!
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Amanda on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 25/10/2019

Interesting article! Think I used most B&W films covering all ISO's, including all the ones you mentioned. Ended up using Kodak TMax 400 and their developer as found it really punchy. Do like FP4 and HP5 though. Suppose it depends what you're photographing.
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Wim HH van Heugten on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 24/10/2019

"... and every man and their dog shot it..." Thank you for that expression. As a Dutchman I never heard it before!
BTW: great article and pictures!
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Enrique on Ilford FP4+ – My First Roll Review – By Gavin Bain

Comment posted: 24/10/2019

Great your article, I'm also looking for the BW film that I like completely, I have 2 years of shooting on film and I agree with you regarding the Ilford FP4 I like more than I've shot so far in BW, and I'm for buying some Ultrafine Extreme films that I have read is something similar to Ilford
FP4.

Regards
@enriqueferral.

@enriqueferral.
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