Dear photography enthusiasts, I’ve posted another film review on my website. So far, I’ve been working in the 4×5 format with Fomapan 100 and Efke films (as Rollei Tonal or CHS 50). Not least for cost reasons. As a beginner in large format photography, I produce quite a lot of rejects and need to be able to afford to experiment and make mistakes. With Efke no longer available, I have now tested Fomapan 200 for myself. Research on the forums did not paint a favourable picture of this film. Many forum users had problems, complained of emulsion defects, and were unable to achieve good detail in the negatives. I therefore wanted to find out for myself and first tested the film by conducting exposure and development. Using this as a basis, I then exposed a few subjects and conducted development in various ways. I then made prints on baryta paper and assessed them. For me personally, the Foma 200 performed very well. The images look beautiful with a rich tonal range. The negatives print well. The grain is extremely fine and has a pleasant texture. The value for money is therefore good. I’m glad to have found another film that allows me to shoot 4x5 without any worries. For anyone interested in starting values for exposure and development: expose between 125 and 160 ISO (in the case of N+ 1 1/2 development, even at 200 ISO). Developed in XTOL 1+2, 20 degrees, in a paper drum on a Durst rotary processor. A detailed review and the accompanying images can be found on my website:
www.gilbert-mayer.ch under the ‘Image Gallery’ section. I wish everyone lovely snowy days with plenty of great subjects to photograph.
