Ferrania P30 alpha

[Steve Ricoh]

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later in December, with 120 format expect next year...

The contrast levels vary meaningfully depending on what lens is used. e.g., my 75mm summilux captured a LOT of midtones

 

75 lux

 

 

50 dr cron

 

50 dr cron

Reflecting on shot #3, very nice blacks and whites. Can you talk me though your assessment for exposure please. I'm guessing metering for the suits -2 stops. Edited November 5, 2017 by Steve Ricoh

[A miller]

Reflecting on shot #3, very nice blacks and whites. Can you talk me though your assessment for exposure please. I'm guessing metering for the suits -2 stops.

I pointed my incident meter toward the ground and then added a bit so that i rounded down on the next full stop rather than up. (So if the meter read f4.3 i set the aperture at f4).

Edited November 6, 2017 by A miller

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[Steve Ricoh]

I pointed my incident meter toward the ground and then added a bit so that i rounded down on the next full stop rather than up. (So if the meter red f4.3 i set the aperture at f4).

Interesting approach, thank you.

[Martin B]

I just shot on Saturday a roll of P30 film which was supposedly coming from the second batch of film, but it still suffered of some horizontal linear scratch issues as seen with the alpha batch. IMO Ferrania has a problem there. I shot 3 film rolls so far (two alpha batch rolls and one newer roll of film which was sent to me by Ferrania) and all of them suffered from horizontal scratch issues. I can exclude my development and drying of the film since I don't use a squeegee and just rinse the film with distilled water and hand to dry. The scratches are going in a linear way from the beginning to the end of the film roll without gap. Will share some recent shots with this film soon. 

[pop]

Ferrania does indeed have a problem. They are trying to get the old hardware to work again but they're not in any real sense up and running yet.

[Martin B]

Recent shots I took with P30 from the second manufacturing batch which supposedly should have been scratch-free. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case - certainly less of an issue compared to the first batch but still present. Took me a while in PP to remove the horizontal scratch going from beginning to the end of this film through all the negatives in a linear fashion (in the upper part of the image). First image shows the scratch, second and following ones have it removed in PP.

 

Taken with Leica M6 and CV 28/2. Developed in Rodinal/Xtol. 

 

 

 

 

[M9reno]

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Lovely compositions, but again the contrast is too high for my taste, and difficult (indeed so far for me impossible) to hold back with this film.

[Martin B]

Lovely compositions, but again the contrast is too high for my taste, and difficult (indeed so far for me impossible) to hold back with this film.

 

That's right - it is the most contrast-rich film I have ever dealt with so far. There are some situations where this can be beneficial and others where this film is better not used. I personally like that it is a film which stands out from the mass and is special. 

[SilentShutter]

I just shot on Saturday a roll of P30 film which was supposedly coming from the second batch of film, but it still suffered of some horizontal linear scratch issues as seen with the alpha batch. IMO Ferrania has a problem there. I shot 3 film rolls so far (two alpha batch rolls and one newer roll of film which was sent to me by Ferrania) and all of them suffered from horizontal scratch issues. I can exclude my development and drying of the film since I don't use a squeegee and just rinse the film with distilled water and hand to dry. The scratches are going in a linear way from the beginning to the end of the film roll without gap. Will share some recent shots with this film soon. 

 

A NO GO for me......sorry !

[pico]

P30 reminds me of the efforts to make microfilm, Tech Pan, applicable to 35mm. It did not work for general appreciation and only appeased the pioneers who only talk to each other and did not go on to produce remarkable prints.

[M9reno]

I assume the production difficulties apparent here are multiplied tenfold in making colour film, hence their long delay...

[pop]

I assume the production difficulties apparent here are multiplied tenfold in making colour film, hence their long delay...

There have been many reasons for delays; the backers of the project have been kept informed reasonably well.

[M9reno]

There have been many reasons for delays; the backers of the project have been kept informed reasonably well.

Speaking of which, I'm a backer and have not heard from them since the launch of P30 earlier this year.  I don't recall hearing anything about their colour film for even longer.

 

By the way, has anybody tried taming the contrast of P30 with a very soft lens?  It might be a good one to use with Thambar, for example.

[Martin B]

A NO GO for me......sorry !

 

No sorry needed, I am also feeling pretty annoyed by this scratch issue on the films. It is less of an issue for the hybrid workflow to digitize and PP the negatives, but a no-no for darkroom prints of the negatives if they come with such long scratches. 

[Martin B]

I assume the production difficulties apparent here are multiplied tenfold in making colour film, hence their long delay...

 

That's one plausible reason - I saw on a video that Ferrania referred to old rollers in their film machines which caused the scratch issue in the alpha batch. They better replace them all after seeing that the issue is still not fully resolved - not sure if new rollers are available easily for these older machines they might use. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Martin B

[wattsy]

but a no-no for darkroom prints of the negatives if they come with such long scratches. 

 

 

Have you tried the old nose-grease darkroom trick or is the scratch too deep?

[Martin B]

Have you tried the old nose-grease darkroom trick or is the scratch too deep?

 

I am not aware of this trick so I didn't try - how does it work?

[Keith (M)]

Quote from Ferrania 13 July 2018:-

 

 

Normally, when we are quiet it's because we are very busy. This time the opposite is true.

Our factory has been offline since February of this year when a number of issues - some small and some major - combined to make production impossible.

This was the third potentially devastating delay we have faced in as many years. Once again, we doubled our efforts to keep the ship afloat, and we are still very much alive and kicking.

We are happy to report that the major factory issues have been fixed, and the final step of installing our new power plant is underway. Our team will be fully operational again later this month.

We are also thrilled to say that we have secured the resources necessary to finally provide continuous production of P30 film with all processes done in-house.

 

[ianman]

That's good news!!  There was some available at Maco direct last Thursday, for about 15 minutes! The time it took from putting some in my basket to checkout, and it was all gone!

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Hallo,

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