100 iso Film Comparison

[Stealth3kpl]

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This looks useful/interesting

https://www.thephoblographer.com/2018/06/08/the-guide-to-100-speed-black-and-white-films/

Pete

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[adan]

Could have used one set of detail crops to show grain and acutance. One seeing is worth 1000 tellings. That's how Modern Photography used to do it. Show a whole picture for tonality and "look" - plus practically a photomicrograph of enlarged grain/edges.

That's one difference between "random stuff on the internet" and an edited publication. No writer for the photo magazines would be allowed to guess about a film's source (or use other people's guesses). "I'm not sure of this is repackaged Chinese, or FP4+, or Kentmere, but some people say...." An editor would have said "You don't even know who makes it?? Go back and do your research! Then we'll publish it."

That being said, I don't disagree with the limited descriptions and opinions he expresses. They are a "rough approximation" of how these films (or at least the ones I've used myself) have behaved. FP4 has great latitude, Rollei 80s ain't ISO 100 (and may not even be ISO 80), Foma tends to be grainy and have a "halation glow," the Delta films tend to fall in between TMax and the "old-grain" films in pretty much every way.

My only disagreement is the "canonizing*" of ACROS - during the TMax100 120 "drought" I used that as a substitute, and it was a dead-ringer for TMax 100 (and vice versa), properly processed. The only difference was that TMax tended to curl less. And TMX is as sharp as they come - he may be (as many do) confusing "sharp grain" with "a sharp image."

_____________________
*canonizing - the awarding of sainthood to the dear departed.

[Martin B]

Thanks for the link - but a bit disappointed that my most commonly used ISO 100 film - Ilford FP4+ 125 - was not included. I am not using any of the other tested films with exemption of TMax 100 which I sometimes used for 4x5 film format. 

[adan]

2 hours ago, Martin B said:

a bit disappointed that my most commonly used ISO 100 film - Ilford FP4+ 125 - was not included

?????

It is included:

The next film I want to discuss is Harman/Ilford’s FP4. While not exactly a 100 speed film (it’s box speed is 125), this guide would certainly not be complete without it in the mix. This film is also extremely old, having been through four major iterations (hens the 4) since its creation in 1935. This film is known for being crazy versatile, able to be underexposed by two stops or overexposed by six. It makes it one of the most forgiving black and white films and comparable to another extremely popular and versatile 400 speed film, Kodak Tri-x. etc.......

[Pyrogallol]

I use FP4+ all the time and just leave my meter on 100 ASA/ISO. The difference between 100 and 125 could be seen as a quarter of a stop but in the real world you can’t see the difference. Deciding what is the “correct” exposure is up to you and what you like your negatives to look like, and what developer you use.

[Martin B]

8 hours ago, adan said:

?????

It is included:

The next film I want to discuss is Harman/Ilford’s FP4. While not exactly a 100 speed film (it’s box speed is 125), this guide would certainly not be complete without it in the mix. This film is also extremely old, having been through four major iterations (hens the 4) since its creation in 1935. This film is known for being crazy versatile, able to be underexposed by two stops or overexposed by six. It makes it one of the most forgiving black and white films and comparable to another extremely popular and versatile 400 speed film, Kodak Tri-x. etc.......

I missed it! Don't want to deny my error, but the article is a bit cluttered - I had to scroll up and down after the comparison photos were first posted before the legend came far underneath. 

[adan]

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Yeah, cluttered.

I believe the FP-series "magick" is that Ilford produces it with very deliberate attention to achieving a wide variety of "grain" sizes in one emulsion. ISO-400-sized grains to capture detail in shadows, and ISO-25-sized grains to keep adding more and more subtle detail/density in highlights once the big crystals have "blown." They may even have coated two layered "half-emulsions" at some point. Averaging out to ISO 125.

Which is somewhat a characteristic of all old-tech cubic-grain films - Ilford just puts extra effort into pursuing it.