Fomapan 400 - processing problems

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Hi, I'm a beginner in film processing (about 6 months experience) - had good results with Agfapan 100, Neopan 400, FP4, HP5+ etc. in Rodinal, Classic F09, etc. Went to Prague recently, bought 20 Fomapan 400 films (they were cheap & I had heard they are OK). Recently processed the first few of them (both 35mm & 120), and got really bad results - very low contrast, negatives & prints looked washed out; also the negative base retained a nasty greenish-turquoise stain (responsible for the week contrast with VC papers??). I had used Fomadon LQN for the first film, after I saw the results, switched to Classic F09 (a Rodinal clone), my favourite, tried pre-washing to remove the anti-halation dye, tried fixing for twice the recommended time to get rid of the greenish stain - to no avail. Since I have browsed the net & found positive things about the film, Imust be doing somethin wrong. Can anyone help me? Thanks, Roman

-- Roman Sonnleitner (roman_1971@hotmail.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

Classic F09? It sounds like "Formula 9" the original Rodinal formula by Agfa.

Have you tried to double the time in the developer? I have no idea what's wrong.

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), August 17, 2001.


Neither Fomadon LQN nor R09 are appropriate developers. Use ID11 or XTol, also A49 is excellent for Fomapan 400, because it can build up contrast (you can buy this from Fotoimpex). I think LQN is not good at all, R09, my favourite developer with low and medium speed films, will not give you enough contrast due to its working characteristics. What you try to remove is the gray base that is meant to keep light from spreading. You won't be able to get rid of this, because the base is tinted. You probably will have noticed differenct base colours in different films. Fomapan 400 is a very good film, if processed correctly. Also Tetenal Emofin would be a good choice.

-- Volker Schier (Volker.Schier@fen-net.de), August 25, 2001.

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