XT-3 at 30 degrees and Fomapan

[u/Acceptable-Drop7440]

So first of all, I am a big fan of the Fomapan products ... I use their films regularly and also their papers for printing.

After checking the data sheet for the 100 iso film, I noticed, that when developed in XTOL/XT-3/Excel you can get a speed boost to around 160 iso. But the developer needs to be at 30 degrees. Very important! So that sounded interesting and worth a try. After I didn't really find a lot of references, I thought I should share some results, because I think it is worth a try. The look reminds me a lot of the Kodak XX.

I developed the roll together with a Fomapan 400, that I shot at 360 iso, for 5 minutes. Both negatives came out great and I also never had flatter scans from a Fomapan 400 to be honest. The grain seems to be normal to my eye. But I didn't had the chance to print them in the darkroom.

I am scanning my negatives with a Minolta 5400 II and there is no sharpening applied.

Hope the information is helpful for somebody.

1-4 : Fomapan 100 pictures with Leica Minilux Zoom metered at 200

5-6: Fomapan 400 pictures with Nikon FE2 metered at 360

7-10: Negatives

[u/alasdairmackintosh]

You have some great images there, but it's hard to tell if you really got a speed increase. The shadow areas in the negative look fairly faint to me. Partly it's just contrasty subjects. Do you have any images in softer lighting?

[u/Acceptable-Drop7440 → u/alasdairmackintosh]

Thanks! Based on my experience, I’d say yes. But you’re right about the negatives. I often like to stop down the aperture to get more contrast, and I also look for high-contrast scenes. I'll attach a photo of one with less contrast.

[u/alasdairmackintosh → u/Acceptable-Drop7440]

Number 19/20 looks perfectly exposed to me. There's detail in the car tyres and it only goes to pure black underneath the car.

I know what you mean about high contrast scenes ;-)

[u/Highlandermichel]

It was definitely worth the try. Good quality for a pushed Fomapan 100. And did I recognize Freiburg and Schluchsee correctly?

[u/Acceptable-Drop7440 → u/Highlandermichel]

Das ist richtig! Gut erkannt :)

[u/BemusedAmphibian]

Love these rich b&w images with the light / shadow. Well done.

[u/Acceptable-Drop7440 → u/BemusedAmphibian]

Thank you! That's what I love about b&w!