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FP4 Plus at EI400


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I accidentally exposed a roll of FP4 Plus at EI400 yesterday. I was

testing out a new lens, and forgot the change the camera setting.

There's nothing special on the roll, so it's no huge loss. I'd like

to develop the roll, though. I figure this is an oppertunity to

experiment a bit. I'm not looking for perfect negs or anything, but

something interesting would be fun. I currently only have a bottle of

Ilfosol S, so I don't have any idea where to start. Any ideas? I'm

open to any suggestions here :).

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Actually, I don't believe their developing chart provides times for anything above EI200 (nor does the massive digitaltruth dev chart - only goes up to 320 for one developer). I'm not actually looking for great printable results or anything like that, just something fun to try out. I have a bottle of DDX on order, so that's another option.
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Forget Ilfosol-S unless that roll isn't important. While it's an excellent developer for slow speed, fine grain film within a limited exposure and development range, it has problems with extended development. First, it tends toward chunky grain; second, with extended development base fog is elevated, despite the benzotriazole component.

 

If you must develop it in Ilfosol-S use it no more dilute than the 1:9 ratio. In fact, under the circumstances I'd be tempted to cut the negative in half and develop one strip at a time. If the 1:9 strip looks promising, you'll have a baseline for developing the second strip. If you're feeling adventurous you might try an even more concentrated solution, perhaps 1:5 or 1:7. If it doesn't come out well, save the second strip 'til you can get a true speed developer like Microphen.

 

Even Diafine won't work well with FP4+ at EI 400. Diafine and FP4+ are best at EI 250 as recommended by the maker of Diafine. (Excellent combination, BTW.)

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The roll is 100% unimportant. It's just a bunch of photos of crap around the garden - I was checking out the new lens. I was just wondering about maybe trying something like stand development, etc. I don't often have oppertunities where I can experiment with developing.
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If the garden was in the shade or it was an overcast day, you can probably push it OK, but with some extra grain. If it was a bright sunny day then you might end up with too much contrast (plus too much grain).

 

My philosophy is, if the images are not important, don't throw good money (or time) after bad.

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Don't use Ilfosol-S for prolonged stand development, Chris - all you'll get is fog. Wanna see what Tri-X in extremely dilute Ilfosol-S and day-long stand development looks like? Well, I can't show you because the base fog is so dense the negs defy scanning or printing. Not a pretty sight. Increase the development time as already suggested and agitate normally.

 

If you're interested in stand development get some Rodinal. Excellent for that purpose.

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