The Fomapan Experience

In order to teach myself how to develop film again, I bought a couple of rolls of Fomapan Actionfilm from Freestyle. Fomapan is made somewhere in eastern Europe and is an old school black and white film. When I say it is “old school,” I mean that it doesn’t use tabular grain technology. I have been pleasantly surprised with qualify of the finished product. I really destroyed my first couple of rolls of Fomapan developing them by hand but I was still able to produce interesting images with my scanner. I think that the film has an interesting character that is in many ways better than the more expensive films on the market.

Fomapan Tips & Tricks

• Divide fomapan ISO numbers in half. 400 speed becomes 200, 200 becomes 100 etc.
• In HC110 agitate as much as you can.
• Focus on contrast and you will be rewarded.

Where To Buy Fomapan

• Freestyle usually has good prices on fompan.
• It is rare, but you can sometimes find fomapan“>fomapan ebay.

I ordered a bunch of Fomapan from freeystyle to re-teach myself how to develop black+white film. I took it with me on a visit to my friend Kougie’s house and to visit my favorite paper mill. Except for this roll, I think I ruined them all but I had fun.

Fomapan Update!

I thought that I had ruined my fomapan but it turns out that fomapan 400 is notoriously slow and needs to be shot at 200. After rescanning the fomapan I got better results and from now I shoot it at 200.

I developed my Fomapan in Kodak HC110 with constant agitation and I believe it helps fix some of the issue with the film being rated lower than 400 speed.