My grandfather had a Ferrania camera, I never got to know him but I’ve seen his photos. He kept this old, outdated, zone focus camera until the 80s when he died. I just love to look at the progression in his photography, it makes me feel like I’ve got to know a part of him even though I never even saw him.

I found ISO 25 worked best for me, it’s a tricky film to use but it can look absolutely stunning.

Really good analysis. I have seen other tests of P30 and in all of them were clear the dark images it produced in most of the situations, but neither of them give a real explanation of why This serie of videos you are producing, with this scientific analysis method, provide us the information needed to know in advance what expect to get when we use every single film. Thank you very much, Gregor. Great work.

Well... I loved the video, but I'm going to chime in, because Ferrania P30 is a film I shoot regularly, It has to be in my top 3 B&W film stocks of all time. Ferrania P30 is best developed at home, after much testing I got the best results using Kodak D-96, and like you I found that the Ferrania P30 was best shot lower, at between ISO 45-60, with more sun I shoot at 60, cloudy or part sun at 45, second note I'd add, is to avoid shooting directly into the sun where your subjects are back-lit, unless you're using good ND filters. Ferrania P30 is a film with super-high silver content on a clear base with ultra-small/fine film grain, I believe its cubic not tabular, so when shot correctly there is almost no visible grain. The film is high contrast, and has high resolution capabilities, and very limited latitude (+/- 1/3 stop up or down if your ISO is between 45-60) so if your not spot on with your metering the mid-tones will get lost on you. Like you, I haven't been able to verify anywhere but I believe the film might not be Orthochromatic as you stated, but perhaps this film is leaning more towards being a Panchromatic X, which means it would have an extended binder in the emulsion to enhance the sensitivity in red, blue, and green spectrum - but I do agree with you that it is more sensitive to the red spectrum of light of the 3 colours, even though the website and packaging state its a Panchromatic film, it might be a Panchromatic film as stated, but it really has a red sensitivity, does that make it Orthochromatic... probably not, because I believe it would be even more sensitive to the blue spectrum if it was an Orthochromatic film. So I'm starting to lean towards a Panchromatic X variant of some kind. Using your own chart, its curve is showing classic characteristics of being a Panchromatic X. Of course this is all conjecture at this point, without confirmation one way or the other through Ferrania. Lastly through in my own testing, I've found that any older type glass (lenses) that have Thorium (that heavy yellowish tint) like the older Canon, Pentax, and Olympus lenses have an easier time with bringing out much better mid tones in this film, with superb results. Thanks for the video. Cheers.

Thank you for this analysis of P30. It matches my first impressions but I didn't quite pick up on the orthochromatic aspect of the film when I was shooting it. That explains why I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. I would like to see Ferrania publish an actual ISO validated speed rating for the film because their current recommendation is simply wrong. It seems as though they are guessing too much.

Thank you for this! Looking forward to watching your other analysis

So well done and so informative - THANKS A LOT for sharing your investigation!!!

This was super informative, and will be really useful before shooting my first roll! I'll consider the orthochromatic response and speed factors you noticed! Thanks

You channel deserves a lot more viewers and likes. Love it big time and always enjoy the way you explain things. Thanks.

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

Super interesting finding. This explains the behavior of P30 much better than anything else I’ve seen or read. Intriguing that it may not be panchromatic at all!

So I've had a lifetime interest in photography. Both digital and analog but I've always leaned to the analog side. Just found this channel at the same time I'm shifting most of my photography back to analog especially since I picked up a nos fujica st801, bunch of nice lenses and a nikon coolscan 5000 dedicated scanner. I know, I know it's not analog if you scan it but it sure makes it easier to keep all your photos digital and it let's you post them easily and pick ones you actually want to print wet. Anyway just want to say this channel is probably the best one I've found on youtube for darkroom work, your spot on clear and obviously incredibly knowledgable on all of it. You also nail the content you put in to videos for people who are already have experience in photography, nothing too repetitive and obvious but every video I catch something I didn't know before

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

Finally got around to trying this film. Rated at 50 and developed in xtol-r for 11mins. Could do with more exposure so probably iso 32. Surprised that I was able to pull details out of what initially looked liked blocked up shadows.

Well that explains why my exposures on this film using a red filter were so dark! It's definitely advertised as panchromatic.

I just developed my first roll of the new production P30 and can basically confirm everything. I already exposed at 64ASA and developed to Ferranias recommendation (HC-110 1+63, 12 minutes). The pictures have no shadow detail (the negatives are also just clear in the shadows) and very high contrast. I did Zone I exposures for ASA 64,50,32 and even the 32 is only ~D=0.06 over fb+fog, so the true speed is likely 25 or even lower. The Gamma determined from some Zone V exposures is something like 0.8-0.9 though, which is reasonable for a N+2 development. I measured those densities with an IT8 calibrated Canon 9000F and Vuescan, so take it with a grain of salt .. but it did give me very reasonable results with Ilford films before, which also did agree with published sensitometer measurements. I'm going to expose the next roll at 25ASA and cut the development by 20-30%.

It would be interesting to revisit this film with the use of a yellow filter, it should balance things out.

My testing revealed this film to be a 32 speed film, too. I develop it in D-96, but unlike Ferrania's recommendation for this developer, I use it 1:1. For me, exposing and processing this film per their recommendations will produce "soot-n-chaulk" negatives (as Saint Ansel used to say.)

@antoniotomas425

2 жыл бұрын

Hi! I'll be shooting my first roll soon and am planning on processing it on d96 aswell. What was your dev time and agitation scheme? Do you have any results I can see? Thanks a million!

@alanhuntley55

2 жыл бұрын

@@antoniotomas425 I develop it in a 35mm Paterson tank in D96 1:1 for 6 mins @20C, continuous agitation for the entire development time. Don't forget that I shoot it at EI32. My shooting and development parameters are generally very different from how most folks handle this film. Good luck!

@antoniotomas425

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Allan! Thank you so much for all your help! I'll give you feedback as soon as I develop the film.

@antoniotomas425

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Alan! Sorry for the taking so long to give you feedback. Your technique worked super great! Thank you so much. I used the same recepy and the results are amazing. If theres was any doubt about this being a orthochromatic film I got proof. So thi is happened: I recently mooved to a house that, due to the high sun exposure is equiped with uv filtered windows (I live in Lisbon, Portugal). The shots that I took inside are super under exposed. However the shots I took out side are spot on. I metered both with the same meter ISO32 with a handheld sekonic lightmeter. The same I've used for years. So the conclusion is this: since uv light is being filtered/blocked all that is left is red to infrared side of the spectrum. The type of light that this film does not see being orthochromatic! Outside this was never an issue. Sorry to bother you with my findings and thank you so much for your tip!

@alanhuntley55

2 жыл бұрын

@@antoniotomas425 No bother at all. I'm happy to hear it worked out for you.

I’m really enjoying these film comparisons! Really interesting finding that it’s Ortho! Wonder why Ferrania doesn’t tell us that on their site? I’m wondering if the light source might also have affected your results? For Ilford Ortho 80 Plus they recommend rating their film at ISO 40 in Tungsten light? I guess for most panchromatic films that’s less of an issue?

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

I’m shooting all of these under strobes. They are daylight balanced at 5500K so it should be the same as diffused sunlight. All b&w film should be rated lower if shot under tungsten light to account for the red shift in color.

@kevinmitchell7924

Жыл бұрын

It’s not orthochromatic, but it does seem less sensitive to reds than other films.

I really like these comparison videos (needless to say they are really well done!) The Ferrania P30 is not even remotely an 80 ISO, because it looks also more like an old scientific or microfilm film, ....like the kodak technical pan?

I would love to see a comparison between this and Ilford Ortho+

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

After I show all the individual ortho films I will do a collection of them in one video

imagine my shock, having not read the channel name, when he turned around.

Ferrania announces new Ortho 50 ISO film with the same dev times as P30 👀

very interesting findings, maybe Ferrania went with optimising for "a specific look" rather than "best image quality" of the film. Do you have advice on developing @32?

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

No, I always recommend testing. I used the recommended 8 minutes with stock D76, and it was pretty close. For portraits I might go a little longer, but street or landscape scenes with more blue may not need more time.

Looks like a film for experienced film photographers.

While I recognize you are clearly more knowledgeable about film, exposure, and development than I could ever hope to be, I see a couple of limitations in the comparison methodology used. First, some films yield different results in different chemicals and/or using different methods. For example, ADOX CMS 20 II can develop stunningly sharp images in ADOTech, but only so-so results in others like D-76. David Hancock did some tests, maybe with FP4 or Rollei 80S - can't recall, and found several developers could produce good images, one produced very good images, but the images using HC110 were unusable. The second possible exception is the subject of the photo, both in lighting contrast and dominant colors. Two other channels reviewing this film had polar opposite results. One was shooting on the beach in California with bright sunshine casting harsh shadows. He ended up spending a ton of time trying to fix them, and even then the results were high contrast. The other person shot almost exclusively in the shadows of building, so the lighting was very even. His results were excellent, sharp, and required only minimal post manipulation. From a practical standpoint, testing every single film on a variety of subjects, with each available developer, using every popular process would be a monumental task, not to mention expensive. I think we're better off -- more knowledgeable with tests like this that then provide an opportunity for others to do different tests.

A difficult film to find, especially in my country.

Looks like this film would be a good match for a compensating developer like Diafine

@TheNakedPhotographer

2 жыл бұрын

You sell Diafine or something?

@Wiencourager

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheNakedPhotographer no but it’s one of my main developers, it’s good for taming contrasty films like PanF. It’s nice with FP4 and HP5 as well. From the curve you posted, it looks like it would help with shadow detail and keeping highlights from blowing out

Good analysis of an interesting film. Very strange response for one that is supposedly panchromatic. Probably more suited to landscape work than portraiture. One criticism - not sure why you'd use autofocus on a static subject. I avoid autofocus like the plague unless the subject is moving haphazardly, then it's a godsend. Otherwise, very good vid.

@TheNakedPhotographer

11 ай бұрын

I wasn’t as static as I appeared. I had to change light power settings between each shot and change film in the camera after every roll. That meant constantly getting up and moving around the room after every exposure

Is it not possible the rated speed and development was found because it was a motion picture film and it would have been optically printed to an intermediate film?

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

I think it’s far more likely that the 80 is pushed to the far end of the film’s exposure range because customers are more likely to buy an 80 speed over a 32 speed film.

this is definitely not an orhto film, because the red filter works extremely well with this film.

Never saw that Kodak card before... Is it still available?

@TheNakedPhotographer

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, B&H has them. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/813250-REG/Kodak_1277144_Gray_Card_Plus_9x12.html

Analog Insights tested the film with a red filter and were pleased with results: kzread.info/dash/bejne/n22NrM6eZ83Xl5c.html That doesn't fit well with the statement it is an ortochromatic film

Ferrania scammed 5,500 photographers on kickstarter and you promote them? are you serious?

@TheNakedPhotographer

2 жыл бұрын

First, I don’t promote them, I tried a film and think it’s ok. Not great, but ok. Second, from my understanding the butthurt is from a Kickstarter that didn’t follow through. Any company that needs to use a Kickstarter to get funding instead of a business loan from a bank is waving a huge red flag and its just a terrible business plan. Anyone that paid into it and is surprised it didn’t work out is naïve.