Ilford FP4 pushed to 400 iso

I absolutely tried to make the most of the snow we got in mid January here in Wigan and shot several rolls of film including this roll of Ilford FP4. Box speed for FP4 is 125 iso or there about, but for the snow I chose to push it 2 stops to 400 iso. I wanted to see how it would handle the bright snow as we don't get it very often here in dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy Wigan. I loaded it into my OM-10, fitted my 28mm f/3.5 Zuiko lens and headed off to the Park.

I shot this roll of film on the same day I shot my roll of HP5 medium format film in Baldy The Baldax for the Frugal Film Project. I shot most of the roll on my way back into the town centre as I had concentrated on my medium format film first before switching to my OM-10. The remaining shots I took the next day as I was out and about with my Minolta X700 shooting a roll of film for a project.

I enjoy using my OM-10, its aperture priority mode is great for taking a lot of thought from the process thanks to Olympus' excellent light meter they built into the camera. The other variable is the lens and we all know how good Olympus Zuiko lenses are. If you are one of those who don't know, I suggest you get an Olympus OM camera, any will do, with the Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 and/or the Zuiko 28mm f/3.5. You can thank me after you see your photos.

I developed my film using the last drops of my Zone Imaging 510 Pyro. It doesn't seem like I have had it very long and it has already gone. That says two things; one, I like 510 Pyro and two, I LIKE 510 PYRO! A two stop push means a 17 minute dunk for Ilford FP4 shot at 400 iso. It really appreciates the long and gentle development so don't be too vigorous with your inversions or twizzling stick. A minute in plain water to stop the developing stage and a 10 minute dunk in Fotospeed FX30 later and my film was hanging to dry in my bathroom.

Digitising was done with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Later and A5 led light source. RAW files were processed with Affinity Photo 2.

I am really impressed with how Ilford FP4 handles a 2 stop push, my film was nicely exposed and it didn't need a lot of work in Affinity Photo 2 to make it presentable. Zone Imaging 510 Pyro developer really makes it shine. Here's a few favourites and as always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr for you to view in full resolution using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Ilford FP4 @ 400 iso