Observations: After I first shot this film and saw the results, I was on the fence about it. I dismissed it largely because I saw just a bit too much contrast coming out of it. But months later I tried it again, and I’m glad I did. I fell in love with its darkish milky rendering of grey tones that I like to compare to the appearance of silver gelatin prints. The range and contrast of those grey tones is very satisfying. It has incredible forgivingness when it comes to exposure setting mistakes. FP4 Plus does have a fair but not overwhelming amount of graininess especially when overexposed or when rendering brightly illuminated subjects, but I like the classic look of that grain especially when I shoot it in lower-light settings. This is appropriate considering that, as I understand it, Ilford hasn’t changed the formulation of FP4 Plus in decades. When I scan my negatives, I want my images to give me that sense of satisfaction with as little postproduction modifications as possible. Ilford FP4 Plus does that for me in spades. All in all, this has become my favorite slow-speed black and white film stock.
Nikon F with Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/125 sec., f/8.
Note the even range from dark to light tones with wonderful grey tones in between. Little if anything is noticably over- or underexposed.
Left: Nikon F with Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/8 sec., f/1.4.
I shot this exposure handheld, and I’m still in a state of shock that it came out as sharp as it did. Even in low light, FP4 Plus performs well.
Right: Nikon F with Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/500 sec., f/5.6.
The sky has only a bit of graininess to it, and the statue’s grey tones are faithful to the subject itself.Nikon F with Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/30 sec., f/1.4.
This exposure, which I made inside a well-lit gift shop space, shows the excellent range of grey tones and contrast that one can expect from FP4 Plus.
Left: Nikon F with Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/250 sec., f/5.6.
In Paint.NET, I lightened midtones just a touch.
Right: Nikon F with Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/250 sec., f/8.
Highlight and shadow details are well perserved in this image, and contrast remains excellent.Nikon F with Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/500 sec., f/8.
FP4 Plus handles even a light subject illuminated by relatively harsh afternoon sunlight well. On the lower left, the shadow regions are dark but still show good detail especially considering that I exposed for the bright light reflected off the cinder block wall. Other less forgiving film stocks would never have picked up anything in this area.
