Recently, I decided to jump all in with large format. Specifically 4x5. I’ve shot a few sheets before with my Crown Graphic but that was a couple of years back. For some reason, I thought I would give 4x5 XRay film a try. Why? I honestly don’t know except I like to try things out. Which is good and not good.
Recently, FPP announced a new X-Ray film, but this time it’s in 120. That caught my attention. If you’re familiar with shooting X-Ray film in large format, you know it takes work from start to finish. In 120? That’s a different story. So I jumped on their website and ordered a few rolls. I was curious yet excited to see what this is all about.
Fast forward a week or so and a package arrives. I totally forgot that I had ordered some rolls from FPP lol (I have a lot going on so give me a pass). I opened the package and I must say, I really like the packaging for the 120 X-Ray film. I knew what camera I wanted to shoot the first roll in (Pentax 67/105mm 2.4) but I wasn’t sure how I would develop it. On their website, it shows one developer which is D76 for 6 min. I just wanted to point that out.
Finally, I had some time to take a walk in my neighborhood with my Pentax 67/120 X-Ray film. It was cold and a little snow on the ground but that didn’t stop me. I walked around and completed the roll. Now the fun part. How to develop it. I thought about making some homemade D76 but I wasn’t in the mood. I thought about taking a guess with Rodinal but I felt that I would fail somehow and waste the roll. So I went with homemade Barry Thornton 2 Bath. 4 min for bath A and 4 min for bath B. When it was all said and done, the negatives looked good. Whew…got past that.
Time to scan. So I scanned the roll with my Nikon D750 and threw the ten photos into Lightroom. From the get go, the photos needed contrast. It’s not the film, it’s the developer. I am fine with that because I can make adjustments in LR it when I print in my darkroom. So all photos scanned and I want to share some observations from the first roll.
First…on some of the photos, there is a scratch from end to end. Not all, just some which seems odd. Second…there were many small black streaks across the photos. It reminds me of Fomapan 200. Third…the X-Ray film dries fast and flat. So in the end, I’m satisfied with the first roll. I like the results that I achieved and I feel I can do better. I really want to try portraits next time. My only issue are the scratches. Now if I only scanned and shared on social media, I would be okay with the scratches. But…I do print in my darkroom and I’m positive these scratches would show up. For me, I wouldn’t want that. I want clean prints. So that’s something for you to consider. All in all, I enjoyed the experience and I will be shooting more 120 X-Ray film and trying different developers to see if I can maximize the quality. Below I am sharing every photo I took from the first roll. Enjoy!
