In a world dominated by digital photography, there’s something magical about the tactile experience of shooting film. For the past 6 months, I’ve been immersed in exploring Fomapan 400 – and after 200 feet of film, 36 rolls and 864 frames, I’m excited to share what I’ve discovered.
Fomapan 400 wasn’t an obvious choice at first. I’d previously experimented with Ilford FP4 125 and HP5 Plus 400—both renowned black-and-white films. HP5’s impressive latitude and FP4’s fine-grain detail were tempting, but their price tags were steep, at around $130 / £109 for a 100-foot roll.
That’s when I remembered Fomapan 400, a so-called "budget-friendly alternative" I’d tried using prepackaged canisters. At first, and although the results were decent, my Bellini FX6a one-step mono bath development process left me wanting more control, so more rolls were needed to dial in my process.
