It's the Fomapan 100. That's it. That's the post.
I'd categorize myself as a frugal person. This trait of frugality is of course only heightened when I shoot film. My photographer friends often complain about how long I take to finish a roll of expensive film like Portra 800 (hint: it's always two months) This is only because I like to calculate how expensive each frame is. On one hand, it makes me think about each photograph I make, something I deeply enjoy as it pushes me to create more meaningful work. But on the other hand, it's this frugality that makes me leave the camera back home on many trips, just because I don't think the film will suit the setting I visit. Indeed, it doesn't take a rocket science degree to understand that without taking photos, how is one to improve at photography?
The solution? Shoot digital. But if you're like me, looking for a bit of pizzazz in your photography journey, and want to go for the pocket-draining option of shooting film, shooting cheap film is the answer. Enter, the Fomapan 100. This stock of panchromatic film is available for 20 Qatari Riyals for 24 exposures at Khalifa Art Center. If you're in your learning phase, like I am, or want to experiment a bit, this is THE film to try. Black and white film is already cheaper to develop than color, and this is an even cheaper black and white film. KAC manages to sell it at this incredible price by bulk rolling this film into reused film canisters.
I've shot this film twice so far, and here's what I've noticed: the film is high-contrast, narrow latitude, which means that blacks will be very black, highlights may be blown out, and the metering needs to be done right to strike a balance. Foma's website touts that this film is fine-grain, but that is not what I noticed while shooting the two rolls of its 135 variant. From what I hear, this film does not perform well with reciprocity, but this is something I'm yet to experiment with.
So how bad is the grain? Is it unacceptable? I'll let you be the judge.
My first outing with the film was on my Yashica MF-2 Super, a camera I would much rather never want to use again because of how inflexible it is. So, to give it a fair fight, I will instead share photos from my second go-around with this stock.
I loaded a roll of this in the morning of 14th November into my 'other' film SLR, the Nikon F70. This was the first time I tried shooting with this camera, and I was a bit nervous about what to expect. The F70 is completely electronic, including the film rewind and advance mechanisms, something that scared me at first. I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole roll of film turned out to be a waste because of a film advancing issue in the camera. But luckily, as the photos in this article might suggest, the camera performed just fine.
Having realized how high the contrast can get with this film, I decided to leverage this trait with the interesting shapes in Zekreet, where I would find plenty of foothills and mesas. Coupled with the clear skies in Qatar, I knew that this would make a good area to try this film stock. I think it delivered. However, there is noticeable grain, even under well-lit conditions.
The second time I was out with it was on the 18th of November, at Pearl Qatar, where they were holding a classic car show. Classic cars and film cameras, it's as cliche as it gets. I only added to this, by focusing my camera almost exclusively on car bumpers.
Even in bright sunlight, the grain is noticeable. I like the look of the grain, and I enjoy drama in my black and white photos. But the amount can feel disorienting to someone who only shoots Ilford HP5+ at box speed.
Sure there may be better film stocks out there, but I'll keep coming back to the Fomapan 100 because it allows me to go out and shoot film without caring about the cost. Moreover, its characteristic grain and contrast is only a pro, for my style of photography.
This roll of film was self-developed in Kodak D76, and self-scanned and inverted using Lightroom. I will share my setup soon, so you should probably stay tuned for that. :)
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