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FP4 vs HP5 – Which Black & White Film Is Best? Pt.1

waiting in melbourne - FP4 vs HP5

FP4 vs HP5 – Which black & white film do I always gravitate towards? Let’s take a look.

Let’s start by saying Ilford HP5+ is a great film. There’s good reason why it’s possibly the most well known and popular of the black & white films on the market today. HP5 is super easy to shoot photographs with. Exposing for the shadows is almost always going to be your best bet and you’ll get a great exposure latitude throughout your scene. What that means for me however, is that I find the images somewhat flat. In a lot of cases that simply means you have a lot of data in the film to work with and make the image look how you want.

Ilford FP4+ is also a great film and the one we’re going to take a much closer look at today.

A closer look at Ilford FP4+ B&W Film

Ilford FP4+ has an ISO at 125 making it a medium speed film. In the bright lights of a studio or in good outdoor lighting, FP4+ is a fantastic choice.

With the lower ISO sensitivity comes a sharper image with less grain (than HP5+). This is exceptionally handy for portraits. But it is the contrast right off the bat that makes this my go-to black and white film. With deeper blacks and brighter whites, photographs on Ilford’s FP4+ film have more contrast than, for example, HP5+. If you like a more contrasty B&W photo, FP4+ might be for you.

The challenge with shooting a film with an ISO of 125 is that when the light dims slightly, it makes it far more difficult to shoot. In the selection below, a few of the portraits were made at f/4 with a shutter of only 1/30th of. a second. With the large mirror slap of a Bronica SQ-b medium format camera, you can see a bit of blur creeping into the photographs. Sigh.

Why I like Ilford FP4 plus Film

As soon as I pull my roll of film out of the developing tank, it’s evident the images are sharp, contrasty and clear. The blacks already look deeper and it’s in negative. LOL.

I like the slightly higher contrast I get from this film. The cleaner grain is also a big win for me. Probably my biggest issue with FP4+ is that, even though I carry a tripod, I don’t bring it out nearly enough. Maybe this post will serve as a reminder for me to stop being lazy and use a tripod more often. Maybe.

Pros

  • Fine grain
  • Really sharp images
  • Medium contrast
  • deep blacks

Cons

  • Slower ISO
  • Shallower exposure latitude
  • Harder to nail exposure

Sample Images with Ilford FP4Plus

Check out a few photographs from a recent walk through the streets of Melbourne. There’s a few portraits, candids and other images to check. Most photographs were in reasonably bright lighting with a light cloud cover.

A couple of the portraits were unfortunately under some trees on Collins St making them a little harder to get as sharp as I’d like.

You can also see some FP4 in 35mm and in action over in the blog.

black and white photograph of construction in melbourne photo of the day

Images look better when they're bigger

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