Photo Utopia

Fomapan 200 'Creative'


This film, acording to Foma is an advanced negative film using 'T' grain technology similar to that of Kodak T-Max and Ilford Delta emulsions. It is a full stop faster than the 'Classic' Fomapan tested here

The above image was taken in very bright sunlight at around mid-day metering for the shadow area and closing down 2 stops. The negative shows good shadow detail and highlight separation with fractionally more contrast than the Fomapan 100 Classic when processed at the recomended times. I think this film would be excellent in winter or in dull flat light. I found that Foma 200 was pretty much 'box speed' at the first testing, although recently I have been downrating it to EI 160 which in my seems to give slightly better images. I processed the film in Agfa Rodinal at 1:50 for 8 mins with 2 inversions per min.

And the 100% crop
Looking at the crops I would say that the grain of this film is very fine certainly similar to FP4 which is around a stop slower, accutance is also pretty good if this is a T grain type film

The light and shade in the following shot show how well the film handles a scene with wide range, there is detail present in both the shadow and highlight on the print

The following shot of a door was taken in shadow, and on my monitor looks to have a lovely rich tone

I like the 'Creative 200' its a full stop faster than the Fomapan Classic and is a higher contrast emulsion with similar grain, possibly slightly more compressed tonanally than the Classic.
One thing I'd like to add, I'm not sure about the manufacterers claims that this is a T grain film, it behaves more like conventional emulsions (which is good) but doesn't quite have the smooth fine grain structure of say T-Max 100.
Makes me wonder is this film a T emulsion mixed with cubic grains? or is the grain less tabular than the Kodak?
Edit 2012:
Foma had problems with this emulsion with some users experiencing pin hole emulsion defects. Their response was to stop production and my sources tell me the emulsion and the machinery has been changed in an effort to cure the problem.

Recently the film was re-introduced, and seems to be on a different base, and the actual sensitivity seems slightly lower. The film was out of production for several years, any film in stock currently will certainly be from the new improved emulsion.
On a separate note the make up of the film is certainly a combination of traditional cubic grains (slow record layer) with an over layer of tabular type grains (faster record) which seem to be similar to the Ilford and Fuji Epitaxial type.

All text and images © Mark Antony Smith 2007 & 2012