Ferrania's P30 Film - A One Roll Review

I love shooting b&w film.  There are so many choices out there, and the various emulsions, whether old or new are worth exploring if you want to try them (and today, Kodak Alaris announced Tmax P3200 will be reintroduced!).

I was one of the early Film Ferrania Kickstarter backers, and while I do hope they are able to bring their color E-6 film into production, I am far more likely to be shooting b&w film. Last year, Ferrania brought back an old emulsion, which they called P30 Alpha, and touted it as a traditional b&w film with high silver content, with an ISO of 80.  I didn't get any of the earlier rolls, but what I did see online piqued my curiosity.  So this year, when they let backers know that the P30 film was available for $5/roll, I jumped and purchased five, which arrived quite quickly.  Even with the $8 shipping, I think it is a bargain for five 36-exposure rolls.

I brought one roll in my bag when I went to Toronto a few weeks ago, and shot it with my Minolta XG-M, one of my favorite and most reliable Minolta SLRs.  Most of it was shot while I was in the Distillery District with Bill Smith and Nancy Bueler -- my Toronto photo friends that took their time to show me around town. 

After I returned home, it was the first roll I developed, as I was curious to see if the hype about this film was valid.  I shot the film at ISO 80, and developed it in D-76 straight, for 7 minutes, as directed in the instructions.  As soon as I took the film off the reel and hung it to dry, I was pleased with what I was seeing.   It had been a snowy overcast day, and there was a lot of contrast in the scenes.  I scanned in the negatives on my Epson V700 scanner at 2400 dpi, and my initial response is WOW! I think this film has great tonal response, great mid-tones, very fine grain, and I am very pleased with the results.  I have yet to make traditional prints from the negatives, but the scans needed very little tweaking.   The film lies flat in the negative holder without any cupping like we see in Kodak's Tri-X. 

Here are some sample images from the roll.  I was not disappointed in any of them.  I am blown away when I look at the detail in the first image.  The Ferrania P30 film is a keeper, and I hope that they keep producing it.