These two pictures were taken on the same mini-road trip as the ones I shot in Eaton (such as this). I’d finished the roll of Kentmere 100 and switched to Fomapan 400 at this point. I took three photos at the village of Askham, and then shot the rest on a later outing (yet to feature on the blog).
Sadly, after developing and scanning the pictures I was presented with disappointing results.
Firstly, the images all displayed fine white speckles of the sort I’ve encountered before with Fomapan films. They are probably unnoticeable when viewing the images here on the blog, but are scattered liberally across the entire results – far too many for me to remove with Photoshop (I would need the patience of a saint!).
Secondly. despite using the same semi-stand technique used previously (and successfully) on another roll of Fomapan 400, this roll showed very noticeable signs of bromide drag. I’ve been able to mitigate the worst of this with Photoshop, but it’s still faintly visible in both these pictures if you look carefully (it was much worse before editing). I’m not sure what caused it on this occasion when there was no sign of it at all the last time, but I may take some additional precautions the next time I semi-stand Fomapan (an additional inversion or two at 15 minute intervals, perhaps…).
Despite all this, I do still like the pictures, especially the way the clouds are rendered.
Fujica GW690 & Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+100. 1 hour semi-stand development.
Taken on 2 August 2025
Steel City Snapper photography 
Which is why I’ve resolved not to use Fomapan any longer; especially now there’s a full range of Kentmere films without the QC issues that Foma seem unwilling/unable to do anything about. I, also, have had good pictures ruined by a myriad white dots (pinholes?) in the emulsion. Which is even more difficult to do anything about on a 35mm neg!
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I’m the same. As much as I like the look of the Fomapan films, I don’t want to end up with shots spoiled by unwanted speckles on the negatives.
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I really like all the Fomapan films, but they do have their quirks and *sometimes* have quality control issues as well. In my experience certain film stocks tend to have bromide drag issues, and Fomapan 400 is one of them. As such, I don’t use a semi-stand or stand development method for it. I definitely recommend a more traditional agitation scheme.
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I’ve developed Fomapan 400 using normal agitation methods with good results (although I do have to overexpose the film that way, I’ve found), but I quite like the way it looks using semi-stand in Rodinal. Given my other issues with the film, I think I’ll experiment a little with the other two rolls I have on hand.
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