Ilford FP4 Plus - 35mm Film

Ilford FP4; practically bombproof!

This film's been around forever and the years of development and refinement shows through. So forgiving all around, it remains, together with it's stable-mate HP5, the 'go to' black & white film for all. A favourite for beginners and experts alike - and deservedly too!

Reliable

The last time I used FP4 was 30 years ago to take some family portraits in medium format on a Yashica MAT TLR. They came out superbly-some of the best portraits I've ever taken. With this film I was testing a new (old) 24mm lens on a Nikon F5 and didn't have interesting subject matter! The film still holds up: predictable and reliable; just the right amount of contrast, plenty of detail and nice controllable grain. If I were to do portraits again I might choose this but for other things I think I have now found more interesting emulsions, including those that have none of the predictability of FP4.

Premium fine-grain B&W film

I was using FP4 in the 1970's, and it's still as good as it ever was. I don't force film out of it's ISO, so I tend to use this in the brighter summer months. It's iconic.