{"id":9529,"date":"2026-06-02T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/?p=9529"},"modified":"2026-04-28T07:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:33:40","slug":"extreme-film-review-no-07-ilford-fp4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/02\/extreme-film-review-no-07-ilford-fp4\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Film Review No.07 &#8211; Ilford FP4+"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So here&#8217;s the thing: faster films are better known for their latitude, but mid-speed films are often overlooked for it. And I&#8217;ll have to say I&#8217;ve done some wild things with FP4+ in the past, and it responds well to over- and underexposure when developed right. But can FP4+ stand up to its faster brother, HP5+, in terms of quality and performance? Well, the answer is yes! While it can&#8217;t go as far as faster films, it can still do a lot more than people give it credit.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55221443618\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55221443618_68f77b51a4_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Film Specs<\/strong><br \/>\nManufacturer: Ilford Photo<br \/>\nName: Ilford FP4+<br \/>\nType: Panchromatic B&#038;W<br \/>\nFilm Base: Acetate<br \/>\nFilm Speed: ASA-125<br \/>\nFormats Available: 135, 120, Sheets<\/p>\n<p>For this roll I&#8217;ll be setting my benchmark at ASA-125, then shooting it between -2 and +2 stops, which translates to ASA-32 to ASA-320. There is only a single time listed on the MDC for FP4+ and Diafine 3+3 for both ASA-200 and ASA-250 speeds so I went with that time. I used my Nikon F5 with the 28mm f\/2.8 lens and no filters attached. I set the aperture to f\/11, had the camera mounted on a tripod and used a remote release to trigger each shot and use the EV adjustment to make the changes during the shooting process.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55235996763\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55235996763_705f64d1c5_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"116\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55234944427\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55234944427_226c21f77f_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"123\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>It shouldn&#8217;t surprise me that the negatives all look very similar across the different stops, similar to results I&#8217;ve seen with HP5+. The density across the board is excellent, and there is plenty of detail in all of them. At the extreme ends, you lose a bit of detail in the highlights\/shadows, respectively, but the images are still usable, and with a bit of post-processing, they are very usable. That means that using this combination will work no matter how you shoot your FP4+, and if you have to adjust the EI on the fly, Diafine will give you easily +\/- 2 stops of latitude and, with a bit of work, deliver excellent results.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55235996758\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55235996758_4d7732d48e_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55235996753\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55235996753_07bbec01ba_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"119\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>These all look great, but then again, FP4+ has always been a very forgiving film that offers up a wide latitude. Yes, at the extreme ends, you&#8217;re losing a lot of shadow and highlight detail, but as I mentioned before, there&#8217;s still enough information to pull out the details when scanning and editing in the digital space. As for image quality, it&#8217;s consistent across the board; you have excellent contrast and fine-grain while still maintaining good image sharpness. Even at the extremes, the film performs well under these conditions.<\/p>\n<p><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55235996748\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55235996748_32d922c24d_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"120\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/axle81401\/55235996743\/in\/dateposted\/\" title=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55235996743_c438f3a355_b.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"120\" alt=\"Extreme Film Review No.07 - Ilford FP4+\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Nikon F5 &#8211; AF Nikkor 28mm 1:2.8 &#8211; Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 (+\/- 2-Stops) &#8211; Diafine (Stock) 3:00 + 3:00 @ 20C<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>FP4+ remains a strong favourite of mine in film photography; it&#8217;s a mid-speed film that has replaced Plus-X, despite not being Plus-X exactly. No matter which way you shoot it, FP4+ has a strong performance in these tests. Personally, I would not use Diafine beyond those two stops in either direction, but would go with a dedicated push developer such as Microphen or Xtol. The one thing that surprised me the most is how well FP4+ performs when overexposed; usually, in the past, the frames were near-total losses, but here they&#8217;re perfectly usable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So here&#8217;s the thing: faster films are better known for their latitude, but mid-speed films are often overlooked for it. And I&#8217;ll have to say I&#8217;ve done some wild things with FP4+ in the past, and it responds well to over- and underexposure when developed right. But can FP4+ stand up to its faster brother, HP5+, in terms of quality and performance? Well, the answer is yes! While it can&#8217;t go as far as faster films, it can still do a lot more than people give it credit. Film Specs Manufacturer: Ilford Photo Name: Ilford FP4+ Type: Panchromatic B&#038;W Film Base: Acetate Film Speed: ASA-125<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/02\/extreme-film-review-no-07-ilford-fp4\/\"><span>Read More &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[22,1707,2007,74,115,82,20,29,75],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9529"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9529"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9667,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9529\/revisions\/9667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alexluyckx.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}