I didn't quite get the measure of this new film in this first 120 roll, but it is better-suited to landscapes. Rated at ISO 80, reds and oranges are rendered very dark. When I had time to get out for my legal constitutional walk, it was pouring with rain, so I stayed at home and took some flower shots instead with the Pentax 6x7. From the Ilford website: === ILFORD ORTHO PLUS is an orthochromatic black and white film. Designed as a high-resolution copy film for negatives, ORTHO PLUS offers superb photographic potential thanks to its fine grain and sharpness. Ideally suited for landscape photography, the blue and green sensitivity of this emulsion enables the film to be handled in deep red* safelight conditions making processing and inspection easier. Its lack of red sensitivity also means that reds and oranges in your frame are rendered darker with stronger contrast than standard panchromatic films (all other ILFORD and Kentmere films are panchromatic). === I've also started playing with the histogram supplied by the Epson V550 scanner, so these needed almost no editing in Lightroom, though I did crop a few.
I think it suits these well, Rob. Lovely fine grain too. We used to use 'ortho' film from Kodak and Ilford for microscopy. Actually I probably still have a few rolls in the back of the fridge somewhere.
Cheers, Pete. Yes, the grain is very nice. I have four more rolls, and hope to use one of them at the Water of Leith. I forgot to mention that the Pentax doesn't allow in-between ISO values, so these were pushed from 80 to 100. I doubt that made much of a difference.
See what you mean about the fine grain. Very delicate shading in the lighter tones, specially in the first one.
