[alt-photo] Re: instant films (specifically Fuji fp-3000b)

[Francesco Fragomeni]

Fuji FP3000B, FP100B, and FP100C have all been around for quite some time.
They were each once available in the 4x5 variation as well. Today FP3000B
and FP100C is all the remains and only in the 3x4 size although FP100C45
can reportedly still be ordered from Asia I've heard.

I love FP3000B and have used it for years. It along with the recently
retired FP100B are in my opinion unique films worthy in their own right.
FP3000B is actually the only high speed film variant with little to no
discernible grain difference from its slower counterpart which was a very
unique trait.

As far as toning these prints, I don't know. People have been using these
films for various manipulation techniques for a long time but I haven't
heard of toning them. Instant films are contained and complete processes.
All of the chemicals needed and involved are in the pods and activate when
the film is pulled through the holder. The most common "fun" thing to do
with FP100C and FP100B (when it was available) was to lift the negative and
use that for various things. One can relatively easily salvage the film
negative from these two films. FP3000B on the other hand does not produce a
film negative but rather a paper negative requiring no salvage technique to
make use of. The paper neg looks to be of low contrast but is actually
quite scanable and I've heard of paper-neg practitioners actually printing
through them although I've never tried that. I've never really been one for
any of the manipulations because I see the value in the intact films
themselves. They can be quite beautiful.

If you experiment with the Selenium let us know your results.

-Francesco
www.francescofragomeni.com



On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 10:08 AM, eric nelson <emanphoto at gmail.com> wrote:

> Type 55 positives could be treated w/selenium using a brush.  I've
> done it, but the fog of time blurs the details of that process.  With
> those positives a supplied after coating was used to preserve the
> image.
> eric
>
> On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Ryuji Suzuki <rs at silvergrain.org> wrote:
> > The news of the week made me wonder how many years did Edwin Land took to
> > earn $1bn. But then I noticed Fujifilm FP-3000B is still available and so
> > I'm buying a couple of instant film backs for my GX-680 to play with.
> >
> > I didn't really follow the technology of FP-3000B (yet!) but I understand
> > that this film makes positive image with very fine grain with very high
> > covering power, i.e., a very small amount of silver, and also very large
> > surface-to-volume ratio. So, without testing anything myself, I'm
> > anticipating that, unless properly treated, the image might discolor or
> fade
> > quite easily, but at the same time, the image can probably be toned very
> > easily and quickly.
> >
> > What happens if the print is dipped in Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner and
> > rinsed? I am predicting that "liver of sulfur" type toners (e.g., Kodak
> > Brown Toner) might alter the grain structure too much, risking reduction
> of
> > Dmax and contrast. Image stabilizer based on organic thiol compounds
> > (Fujifilm Ag Guard or my published formula using mercaptobenzimidazole)
> > would probably work but I'm not sure if the film's chemistry already
> uses a
> > similar mechanism to stabilize the image.
> >
> > Did anyone try or research along this line of ideas?
> >
> > Any other fun idea to try with FP-3000B instant film?
> >
> > --
> > Ryuji Suzuki
> > "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." (Miles Davis)
> >
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