Film Fun Folio #7: Balda Pontina and Fomapan 200

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #7:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Pontina 6x9 120 folding camera
Film: Fomapan 200
Locale: Oregon

After fiddling around with numerous black and white films, I was smitten with like rather than love for most of them.  The same could not be said when I got back my first results from a test roll of Fomapan 200.  I was quite impressed with the results I got from this roll, and looked forward to trying it again.  However, with Summer ramping up, my use of black and white film was on the decline.  Still, I picked up four rolls of this fine film for eventual use. On my Oregon trip, I expected to shoot the majority of scenes in color, but still packed along a few rolls of monochrome film in hopes I could find a chance to put at least one to use.  In an ironic twist, my favorite camera with which to shoot color film was the one relegated to shooting black and white on this trip, but I was curious to see how the Fomapan would respond to this camera's fantastic Trioplan lens. 

1 - Portland, OR - f/11 1/250 - I didn't fully set the lens platform for this shot, which resulted in the blurring of the Tri-Met bus at left, in what is otherwise a pretty retro-heavy scene. Still, in hindsight, this shot would have worked better without it in the frame.  Like the cloud rendering.

2 - Tilamook/Oceanside, OR - f/16 1/250 x 2 - I've had some good luck with accidental double exposures. I've rarely (if ever) tried to deliberately create them, but yet it seems that when I don't, I manage to get some really interesting results! 

3 - Oceanside, OR - f/16 1/250 - The use of the exposure notes helped me to realize the error of my previous ways, and I re-shot the second of the two shots shown on the double exposure.  The shot renders a little bit lighter than I'd hoped, but overall, pretty good. 

4 - Oceanside, OR - f/11 1/250 - Fomapan 200 does some really good things with adding drama to skies.  Add in the mist and you come away with a particularly good result.  Boo to the bit of glare on the right side.

5 - Oceanside, OR - f/11 1/250 - On my arrival here, the ocean obscured these rocks, but as time progressed, they made themselves visible.  The object in the middle of the frame is a bird and not a piece of dust in the scan. 

 6 - Cape Meares, OR - f/16 1/250 - I admit to being a little dismayed at the low profile build of the lighthouse here, though I did really like how Foma rendered the scene.

7 - Portland, OR - f/8 1/250 - Awash in underexposure, this was the best I could muster after scanning.  

8 - Cascade Locks, OR - f/16 1/100 - A little bit of haze tends to lead distant details to become obscured, though I do like how the various rocks in the foreground are rendered. 

Thoughts: Overall a fairly successful roll, with one unintentional scrub and one happy accident in the double exposure.  On this second glance, I am still very happy with Fomapan 200, particularly in how it renders skies with such a dramatic flair, and will be trying to use future rolls to highlight this tendency to better effect.  I may also overexpose scenes that are more dimly lit.  I've read from others who tend to rate this film closer to ISO 100, and I can see just why this might yield improved results.