Ilford Ortho 80 in 120

I used a roll of Ortho 80 in 35mm a while back – I liked it, but not enough for it to sway me into regular use over FP4 – you can see those pictures here. John over at Pictorial Planet, has been testing a range of films recently, in two different developers, the latest was Ilford Ortho 80. He found in his Rolleiflex SL66 that as the film is a little thicker compared to other 120 films (FP4 and HP5) that he had trouble winding it through the camera, without straining the mechanism. I’d never used the film in 120, so I ran a roll through my Hasselblad to see if I too had trouble. I’ll cut to the chase, I didn’t. It ran through without any issue, and I couldn’t tell any difference between the Ortho and an FP4 I used right after, as far as winding was concerned.

All these images were made with the 80mm (Standard) lens. I developed the film in Barry Thornton’s (Metol) Two Bath. I think the film lightens the skies a little, and as you can see from my results, there’s little there, although some of that is to do with the conditions. I do like the results, but it’s a couple of pounds a roll more than good old FP4, slightly slower, and frankly I don’t see a huge difference – conclusion… I’m sticking with FP4. There will be more results from Ortho 80 here in due course, as John very kindly sent me a couple of rolls that he’s not going to use – many thanks John!!