My First Roll of FPP Low ISO Color

After venturing into single-digit-ISO film, I wanted to try something below the limits of what my Elan 7 could meter for. FPP Low ISO Color is a duplicating film with an ISO of 1.6. Since it was designed for counteract the orange mask of the films it was duplicating, the colors go very blue when shot photographically. The Film Photography Project promises “soft, shifted colors,” which was very much in line with my results.

I actually had to shoot this roll twice after an immense act of hubris left me accidentally shooting it at 100 instead of 1.6. I tend to swap my films out mid-roll more than perhaps I should- my Elan leaves the leader out when I rewind, and as long as I take note of which frame I was on, it’s easy enough to reload and re-shoot with the lens cap on until I’m back to the correct frame. I’m decent at taking notes, so this usually isn’t a problem…with DX coded film. As you can imagine, this ISO 1.6 film is not DX coded.

For my first few frames, I metered off-camera using a light meter app. It was dark out, and I knew I’d be stuck on bulb mode regardless, so this made the most sense.

These were 6min and 15min, both at f/4.0 I didn’t calculate reciprocity, which luckily seems to be great on this film.

The trouble came the next day, when I decided to switch things up and shoot the roll of Ultramax from my last star projector post. It was sunny out, so when I finished that roll, I figured I’d try my hand at shooting the Low ISO Color handheld. You can probably see where this is going.

My original plan was to set my ISO to 6 and then overexpose two stops, which would give me 1.5. But I forgot to set my ISO, and instead overexposed two stops…from 400.

Somehow, I didn’t realize this until the roll was in the mail on the way to the lab. No wonder it felt easier to shoot than I’d expected. Luckily I was able to email the lab in time, and they refunded that part of my order and even mailed the roll back with my negatives (seriously, shoutout to Brooktree Film Lab).

It was a few weeks later when I finally reshot the roll. I did forget to shoot through at first, and double exposed my cat over the first frame.

I ended up with a couple accidental double exposures further on in the roll too, interestingly. The sun really must’ve been bright out for 6 stops of underexposure to let any light through.

I used a tripod for about 3/4 of the roll, unsurprisingly.

This film is just as fine-grained as you’d expect from its low speed, and just as cool-toned as you’d expect from its technical purpose. It seems to have fairly high contrast, too, but not high enough to obliterate detail like the Donau II did.

This is my favorite shot of the roll. The 2 second exposure was long enough for the wind to blur the plants in the foreground, but I got lucky that they didn’t cover either of the fishers. Honestly, this was the only shot of the roll where I feel great about the composition. It’s all downhill from here!