Film Ferrania P30 [35mm Film Review]
Favorited by Italian Cinematographers of the mid-20th-century. Film Ferrania P30 came back from the grave to the delight of many film shooters but has sadly gone quiet since the pandemic as their country got hit especially hard during all of this. I wanted to test a roll of this famous film myself, so I loaded my Nikon F2 and headed to Tawas, Michigan to try it out.
Federico Fellini’s 1963 film “8 1/2” shot on Film Ferrania P30.
The film resurgence is in full force and the return of Film Ferrania is just further proof of this. The new P30 film is not an old repackaged stock. It is freshly made in their rebuilt factory on the original company grounds in Cairo Montenotte, Italy. After seeing the kinds of shots others were getting from this stock I was more than excited to try it for myself.
Tawas Point Lighthouse, Michigan. Nikon F2 | 50mm F1.4
Armed with my Nikon F2 I set off two and half hours north to photograph the lighthouse in Tawas, Michigan. The Tawas Point Lighthouse operated from 1876 until 2016. It is now a popular tourist attraction. However, with all the snowfall, I did not see one other person out on trails.
Before You Shoot
Film Ferrania P30 has deep shadows and strong highlights. It has a high silver content resulting in very high contrast and almost no visible grain. I personally love high contrast in my black and white work so I was overly excited about this especially when I saw my results. Another great point about this film is that even though it is a cinema film it has no remjet. This makes it much easier for the average consumer to process their film without extra steps. To shoot this film to its full potential id recommend sticking to these guidelines.
USE A FULLY MANUAL CAMERA - This film lacks DX coding so you will need to use a manual camera to ensure you get proper exposures.
SHOOT AT BOX SPEED - Meter for the box speed of 80 iso for best results.
HAND DEVELOP - Film Ferrania strongly recommends hand processing this film. You can find their development guide here. Lab developing is okay too, just be sure to let them know about the fragile nature of this film.
HAVE FUN - Probably the most important guideline when it comes to shooting film. Have fun and enjoy this amazing cinematic film!
Nikon F2 | 80-200 F4.5
My Thoughts
I developed this film in Ilford Ilfosol-3 and Fixed in Ilford Rapid Fixer. I followed Film Ferrania’s best practices and I can honestly say that I am in love. The tonality of this film is just dreamy, the sharpness and contrast draw you in and leaves you wanting to shoot more of it. I am looking forward to shooting even more with this film and am planning on doing a comparison shoot against another very popular black and white cinema film soon.
Try Film Ferrania P30 for yourself here.
