Film Roll Review: Fomapan 200

Fomapan 200: Cold Hard Facts

Fomapan 200 Creative, more familiarly known as Fomapan 200, is a 200-speed black and white film manufactured by Foma Bohemia, a company based in the Czech Republic. Since its inception in 1921, the company has been manufacturing black and white photo materials, aside from also manufacturing X-ray films. That's over 100 years of experience in B&W film photography!

Fomapan 200 Creative is the company's mid-speed film, but it stands as a part of the company's long-running line of black and white negative film rolls, namely the Fomapan 100 Classic, Fomapan 400 Action, Retropan 320 Soft, and the newly-introduced FOMA Ortho 400. The film roll is available in 135 and 120 formats, as well as sheet films.

In terms of the price, Foma films are often considered to be more budget-friendly compared to some other brands like Kodak and Fujifilm, especially when speaking strictly of their professional line of film rolls. The Fomapan 200 itself retails for as low as €5.99.

But how does this price correspond to the film roll's performance? Our Fomapan 200 review will show you.

Fomapan 200 In Action

Most of my photos were shot during the days in the summertime, so an oversupply of light and brightness was more of an issue rather than a lack of them. So how does the Fomapan 200 perform under these conditions?

If you see the photos above, I'd say aside from the loss of detail in the main photo (left) around where the sun was shining the most, the film was able to capture a good level of detail. The same applies to parts with lower levels of exposure. You may see minor loss of detail, but nothing major. This is quite consistent throughout the different resulting photos as well as you can see below.

What this shows is that the Fomapan 200 has a wide exposure latitude. This is not shocking considering that 200-speed film rolls tend to perform in very similar manners in this regard. Black and white films also typically have a wider exposure latitude compared to color films, so you have nothing to worry about in general here.

The Fomapan 200 also performs really well in terms of contrast and tonal ranges. It's got a medium-high contrast that I personally like. You could probably see this the most clearly with the first set of photos above. Set in a busy central station in Munich, you can see people from all walks of life in the photos, wearing clothes with different materials and colors, and you can see a wide range of tones and contrasts depicting this in black and white. You can also see the same wide range of tones when you focus on the details in the station - all the nooks and crannies.

You should also be able to see the Fomapan 200's contrast and tonal ranges quite well in the photo below. Although quite visibly more simple in setting compared to the first set of photos above, you could clearly see the different parts of the landscape depicted in a wide variety of contrasts and tonal ranges, showing depth and dimension in the resulting photo.

Last but not least, I would also like to talk about the Fomapan's 200 grain structure. I've said a few times in the past that I prefer photos that are on the grainier side of things as they've become like a badge of honor for shooting in film for me, but I have to say I am beginning to prefer smoother, finer grain photos more and more these days.

The Fomapan 200 has a rather fine grain structure that gives the resulting photos a smooth look. Underexposing and overexposing it created more visible grain naturally, but even then the grain is barely noticeable and does not take over the whole photo. In fact, I think out of all the photos I took the main one right above possibly has the most visible grain, which to me is not bad at all. I certainly don't think that the increased level of grain ruined the photos I took during my analog trip to Venice.

Final Verdict

Availability

As mentioned before, Fomapan films, Fomapan 200 including, are quite budget friendly. This makes the Fomapan 200 an ideal film roll for the casual photographer and hobbyists.

Grain and Sharpness

The Fomapan 200 has a relatively fine grain structure that allows it to provide a good level of detail in the resulting images. 

Exposure Latitude

Being a black and white, medium-speed film, I find that the Fomapan 200 can handle quite a wide range of exposures before losing significant detail in the shadows or highlights. This makes it a great option for beginners, or those looking for more versatility.

Contrast and Tonal Range

The Fomapan 200 tends to offer a medium-high contrast with quite a wide range of tones. These give the resulting photos a classic black and white look featuring tones ranging from deep blacks to bright whites.

All in all, I am generally impressed by the Fomapan 200 and have nothing major to complain about! So if you haven't tried it out I would really recommend you to, because this certainly won't be my last time shooting with it.