As I continue experimenting with film photography, I’m trying a different film stock every time I visit my local lab. While I’m no expert, I want to share my experience with different stocks, so here’s a mini review of Ilford 125 Plus. (With Ilford 125 Plus sample images!)
A little about Ilford 125 Plus
Ilford 125 Plus is a black and white film stock available in 35mm, 120 and sheet film. You can buy it from B&H, but I recommend checking your local photo shop first.
Being a 125 ISO film, the grain is very fine, but it does require a fair amount of light. Pair this with the fact that I shoot without any sort of light meter and it results in a somewhat underexposed roll. Unfortunately only a few shots have a balanced exposure. Nevertheless, let’s check out the highlights (and lowlights) of this roll.
Shooting + Development
- Camera: Canon QL-17 GIII
- Dev + Scans: Bleeker Digital Solutions
The Shots
The first few shots on this roll are me rolling around the city. I like getting the motion blur in the street while keeping my shoes and board sharp. Blacks aren’t crushed and whites aren’t blown out – lots of gray.
Here’s a picture of raspberry cheesecake at Junior’s Diner in Brooklyn. It was delicious and I like how this photo turned out. I find black and white film makes reflections pop and you can see that in the fork and glasses of water. My only complaint is that I was a little too close and didn’t quite get the cheesecake in focus. That being said, a nice slice of life photo, but not very exciting.
Now this is example number one of a brutally underexposed image. Don’t know what I was thinking when I took this, it was very dark in there – it was dim museum lighting. This is a fresco from Pompei but you can barely see it! The majority of this image is just gray.
This next shot of the goodies available at Dominique Ansel Bakery is just OK. I like the contrast and the shapes, but I can assure you these treats look better in color. A panoramic style crop would probably help this image quite a bit.
Moving on, the foggy skyline of NYC looks really nice in black and white. Here we get to see the range that this film has, nothing is really muddled together.
Finally! A photo I actually like! I think this composition is strong and, again, this shot shows off a lot of different tones. There’s an abundance of dark, cool gray in the grass and foliage but also light grays and whites in the buildings and sky.
We’ll skip a couple crappy shots and fast-forward to another respectable one. This is also a solid composition, it definitely tells a little bit of a story and we have plenty of dynamic range.
These final photos aren’t very good, but I was still super excited about them. This squirrel just came up to my picnic blanket and started hangin’ out! Even gave me enough time to get my camera, adjust my settings and snap a couple shots. Again, you can see what severe underexposure looks like (and mild underexposure too). Like I said, nothing special, but it was cool to get a “wildlife” photo at 40mm!
So what are my thoughts on this film?
I like it, but that’s about it. Ilford 125 Plus is pretty forgiving with exposure. I find the main characteristic of this film is really the dynamic range; the grays. It doesn’t have much contrast, so if you’re looking for crushed shadows and heavenly highlights, this isn’t the right film stock. But, if you’re looking for something that feels almost true to real life with the raw range of tonalities, Ilford 125 Plus could be a good fit. If you want a light-hungry black and white film as almost a daily driver, this will do the job.
One response to “Ilford 125 Plus Review: A Simple Film Stock Worth Trying”
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