Experimenting with Kosmo Foto Pan 100 / by Nathan Jones

Years ago, my friend Rob sent me a roll of Kosmo Foto Pan 100, which I tucked away in my desk drawer and forgot about. A couple of weeks ago, I was casting about for film to load into my trusty Nikon FM2N (once my sole and still my favourite 35 mm camera) and came across the long neglected Kosmo. A little poking around on the Internet revealed it to be rebranded Fomapan 100 Classic, which, despite its solid reputation for being an inexpensive yet reliable black-and-white stock, I had never shot. These test exposures (developed in Ilfosol 1:9) revealed Kosmo/Foma to be a sharp, medium contrast film with pleasingly low noise. I am very happy with the look and am on the point of ordering 20 rolls from B&H Photo. With shipping, import duties, and taxes included, and taking the currency conversion into account, I should end up paying almost exactly $10 Canadian per roll, a 30-50% saving over the Ilford and Kodak stocks I have been buying locally.