Spidersnaps: Cheap and cheerful
Apr. 4th, 2023 09:03 pmFeaturing a minor brush with fame :-)
Another notable brand of B&W film is Foma, and although I already dabbled in their Retropan Soft a while ago, their main product is Fomapan, and its main claim to fame is that it's pretty much the cheapest film around, and also commonly available where most places that sell B&W film; for example this picture from my usual lab shows it being sold for THB195-200 (USD 5.7-5.8) in February, but when I bought this roll of Fomapan 400, it wasn't in stock at the lab (or the other nearby shops) in 135 (had plenty of 120 though), so I bought it online alongside another roll, with a famous name that I haven't gotten around to shooting yet, at the somewhat higher price of THB245 (USD 7.2), and ran it through my Kodak M35 in December :-)

It's called an "action" film (not to be confused with the movie genre, LOL), since it's designed to be used for things like sports or other fast movement that requires quick exposures, and Foma themselves call it "black-and-white negative film designed for taking photographs under unfavourable light conditions or using short exposure times"... in other words, perfect for this point and shoot :-) It's also said to have a slightly gritty and contrasty look, and many of these shots bear this out :-)


Two shots of the Buddha sculpture (early morning, midday) at my alma mater, where I started working at about the same time I started this roll :-)

Morning shot of another statue at uni called Sound of the Northeast, with a bird hanging out on it :-)

Stone war monument at uni

Food stalls at a special holiday time concert series at Samyan Mitrtown

A wooden Christmas tree on Noble Play on Plernchit street

Scenery at Nakhorn Pathom at New Year's (same place as from my first half-frame roll)

Ideo Q condominimum near Samyan... In a prior life, this used to be the location of a cinema/bowling alley that (before the metro opened) I remember mom driving past while driving me and sister home from school, then uni, right up until she retired in the mid aughts


Fallen buffalo statue, as mentioned in my last set of snaps

What looks to be some sort of film (or perhaps promo video?) shoot at my local mall with people in costumes

Chatuchak market, with Bangsue Junction mall in the distance

Picking up duck and chicken for Chinese New Year at the local market, and looking much better than my last attempt with Svema 400 :-)

Birds nesting on the TV aerial

Somewhat underexposed early morning view of the columns of one of the buildings at uni

The launch of Hello Hab-Re, a project by Samyan Mitrtown to give street food merchants a space for selling their stuff... and a minor brush with fame here, because the man at the center with the necktie is the governor of Bangkok (!) You can actually catch the ceremony at which this photo was taken in this recorded livestream (link goes to pretty much the exact moment I took the photo :-))

Nighttime wallflowers

Intersection at Chinatown

Early morning view of a special one-off event to promote KFC's new single-person meal "Bucket for One" (which, at least in-store, isn't actually served in a bucket :-\) featuring a one-car ferris wheel (based on imagery featured in its TV commercials)

This used to be part of a Japanese restaurant at Chamchuri Square that my family and I used to eat at from time to time with my paternal aunt and grandmother; sometime last year it shut down and at the time I took this photo, it was being used for this rather pitiful Valentine's kiosk (and that's before we even get to the somewhat "eh" exposure)

Last picture of the roll: Silom Edge, a brand new shopping mall at Silom, which had already been soft open since October, but would have its grand opening a week after this photo; this building had last been occupied by the Silom branch of Robinson Department Store, but had been left abandoned for several years after Robinson left (a quick Google Street View check only shows the bottom floors being used as of 2011 until being fully abandoned sometime between Sept 2014 and Oct 2016, and Thai Wiki suggests this branch closed in 2008, meaning that some parts of the building laid unused for well over a decade [!])
Overall a good film for its price, and I've since gotten myself another roll of Fomapan 400, this time at the more reasonable THB200 price point, because my usual labs have it now :-)
Another notable brand of B&W film is Foma, and although I already dabbled in their Retropan Soft a while ago, their main product is Fomapan, and its main claim to fame is that it's pretty much the cheapest film around, and also commonly available where most places that sell B&W film; for example this picture from my usual lab shows it being sold for THB195-200 (USD 5.7-5.8) in February, but when I bought this roll of Fomapan 400, it wasn't in stock at the lab (or the other nearby shops) in 135 (had plenty of 120 though), so I bought it online alongside another roll, with a famous name that I haven't gotten around to shooting yet, at the somewhat higher price of THB245 (USD 7.2), and ran it through my Kodak M35 in December :-)

It's called an "action" film (not to be confused with the movie genre, LOL), since it's designed to be used for things like sports or other fast movement that requires quick exposures, and Foma themselves call it "black-and-white negative film designed for taking photographs under unfavourable light conditions or using short exposure times"... in other words, perfect for this point and shoot :-) It's also said to have a slightly gritty and contrasty look, and many of these shots bear this out :-)


Two shots of the Buddha sculpture (early morning, midday) at my alma mater, where I started working at about the same time I started this roll :-)

Morning shot of another statue at uni called Sound of the Northeast, with a bird hanging out on it :-)

Stone war monument at uni

Food stalls at a special holiday time concert series at Samyan Mitrtown

A wooden Christmas tree on Noble Play on Plernchit street

Scenery at Nakhorn Pathom at New Year's (same place as from my first half-frame roll)

Ideo Q condominimum near Samyan... In a prior life, this used to be the location of a cinema/bowling alley that (before the metro opened) I remember mom driving past while driving me and sister home from school, then uni, right up until she retired in the mid aughts


Fallen buffalo statue, as mentioned in my last set of snaps

What looks to be some sort of film (or perhaps promo video?) shoot at my local mall with people in costumes

Chatuchak market, with Bangsue Junction mall in the distance

Picking up duck and chicken for Chinese New Year at the local market, and looking much better than my last attempt with Svema 400 :-)

Birds nesting on the TV aerial

Somewhat underexposed early morning view of the columns of one of the buildings at uni

The launch of Hello Hab-Re, a project by Samyan Mitrtown to give street food merchants a space for selling their stuff... and a minor brush with fame here, because the man at the center with the necktie is the governor of Bangkok (!) You can actually catch the ceremony at which this photo was taken in this recorded livestream (link goes to pretty much the exact moment I took the photo :-))

Nighttime wallflowers

Intersection at Chinatown

Early morning view of a special one-off event to promote KFC's new single-person meal "Bucket for One" (which, at least in-store, isn't actually served in a bucket :-\) featuring a one-car ferris wheel (based on imagery featured in its TV commercials)

This used to be part of a Japanese restaurant at Chamchuri Square that my family and I used to eat at from time to time with my paternal aunt and grandmother; sometime last year it shut down and at the time I took this photo, it was being used for this rather pitiful Valentine's kiosk (and that's before we even get to the somewhat "eh" exposure)

Last picture of the roll: Silom Edge, a brand new shopping mall at Silom, which had already been soft open since October, but would have its grand opening a week after this photo; this building had last been occupied by the Silom branch of Robinson Department Store, but had been left abandoned for several years after Robinson left (a quick Google Street View check only shows the bottom floors being used as of 2011 until being fully abandoned sometime between Sept 2014 and Oct 2016, and Thai Wiki suggests this branch closed in 2008, meaning that some parts of the building laid unused for well over a decade [!])
Overall a good film for its price, and I've since gotten myself another roll of Fomapan 400, this time at the more reasonable THB200 price point, because my usual labs have it now :-)