Ferrania Orto 50

The Ferrania Orto 50 is a black and white film. It was presented in April 2023.

The film “Ferrania Orto” represents an important chapter in the renaissance of analog photography launched by the reactivated factory in Cairo Montenotte, Italy. After the successful reintroduction of the panchromatic P30, Ferrania continues its tradition with the launch of the Orto, a unique orthochromatic film.

The Orto film features high silver content, strong contrast and low grain, similar to its predecessor, the P30. However, the Orto presents a different dimension through its orthochromatic character, which offers a very special, high-contrast aesthetic. The recommendation from both the Ferrania factory team and a community of testers is to shoot the film at a box speed of 50 ISO for the best results.

The Ferrania company has undergone a significant rebirth after bankruptcy in 2010, driven by a group of former employees. This group took on the challenge of revitalizing analog film production and successfully launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2014. Since then, Ferrania has produced a successful black and white film, the P30, and now the offering is expanding to include the Orto film, based on a old orthochromatic recipe based.

The special property of orthochromatic film is its “red blindness”, which gives it a special, high-contrast aesthetic. This is reminiscent of the early days of silent film, when filmmakers found creative methods to exploit the peculiarities of orthochromatic film. Ferrania recommends developing and scanning Orto film at home because the film’s formula is unique on the market, and standard laboratory scanning can result in over-contrasted images.

Development of the film

The Ferrania Orto 50 must be developed in a black and white developer. It is possible to develop this type of film both at home and at most photo labs. A variety of developing chemicals are available that have different advantages and disadvantages and can greatly affect the appearance of the finished images.

Development times

Calculation of the development solution
How much development solution do you need?

Formats

The Ferrania Orto 50 is only available in the so-called 35mm format. 36 images fit on one roll of film. The film cartridge is DX coded. Manufacturers such as Lomo, Lomography and Revue offer suitable photo cameras for the 35mm format.