Ilford Pan F / Yashica T5 (T4 Super)

bvy · Jun 9, 2013

I just shot a roll of Ilford Pan F Plus 50 with my Yashica T5 (same as the T4 Super). While I have a mix of shots, the lion's share -- and the ones I'm most concerned about -- is of indoor portraits taken using the on-camera flash. Maybe not the best choice of film for that -- but it's what I had with me.

Anyway, this is my first experience with this film; I typically shoot Tri-X or Neopan and develop in D76 1:1. I've read that many people shoot Pan F at 25; I've also read that the T5 flash tends to (sometimes) overexpose -- though I've only seen that statement made anecdotally. So I'm not sure what to expect. Research indicates that D76 is a bit further down the list of preferred developers for Pan F. I'm willing to sacrifice some of the fine grain goodness for well-exposed shots if it comes to that. Thoughts?

Rick A · Jun 9, 2013

Who sez D-76 is way down the list????? I love Pan F+ in D-76 1+1. True, it tends to be contrasty, but box speed works for me in my Olys and Mamiya TLRs.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 9, 2013

D-76 should be fine but for 35mm in this case (T4 with flash) I'd do it stock not 1-1.

viridari · Jun 9, 2013

I'm in love with this camera. Still trying to slowly find my favorite developer/film combo for it. Not there yet. Pan F+ and FP4+ seem to show the aesthetics that I care for better than the Tri-X that I've been using to date. I hope you update this thread with your findings!

kevs · Jun 9, 2013

bvy said:
I just shot a roll of Ilford Pan F Plus 50 with my Yashica T5 (same as the T4 Super). While I have a mix of shots, the lion's share -- and the ones I'm most concerned about -- is of indoor portraits taken using the on-camera flash. Maybe not the best choice of film for that -- but it's what I had with me.

Anyway, this is my first experience with this film; I typically shoot Tri-X or Neopan and develop in D76 1:1. I've read that many people shoot Pan F at 25; I've also read that the T5 flash tends to (sometimes) overexpose -- though I've only seen that statement made anecdotally. So I'm not sure what to expect. Research indicates that D76 is a bit further down the list of preferred developers for Pan F. I'm willing to sacrifice some of the fine grain goodness for well-exposed shots if it comes to that. Thoughts?

Ilford Perceptol is a fine-grain developer that should work well with Pan F Plus; otherwise D-76 / ID-11 will do an excellent job. Whose research are we taking about here? ID-11 may be far down your list, but it's pretty darn close to the top of mine!

Cheers,
kevs

polyglot · Jun 9, 2013

D76 works very well with Pan-F at 1+3; at that dilution it has basically no solvent effect so you don't lose the Pan-F sharpness.

IloveTLRs · Jun 10, 2013

I had no problems with Pan F+ & D-76. Can you get your hands on Rodinal? Pan F+ & R09 spoiled me for anything else for a while

StoneNYC · Jun 10, 2013

PanF+ in Rodinal is also my choice, try that (Adox Adonal or R09)

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

bvy · Jun 10, 2013

rich815 said:
D-76 should be fine but for 35mm in this case (T4 with flash) I'd do it stock not 1-1.

Thanks. Interesting response -- I'm very curious why you recommend stock. Can you elaborate?

mauro35 · Jun 10, 2013

I have also used D-76 1+1 with Pan F plus and in my personal experience the combination is really beautiful. I particularly like the scale of tones when the film is exposed on a sunny day. I have read somewhere that D76 or other solvent developers should not be used stock with slow emulsions, as the sharpness will suffer, but I have never tried myself.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 10, 2013

bvy said:
Thanks. Interesting response -- I'm very curious why you recommend stock. Can you elaborate?

Personably when I use Pan F for 35mm I want fine grain and the gorgeous smoothness that brings with this film particularly for skin and skies. If I wanted perceived sharpness from accutance with grain and edge affects (which is what you get 1-1) I'll just shoot something like FP-4.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 10, 2013

bvy said:
Thanks. Interesting response -- I'm very curious why you recommend stock. Can you elaborate?

Oh and the "T4 with flash" reference was because I agree that the T4 flash seems to overexpose some. More exposure typically leads to more grain if not compensated for at development time or development technique.

Aron · Jun 10, 2013

rich815 said:
Personably when I use Pan F for 35mm I want fine grain and the gorgeous smoothness that brings with this film particularly for skin and skies. If I wanted perceived sharpness from accutance with grain and edge affects (which is what you get 1-1) I'll just shoot something like FP-4.

I've yet to see any edge effects with D76 1+1. It might be a little sharper than stock, but no edge effects, even with reduced agitation at 1+3 with the films I use, just the beginning of what seems to be a little more sharpness.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 10, 2013

Aron said:
I've yet to see any edge effects with D76 1+1. It might be a little sharper than stock, but no edge effects, even with reduced agitation at 1+3 with the films I use, just the beginning of what seems to be a little more sharpness.

To each his own of course. I was not overly happy sometimes with the skies or skin tones when I did 1-1 as with stock.

DREW WILEY · Jun 10, 2013

Try Pan F with one of the staining pyro developers if you want that "wire sharpness" kind of edge acutance.

Gerald C Koch · Jun 11, 2013

Pan F seems to build contrast rather quickly. So it is important not to over develop it. I rate it at EI 32 and develop it in D-23 1+1.

bvy · Jun 14, 2013

Thanks everyone. Lots to consider, but I'm thinking D76 stock or Perceptol stock. For the latter, Ilford gives times of 14 minutes, and 9 minutes for EI 25, so I'm deciding if I should pull it a bit early to compensate for the bright flash. Sounds like I should err on the side of underdeveloping, in any case.

I'm also ordering more of this film...

StoneNYC · Jun 14, 2013

bvy said:
Thanks everyone. Lots to consider, but I'm thinking D76 stock or Perceptol stock. For the latter, Ilford gives times of 14 minutes, and 9 minutes for EI 25, so I'm deciding if I should pull it a bit early to compensate for the bright flash. Sounds like I should err on the side of underdeveloping, in any case.

I'm also ordering more of this film...

Well before you order, make sure you like the results

However as a big fan of PanF+ I fully support buying more

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

viridari · Jun 15, 2013

The Yashica has no way of manually setting the ISO, so unless I'm missing something, you're pretty much stuck with auto exposures at box speeds (whatever is on the DX code).

bvy · Jun 15, 2013

viridari said:
The Yashica has no way of manually setting the ISO, so unless I'm missing something, you're pretty much stuck with auto exposures at box speeds (whatever is on the DX code).

Right. Short of "hacking" the cassette (scratching and taping) that's true. Anyway, I'm going back to the point that the flash on this camera is on the strong side -- and that this film especially is easy to overexpose.

Ilford Pan F / Yashica T5 (T4 Super)

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency