Is PanF 50 by Ilford a tolerant film negative?

JPD · Jul 13, 2015

Simon R Galley said:
PAN F+ is a great film, but in common with all slower films it has less exposure latitude, as has been mentioned by some posters on a 'limited' flexibility camera a 100iso film would give more latitude and is the film I would use.

I would call Pan F+ a very great film, even superb. I love it. But I would also say that not all 100 ASA films are good for simpler cameras. I found none better suited for that than the Adox CHS.

marciofs · Jul 13, 2015

Simon R Galley said:
Dear Marciofs,

PAN F+ is a great film, but in common with all slower films it has less exposure latitude, as has been mentioned by some posters on a 'limited' flexibility camera a 100iso film would give more latitude and is the film I would use.

ILFORD film pricing is extremely logical : ILFORD PAN F + is sold at a higher price than FP4+ and HP5+ in all world markets. The reseller who sold it cheaper either chose his or her own price ( his or her prerogative ) or it may be short dated ?.

Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Thanks Simon.

DREW WILEY · Jul 15, 2015

Pan F is a lovely film, but I cannot recommend it for high contrast work. I has a pronounced S-curve which equates to very little "latitude".
Seems to work best in moderate contrast situation like where color slide film would seem at home. Pyro developers seems to give it a little
more printability at the top, in the highlights. I shoot it at 25. FP4 is more of a general-purpose film, very versatile but not quite as high an
acutance. I still have some Efke 25 left, but towards the end of production it suffered from quality control issues (dust in the emulsion).

cl3mens · Jul 15, 2015

When I started using my Kodak Brownie (1/30 and f/11) I made the assumption that the shutter speed was 1/100 and used T-Max 400. Came out great. Since then I've mostly used ISO 400 films in it (HP5+ and T-Max 400) with great looking negatives. I am guessing that it is mostly overexposed by two or three stops. Scans well and wet printing is no problem either. So my advice is to stick with whatever 100-400 speed film from Ilford, Fuji or Kodak you like. Fomapan 400 would probably not be as good since I've found it picky about highlights. Used the 200 speed in a folding camera with so-so shutter speeds and so-so metering and that worked out OK.

analoguey · Jul 15, 2015

Regular Rod said:
Use the Agfa Synchro Box on a support and use f11 and the long exposure. If you can spot meter your shadow detail and set that at Zone III then develop using semi-stand development in a compensating developer such as Caffenol, 510-PYRO or OBSIDIAN AQUA you will get good negatives. It is a full tone film not an adapted document film so contrast is very controllable. Use all the roll in one day and develop the film as soon as you get in for best results. I like it a lot.

RR

That's a lovely image, RR. Even when seen on the 4" screen!

ciniframe · Jul 15, 2015

I have some 6 years past date Pan F in bulk 35mm. It's been cold stored since I bought it 6 years ago as short dated film. I finally took it out of the fridge because I got a Minox 8X11, it is bright summer and I needed some slow film to slit down to load in the Minox cartridges. As old as it is mine still seems fine in HC-110, 60:1, 8.5 min. @ 70F
Just glad I held on to it all those years.

Xmas · Jul 16, 2015

It keeps very well below 25c.
Just shoot and process promptly.
It is my fav film but never have enough light for 50ISO.

marciofs · Jul 16, 2015

I did the stand development today with panF+ and I post the results tomorrow.

But as suggested, I will keep between the 100 and 400 ISO rage from now.

Roger Cole · Jul 16, 2015

cl3mens said:
When I started using my Kodak Brownie (1/30 and f/11) I made the assumption that the shutter speed was 1/100 and used T-Max 400. Came out great. Since then I've mostly used ISO 400 films in it (HP5+ and T-Max 400) with great looking negatives. I am guessing that it is mostly overexposed by two or three stops. Scans well and wet printing is no problem either. So my advice is to stick with whatever 100-400 speed film from Ilford, Fuji or Kodak you like. Fomapan 400 would probably not be as good since I've found it picky about highlights. Used the 200 speed in a folding camera with so-so shutter speeds and so-so metering and that worked out OK.

You probably could not find a better match for a fixed camera like that than XP-2 Super if you don't mind sending it out or doing your own C41. In my experience it looks acceptable at 800, great at 400, even better at 200, and is in practice almost impossible to effectively overexpose.

Roger Cole · Jul 16, 2015

NedL said:
Just announced yesterday: (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

Well yay! I'll have to try me some of that!

marciofs · Jul 17, 2015

I got some results to show from PanF+ in Stand development. I don't like the unevenness at all. This is the big issue I have with stand development, although in this case it actually helps with the sky brightness.

Roger Cole · Jul 17, 2015

If you want to tame the highlights on Pan F+ but don't like stand development try a two part developer like Diafine or divided D76 or divided D23. I routinely use Diafine for Pan F+ and really like the combo.

marciofs · Jul 17, 2015

Roger Cole said:
If you want to tame the highlights on Pan F+ but don't like stand development try a two part developer like Diafine or divided D76 or divided D23. I routinely use Diafine for Pan F+ and really like the combo.

I plan to experiment with Diafine but I will leave it for later on. I have too many projects, experiments, little money and crap work hours at the moment.

What I am doing now is photographing with HP5, which has a large tonal range, and try next semi stand development with it, to see what I get.

I guess with sami stand development, at least 2 agitation amoung the time after the inicial one, wont give a negative too flat. Yet still menage to get highlights and shadows detais from over and unders exposures, I suppose.

And even development I hope.

But I will see.

cl3mens · Jul 17, 2015

Best of luck! Nowadays I mostly use HC-110B for HP5+, sometimes dil. H. Even then it looks good.

DcAnalogue · Jul 18, 2015

I recently bought a Synchro Box too and used it with Tmax 100 rated @64 and exposed with an old Zeiss Ikophot meter. Not bad for a first try....
I made a post in my Film blog about it: https://thefilmrenaissance.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/agfa-synchro-box-first-test/

I bought a Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor too, as it has 3 focusing positions but haven't used it yet.....

RalphLambrecht · Jul 18, 2015

B&Wnegative film in general is very tolerant to overexposure and more sensitive to underexposure,related to box speed.That's why it is wise to folloe the rule:When in doubtover expose and under develop.This way almost all negatives are salvageable.They may not make a gallery-quality print but you get some kind of a recognizable picture at least.

RalphLambrecht · Jul 18, 2015

marciofs said:
Now that I bought the PanF 50 I will use it just to see what I get, and experiment with semi stand development for the contrast issue.

Also, try a light to mediumyellow filter.That will reduce your subject contrast in daylight and give you more film latitude but, of course, you will lose a stop or so in speed.Overexpose and cut recommended development time by 10%

marciofs · Jul 18, 2015

DcAnalogue said:
I recently bought a Synchro Box too and used it with Tmax 100 rated @64 and exposed with an old Zeiss Ikophot meter. Not bad for a first try....
I made a post in my Film blog about it: https://thefilmrenaissance.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/agfa-synchro-box-first-test/

I bought a Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor too, as it has 3 focusing positions but haven't used it yet.....

Nice.
I actually bought today Delta 100, FP4 and Tmax 400 to experiment after finish with HP5.

marciofs · Jul 18, 2015

RalphLambrecht said:
Also, try a light to mediumyellow filter.That will reduce your subject contrast in daylight and give you more film latitude but, of course, you will lose a stop or so in speed.Overexpose and cut recommended development time by 10%

I have being using orange filter in most of the shots now with HP5.

marciofs · Jul 20, 2015

RalphLambrecht said:
B&Wnegative film in general is very tolerant to overexposure and more sensitive to underexposure,related to box speed.That's why it is wise to folloe the rule:When in doubtover expose and under develop.This way almost all negatives are salvageable.They may not make a gallery-quality print but you get some kind of a recognizable picture at least.

I actually always over expose a bit usually and reduce the development time to about 10%, My best nrgatives were all done like this.

This was a sami stand dvelopment now with HP5. 3 inversions during the 1h standing. No pre soaking and it is even now.
I used a orange filter to help make it less over exposed.

No filter on this one:

The topic was about the PanF tolerance. So thanks for the help.

Is PanF 50 by Ilford a tolerant film negative?

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