JandC Micro/Kodak Imagelink film

[JBrunner]

Anybody here have experience with this?


http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=206

 

[htmlguru4242]

I do not have personal experience, though I have heard about, read about and seen results from this film.

It's a bit tricky, but the results are really nice.

It is a crystal - clear base, super fine-grain microfilm that has ordinarily high contrast, though this can be lowered with special development.

J&C has the SPUR developer, which works, though it is expensive. Some people use dilute HC-110, and Donald Qualls (on this forum), has reported and posted some excellent results using his "Caffenol LC" (coffee) developer.

Most people I've rate the film somewhere between ISO 12 and 64, depending on preference and developing procedures.

Those who have actually used this film have better information than I do ...

 

[jim appleyard]

It's similar to Techpan then?

 

[htmlguru4242]

Yes, similar to Tech Pan, except it lacks the extended red sensitivity. (It is panchromatic, I believe.)

 

[avandesande]

a shame it doesn't come in 120

 

[htmlguru4242]

It doesn't come in 120 from J&C, though I believe that it can be ordered from Kodak in a bunch of widths as a roll. Kodak sells it in many different widths, and I believe that it comes in either 120 or something very close to it (I'm pretty sure that they have 70mm)

So you could cut a roll down, tape it to a paper backing and roll it up into a 120 spool ...

 

[Donald Qualls]

I've used Imagelink HQ microfilm in 16 mm. The best developers I found for it, without having the chemicals to mix stuff like H&W Control, were either Diafine with Bath A diluted 1:50, or Caffenol LC, though neither really give excellent shadow detail at EI 50; I'd be inclined to expose at EI 25 and process in high dilution HC-110 if I use some more of it (I've got about 90 feet still lying around), or the Caffenol LC+C that I've concocted since leaving the Imagelink behind. Bottom line for me was that the stuff is too slow for Minolta 16 cameras, which are hard to hold steady at slow shutters and get soft at wide lens openings.

The image quality is excellent if you get a developer it likes -- as suggested, it's a great deal like Tech Pan for resolution and tonality.

I've also used Copex Rapid; IMO it's a better film for my use because it's about a stop faster than Imagelink HQ, but many complain that it doesn't handle skin tones well, which I take to mean they don't like the curve shape; perhaps the low contrast processing that lets it develop a pictorial gray scale compresses the mid tones too much.

I'm looking forward to trying the J&C branded bulk-roll microfilm when it becomes available; in 35 mm, I've got a couple lenses fast enough to make EI 25 reasonable to use, as well as better flash options.