In bright contrasty light i always had difficulty controlling the contrast of Pan F.
I have only used Pan-F once in recent years. On a gloomy overcast day, I had great results (all tripod-mounted, of course):
https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2021/03/another-film-treasure-ilford-pan-f-plus.html
When I finally use up the remainder of my 120 Panatomic-X, I'll probably shift to Acros or Tmax 100, but Pan-F is an option. I'm glad they make it.
I think it came in bags as well, did it not? I revived an old thread on this developer.
Mark. Since FP4 is the closest thing to Plus X, how would you proceed to get that look out of FP4?
Curious. Would I get the same curve using DK-50 and HP5+ too? This might be my solution for killing two birds with one stone.
So much sturm und drang about film, when the real loss is papers. Everything today is full of OBAs, excessively shiny and coated on one single base from Schoeller. Anyone wishing to recapture the superior image characteristics of last century would do better to lobby Hahnemuhle rather than wasting their time fantasizing about Kodak.
Some of us don't use gel silver papers (I haven't since I got into Alt printing 16 years ago). By the way, I use Hahemuhle PR for alt printing
Courtesy of a contact I have in the film industry:
Essentially, all black and white films since the very early days of film manufacture are “two-emulsion”, or more, films. In order to obtain films with speeds fast enough for indoor photography, films required multiple sized grains and for a film to become panchromatic, that meant that grains of different sizes would require dying to record red, green or blue light. Each of those dyed grain “sets”, in their own emulsion could then be mixed into one large emulsion to coat or split up to coat in several layers.
Another means of making a “two-emulsion” black and white film would be to split the grain sizes into small to mid-sized and mid-sized to large each set to its own emulsion, and mixing all three dyed silver grains together for a slow-to-mid and a mid-to-fast emulsion. All panchromatic black and white films manufactured for still film photography have been manufactured like this for a very long time, perhaps 40 years or more.
Why?
Separating the grain sizes gives the advantage for the film manufacture to better control the film speed when the emulsions are made, and also when they are coated. Light absorbing dyes can be added to optimize a specific region of the DlogE curve’s speed by dying the specific emulsion, which will lead to better consistency and linearity in the product. These are tools that the manufacturer would not have if all the speeds were coated “all as one”.
And yes, due to their physical characteristics, the emulsion components with different speeds are usually coated one on top of the other.
Thanks for the info on 120 - I don't recall ever using it in that format, but certainly used it in 127, 620 and 616.
Which alternative printing process(es) do you use that reveal(s) subtle differences in film characteristic curves?
I don't think Kodak plans to produce PlusX again. Kodak's continued price hike leads to a slow decline in volume sales in favour of Ilford. Tankfully Ilford continues to offer a complete and wide range of product at a reasonable price. The recent availability of Kentmere in 120 format is a wise and forward-looking choice from Ilford. I see a continued decline in Kodak business...
Whether there is a decline in business or not, historically companies have not reintroduced the greats of the past (yes i remember Acros ll) I'd say there's a snowball's chance in the hot place of seeing Panatomic X again. On a realistic note, yes there has been an upsurge in film use, but not to the level of the pre-digital era. Azo, Portiga, Brilliant (Boespflug & Guiilemot), Forte, Pan X, Verichrome Pan, Agfapan 25, Agfa MCC-110, et al, sadly gone the way of the dodo.....
I never used Pan F, Panatomic X and have only shot a few rolls of Plus X.
I think Plus-X may come back because it fills in a gap in Kodaks line. Unless they start marketing Double X to fill that gap which is fine by me too.
One can hope.
One can hope.
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