Kodak Tech Pan Discontinued

doughowk · Aug 8, 2004

With Kodak's plans for discontinueing Tech Pan, is there another fine grain, high resolution film available (possibly of microfilm type)? I'd be wary of relying on Agfa, eg Copex, as replacement.

bwfans · Aug 8, 2004

Where did you get the news?

doughowk · Aug 9, 2004

Film Discussion Forum source for info. Its not official, though, since Kodak hasn't make an announcement. The thread also mentions that they are dropping Kodachrome too.

skahde · Aug 9, 2004

doughowk said:
Film Discussion Forum source for info. Its not official, though, since Kodak hasn't make an announcement. The thread also mentions that they are dropping Kodachrome too.

Unconfirmed rumours, the kind we see every other month. Tells more about the nerves of the posters than about real discontinuance of any products.

Ignore and relax but be prepared to loose any product you like any time. This has never been any different in the past.

best

Stefan

TeetzelK · Aug 9, 2004

I hadn't heard about Tech Pan, but I'm almost positive that Kodak isn't dropping the Kodachrome film (yet), just their processing of it.

tbm · Aug 9, 2004

Gary in Kodak's professional film department confirmed to me last week that Tech Pan is, indeed, going to disappear in early 2005. Thus, this is not an "unconfirmed rumor" and does not "tell more about the nerves of the posters" as stated above. You, too, can get confirmation by going to Kodak.com, clicking on 'contact', clicking on 'professional films', and dialing the specific number and extension for the aforementioned department.

doughowk · Aug 9, 2004

Tech Pan Replacement

Since my nerves are no longer being questioned;-), could I get an answer to my original question. For those Tech Pan users, are there any recommendations for alternative films? I've used Agfa Copex in Gigabit incarnation & like the contrast, but can not find a source for just the film. Also I'm wary of relying on Agfa especially after their removal of APX100 sheet film from the market. Would Efke 25 be a suitable substitute to Tech Pan?

Helen B · Aug 9, 2004

I tried six rolls of 'Bluefire' from Frugal Photographer. It is in the same high-resolution ball park as Tech Pan, but I found the tonality to be rather weird. The shadow detail is there (I set my meter to EI 80, as recommended) but everything below mid-tone is compressed into a very long toe.

It's a film with an idiosynchratic character.

Best, Helen

Tom Hoskinson · Aug 9, 2004

doughowk said:
Since my nerves are no longer being questioned;-), could I get an answer to my original question. For those Tech Pan users, are there any recommendations for alternative films? I've used Agfa Copex in Gigabit incarnation & like the contrast, but can not find a source for just the film. Also I'm wary of relying on Agfa especially after their removal of APX100 sheet film from the market. Would Efke 25 be a suitable substitute to Tech Pan?

My answer is a qualified yes. I use both films and find the I prefer Efke 25 (developed in Pyrocat-HD)for pictorial subjects. For astrophotography and some other technical applications I still use Tech Pan.

skahde · Aug 9, 2004

tbm said:
Gary in Kodak's professional film department confirmed to me last week that Tech Pan is, indeed, going to disappear in early 2005.

You mean that Gary who earlier this year and under a different name spread the hot inside information that Agfa discontinues all roll films? Gary certainly won't mind to give us a written confirmation, no?

best

Stefan

skahde · Aug 9, 2004

doughowk said:
Since my nerves are no longer being questioned;-)

Please take my apologies if I gave you the impression I meant you. Such rumours start on photo.net every other month. At times they even hit the nail on the head. It is like the famous 1000 monkeys with their typewrites who once in a while type a poem.

Without any official first-hand info would anybody put valuable time and money on this and change to a different material (contemplating other routes is a different matter) or buy bricks of tech-pan?

best

Stefan

garryl · Aug 11, 2004

according to two posts on the Olympus Users forum, one an answer from Rochester-
the other from Kodak in Australia, Tech Pan(but not Kodachrome) will be discontinued over this year in the US. It is only in the land of Oz that Kodachrome is being
discontinued.

tomtom · Aug 11, 2004

it's not a plan - it's offical :-(

doughowk said:
With Kodak's plans for discontinueing Tech Pan, is there another fine grain, high resolution film available (possibly of microfilm type)? I'd be wary of relying on Agfa, eg Copex, as replacement.

howdy folks this my first post so please pardon me.

the discontinuance is as follows:
12/04 tp 120
4/05 tp 135-36 and bulk rolls
6/05 tp 4x5 and 8x10

the kicker is kodak is suggesting tmx as the replacement.

well, it didn't work for panatomic-x and i can't see tmx subbing for techpan either.

that's my two cent. hope it helps.

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 11, 2004

Not to worry. There are always bigger cameras.

philldresser · Aug 11, 2004

Don Kirby, who uses the film a lot, sent out this reply that he received from Kodak regarding the discontinuance of Pan F this morning

"Kodak has preannounced the discontinuance of Kodak Professional
Technical Pan Film. 120 size will be discontinued in December, 2004,
135 and long roll will be discontinued in April, 2005, and sheet sizes
will be discontinued in June, 2005. We are sorry for any inconvenience
this may cause our customers and expect that Kodak Professional T-Max
100 Film may be used as an alternative for some applications.

If you should have additional questions, please be sure to revisit our
site as we are continually adding information to enhance our support."

Phill Dresser

skahde · Aug 12, 2004

philldresser said:
Don Kirby, who uses the film a lot, sent out this reply that he received from Kodak regarding the discontinuance of Pan F this morning

"Kodak has preannounced the discontinuance of Kodak Professional
Technical Pan Film. 120 size will be discontinued in December, 2004,
135 and long roll will be discontinued in April, 2005, and sheet sizes
will be discontinued in June, 2005. We are sorry for any inconvenience
this may cause our customers and expect that Kodak Professional T-Max
100 Film may be used as an alternative for some applications.

If you should have additional questions, please be sure to revisit our
site as we are continually adding information to enhance our support."

Phill Dresser

Ok, this sounds a *lot* more reliable than the information we had so far. I never had much luck with this film but not having the option anymore is hard to swallow. Maybe I buy a brick and start a collection of discontinued films.

best

Stefan

modafoto · Aug 12, 2004

philldresser said:
Don Kirby, who uses the film a lot, sent out this reply that he received from Kodak regarding the discontinuance of Pan F this morning

Really scary that Kodak is talking 'bout discontinuing one of Ilford's films.

R.I.P. Tech Pan (I have 1 roll left...STOCK UP)

modafoto · Aug 12, 2004

New maker

Hi

I think that some other film maker will take the Tech Pan and make a good film similar to it for the freaks using special films.

Morten

philldresser · Aug 12, 2004

modafoto said:
Really scary that Kodak is talking 'bout discontinuing one of Ilford's films.

R.I.P. Tech Pan (I have 1 roll left...STOCK UP)

Hey!!!! It was nearly one in the morning when I posted so go easy

modafoto · Aug 12, 2004

philldresser said:
Hey!!!! It was nearly one in the morning when I posted so go easy

It's OK, but it gave me a shock to be announced that Pan F will be discontinued...and that Kodak would do it was even more scary.

skahde · Aug 12, 2004

Maco TP64 as replacement?

modafoto said:
Hi
I think that some other film maker will take the Tech Pan and make a good film similar to it for the freaks using special films.
Morten

Just as we talk another rumour got to my ears: Maco announced they will discontinue TP64, a film with similar characteristics (panchromatic document film which can be developed for pictorial photography).

As maco is rather small and probably did not know about the gap Tech-Pan will leave in the not so far future, they may decide otherwise if you flood their mailbox with orders instead of stocking up on Tech-Pan.

Have a look at www.mahn.net

best

Stefan

jandc · Aug 12, 2004

The Maco TP64 film was made for Maco by Efke. We are planing on having Efke produce more and importing it in the near future.

skahde · Aug 12, 2004

Here is another confirmation copied from a german forum. The news took some time to get through to us it seems.

best

Stefan

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Kodachrome again]
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 16:16:32 -0400
From: charles.s.smith@kodak.com
To: [deleted by skahde]
I have learned that we did send a letter (Aug. 1) to dealers that we will discontinue Technical Pan film. We will discontinue 120 format in December of this year; 135 and long rolls April of 2005; and sheets films in June. The letter suggests photographers use T-Max 100 as an alternative and suggests processing support.As for a reason, the volumes of Technical Pan films are declining and changes in our manufacturing processes would make it impractical to support at the low levels of today.
<<

garryl · Aug 12, 2004

I guess someone didn't pass the word around soon enough.
From the latest Photo Techniques magazine~~

Highest-Resolution B&W by Dimitri Papadimitriou
Technical Pan, a high-resolution, panchromatic film, may be the solution for B&W photographers searching for higher quality.

Tee Hee

skahde · Aug 13, 2004

Kodak Imagelink HQ better than Tech-Pan?

There may be another alternative for Kodak Tech-Pan as pointed out elsewhere:
Kodak Imagelink HQ. Maybe this film is worth trying? Anyone knows more about this film?

http://www.8x11film.com/spur/engimagelink01.html

best

Stefan

Kodak Tech Pan Discontinued

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