Making sense of Bergger Pancro 400

[pierods]

I just finished shooting my first roll of Bergger Pancro 400. I am trying to decide on a developer, but I cannot really make sense of the film looking on flickr, most of the photos are heavily edited.
I usually look at:

- base contrast (so for example hp5 tends to have more contrast than panf for example)
- resolution (ortho 25 > delta 3200 for example)
- grain (obvious)
- behaviour in high contrast situations
- behaviour in low contraxt situation
- results with d76
- results with Rodinal

Anybody can shed light?

 

[Paul Howell]

It is an odd film, I tired it in 35mm and found that I could no tame the grain, best results were shot at 200 and developed in MCM 100, 12m at 70 degrees F. D76 was not good at just too gainy. Did not try Rodinal, based on 76 results I would not like the gain in Rodinal. I was going to buy a box in 4X5 then it left the market. There is a Bergger developer for Pancro, maybe should have tired that as well.

 

[MsLing]

Bergger Pancro 400 H+D Curve with Replenished XTOL for 12:30 at 24C in a JOBO

For reference, and if anybody wants to discuss. I've made these exposures as carefully as I could and eliminated as many variables as I realistically could. While it is not scientific, and certainly not up to ISO or probably manufacturer standards, it is as accurate as I can make it with what I...

www.photrio.com

Here's a H-D curve. Pancro 400 is a grainful film, especially 35mm. Therefore, it's not a hi-res film, may equate to TMZ according to my experience. Due to its extremely wide latitude, Pancro can work well with different contrast statuses. I only use Xtol-R so I can't answer D-76 or Rodinal.

The first example shot with Canon 500mm prime and Pancro 400. Enlarged on a 12*10 paper, #5 filter. Image is 10inch wide. Another example is Foma 200, #1.5 filter,same size.

 

[Sanug]

I stay away after having not so good experience.

Heavy grain. Very annoying base fog. Sensitivity is more like ISO 200. It looks like a long time expired film. Low contrast in XT-3, 1+1, 18 Min. Good sharpness and anti halation.

If you look for such heavy grain, you may like Lomography Berlin Kino. Almost the same material, based on Orwo N74 or N75, but no base fog. Berlin Kino looks like the same as Pancro, but fresh.

 

[mtnbkr]

I finally finished up the last of 15 35mm rolls I bought from a member here for a great price a couple years ago. I never exposed it at 200, but it does seem to like more light. I was attracted to it by the Bergger example shots on their webpage, but I could never recreate that. By the end I was exposing it at about 320 and even then giving it a bit more light in many scenes. I only have HC-110 for the developer and found with that I had to be very careful not to overdevelop via too much agitation or too much time. The best results I could get were still moderately grainy and somewhat low contrast. I even tried prewashing as suggested by Bergger.

Now that I'm finished with what I bought, I'll not be buying it again. I get better results with just about every other film I've tried.

Chris

 

[pierods]

It is an odd film, I tired it in 35mm and found that I could no tame the grain, best results were shot at 200 and developed in MCM 100, 12m at 70 degrees F. D76 was not good at just too gainy. Did not try Rodinal, based on 76 results I would not like the gain in Rodinal. I was going to buy a box in 4X5 then it left the market. There is a Bergger developer for Pancro, maybe should have tired that as well.

Bergger Pancro 400 H+D Curve with Replenished XTOL for 12:30 at 24C in a JOBO

For reference, and if anybody wants to discuss. I've made these exposures as carefully as I could and eliminated as many variables as I realistically could. While it is not scientific, and certainly not up to ISO or probably manufacturer standards, it is as accurate as I can make it with what I...

www.photrio.com

Here's a H-D curve. Pancro 400 is a grainful film, especially 35mm. Therefore, it's not a hi-res film, may equate to TMZ according to my experience. Due to its extremely wide latitude, Pancro can work well with different contrast statuses. I only use Xtol-R so I can't answer D-76 or Rodinal.

The first example shot with Canon 500mm prime and Pancro 400. Enlarged on a 12*10 paper, #5 filter. Image is 10inch wide. Another example is Foma 200, #1.5 filter,same size.

I stay away after having not so good experience.

Heavy grain. Very annoying base fog. Sensitivity is more like ISO 200. It looks like a long time expired film. Low contrast in XT-3, 1+1, 18 Min. Good sharpness and anti halation.

If you look for such heavy grain, you may like Lomography Berlin Kino. Almost the same material, based on Orwo N74 or N75, but no base fog. Berlin Kino looks like the same as Pancro, but fresh.

I finally finished up the last of 15 35mm rolls I bought from a member here for a great price a couple years ago. I never exposed it at 200, but it does seem to like more light. I was attracted to it by the Bergger example shots on their webpage, but I could never recreate that. By the end I was exposing it at about 320 and even then giving it a bit more light in many scenes. I only have HC-110 for the developer and found with that I had to be very careful not to overdevelop via too much agitation or too much time. The best results I could get were still moderately grainy and somewhat low contrast. I even tried prewashing as suggested by Bergger.

Now that I'm finished with what I bought, I'll not be buying it again. I get better results with just about every other film I've tried.

Chris

Thanks for the info.

 

[albireo]

I just finished shooting my first roll of Bergger Pancro 400. I am trying to decide on a developer, but I cannot really make sense of the film looking on flickr, most of the photos are heavily edited.
I usually look at:

- base contrast (so for example hp5 tends to have more contrast than panf for example)
- resolution (ortho 25 > delta 3200 for example)
- grain (obvious)
- behaviour in high contrast situations
- behaviour in low contraxt situation
- results with d76
- results with Rodinal

Anybody can shed light?

I cannot shed light because I've never tried it, but I will soon. I just found it for sale again at Nordfoto and purchased 10 rolls of it.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'most of the photos are heavily edited' on Flickr? Most of the photos we see are edited in some way or form, included, and especially, wet printed ones.

I've seen plenty of great examples on Flickr to start getting a broad idea on how this film behaves. Might they be edited? Maybe so, but the point of flickr is to get a broad idea not on how that film behaves, but on how that film might look in the hands of the average practitioner. It shows you what you might get, not what you will get.

Also, there used to be a forum member here, who used it extensively, and got some beautiful results with it. Paul Barden is his name, I think he's still around but uses another nickname. Ask him, he knows what he's talking about.

Anyhow, this is the info I found in the box

I will start from the manufacturer's recommended developers' list and will use BER49 with it.

I am exposing my first roll in high contrast scenes, and I will do 9' stock BER49 at 24 C. EI will be 250.