Picked up a couple of 50 sheet boxes of Bergger Panchro 400 yesterday. Today I checked it out with a primary look.
Firstly, the box has to be about the sexiest looking film box I can remember seeing. These were not my words, but I am in complete agreement with the woman who said that as she handed me a box of this film. Whether or not it makes a difference, the colour scheme is sublime and the feel of the covering is like a quality book.
It is a dark warm brown colour with the name Bergger in half positive and half reversed out of silver. Plus there is a picture reminiscent of Ilford and their paper boxes on the outside. I can see in the future, Bergger Pancho400 boxes holding all sorts of things, (long after their original film has been gone and developed) around photographers houses.
The box itself is quite big, almost as big as Ilford 4x5 100 sheet film boxes in height, about 3mm less height. The length and width of the box, is bigger than Ilford 100 sheet boxes on both dimensions, certainly makes getting the film in and out easy.
Inside the triple layered box set, there are two plastic bags, with 25 sheets (presumably) in a side folded, wide opening bag. This certainly makes life easier to get your mitts in and pull the film out. Other manufacturers may consider this as it certainly makes it easier to get the film out and back into the plastic bag. I wont be holding my breath though.
Thankfully the Panchro 400 has a single V notch near the corner. As I use Ilford HP5+ as my fast 4x5 film, it will make things easier if I mix sheets up in a storage box when away on a trip.
I cannot say much more than that I exposed two sheets of film to a small array of Kodak step wedge grey scales, along with two Kodak colour charts. One at box speed 400 ASA the other at 200 ASA. I have no historical data on this new to me and new to the world film, so when in doubt, read the manual. The back of the film box gives a varied array of possibilities, one of which is D76 1+1 17 min at 20ºC.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I placed the film into my Jobo tank and with a temperature of 21.1ºC and 4 day old D76 at 1+1. I used 15 min 15 seconds as my time. I rotary process at the slow speed, which is 28 rpm, no pre-soak, straight into it.
Inspection of the negs on a light box with a good loupe was interesting. The negs from a normal naked eye inspection, really look good, including the one exposed at 400 ASA, which was a bit of a surprise. I half expected the 400 ASA neg to be a bit on the thin side, it wasnt, but it wasnt thick either.
The 200 ASA one was certainly better, something I expected. The grey scale was really good with all 19 steps clearly defined, whereas the 400 ASA neg lost the last couple of dark scales.
With what I now know, I would think one could pretty much use this film anywhere from 200 ASA to 400 ASA and use one developing time and get reasonably good results. My own gut feeling, which will be vindicated or not in the next couple of days, is that 320 ASA with 1/8 of stop less development is going to be close to the money for my particular requirements. Others will probably be happier with 250 ASA and either 1/8 or ¼ of a stop less development from the manufacturer suggested time.
One thing I did pick up, and I wasnt looking for it, was the emulsion having a ragged edge where it had been slid into and out of the film holder. More careful looking after noticing this, revealed that one sheet that I had run a finger over trying to find a grip to pull the pack of sheets out of the bag, had some streaks where my finger slid on the emulsion. The very edge of the emulsion on the very edge of the film, has little and I mean little, tear marks right on the edge, you need a loupe to see them.
I wondered if I had been a bit hard with this film, so I placed the two 4x5 FP4+ sheets I developed straight after doing the Bergger film onto the light box. Nary a mark, scratch or rip of the emulsion on the Ilford film. The Ilford film certainly has had a slightly harder time than the Bergger film, it has been sitting in a box after being transferred in a changing tent for a day, meaning it was able to rattle around slightly.
I cannot show any results as I print all of my negatives using an enlarger, I dont own a scanner. If anyone in Melbourne is able to scan 4x5 negatives and they wish to scan to have a look, then contact me, then either these or different Bergger negatives could be shown.
For the Australian audience, I picked this film up from Gold Street Studios, in Trentham East Victoria.
http://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au/
Cost was $134.00 AUD for 50 sheets, making it $2.68 a sheet. Not cheap, but I do feel that the importer, who is a niche player in a niche market is doing well to keep it to this price. I would hate to see what the price would be if a big player was importing this product into Australia.
If you think this Bergger film is expensive, then you can always buy Ilford HP5+ in Australia for $68.92 for 25 sheets from Vanbar, making it $2.76 a sheet which works out to be more expensive.
http://www.vanbar.com.au/catalogue/index.php?item1=FILM&item2=B&W&item3=SHEET&brand=
So for Australians who purchase sheet film locally, you can purchase this Bergger film for less than Ilford like for like film, which is a pleasant surprise that hopefully lasts.
Mick.
