Pushing Ilford Pan 400 and Rollei RPX 400

Arcadia4 said:

Official distribution is price sensitive markets, e.g eastern europe, some counties in asia and south america. Used to be hard to get in UK for this reason with no more than a couple of suppliers but seems stocked in few more places now.

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While Ilford/Harman cannot prevent a retailer stocking it, The Ilford Pan 100 and Pan 400 films aren't available in UK, USA or Western Europe via the usual distribution channels for Ilford and Kentmere films. In the past, I believe retailers were discouraged from stocking it but there seem to be a few more offering Ilford Pan 100 and 400 these days.

I'm going to try pushing some ilford Pan 400 to 1600 and beyond later in the year, after my HP5+ runs out.

Agulliver said:

While Ilford/Harman cannot prevent a retailer stocking it, The Ilford Pan 100 and Pan 400 films aren't available in UK, USA or Western Europe via the usual distribution channels for Ilford and Kentmere films. In the past, I believe retailers were discouraged from stocking it but there seem to be a few more offering Ilford Pan 100 and 400 these days.

I'm going to try pushing some ilford Pan 400 to 1600 and beyond later in the year, after my HP5+ runs out.

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If I recall correctly a few years ago Firstcall Photographic, a U.K. based major retailer, was selling Ilford Pan but as you say it was unlikely that it was being supplied directly from Ilford.

On either the first tour in 2006 or the second in 2008 Simon Galley when he was showing us round the warehouse was asked about Pan film as there was racks full of it and it prompted a question. All he said was that it was not destined for the U.K. market but didn't want to be drawn into a detailed conversation about it.

pentaxuser

Paul Verizzo said:

"Funny" this pops up a few days ago.

I was just inventorying my films, having not been doing darkroom work for at least six years. And what do I find, but one roll of Harman Pan 400! I've no idea where I got it, but it is at least six years old. And the expiration is still a year out in 2023! I was floored.

Then as noted here, probably made for hot climates.

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Hi Paul,
There are two Pan400 films:
The original one by Ilford, and the one made by Harman (without the word Ilford on it). The Harman one was called Kentmere400 for many years, and then, a few years ago, it was renamed Pan400.
Only the first one, by Ilford, is made for below optimal conditions.

pentaxuser said:

If I recall correctly a few years ago Firstcall Photographic, a U.K. based major retailer, was selling Ilford Pan but as you say it was unlikely that it was being supplied directly from Ilford.

On either the first tour in 2006 or the second in 2008 Simon Galley when he was showing us round the warehouse was asked about Pan film as there was racks full of it and it prompted a question. All he said was that it was not destined for the U.K. market but didn't want to be drawn into a detailed conversation about it.

pentaxuser

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I may have got a few rolls of Ilford Pan 400 from Firstcall around 15 yeas ago. I do remember it being in their catalogue and I tried it to see if it was appreciably inferior to HP5+ or Tri-X. I recall it being perfectly good at box speed but I never tried pushing it back then.

Agulliver said:

I may have got a few rolls of Ilford Pan 400 from Firstcall around 15 yeas ago. I do remember it being in their catalogue and I tried it to see if it was appreciably inferior to HP5+ or Tri-X. I recall it being perfectly good at box speed but I never tried pushing it back then.

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Thanks. Not wishing to start another war on TMax prices as one already exists but I recall FirstCall selling 35mm TMax film at very reasonable prices as well. It wasn't labelled TMax as such but it was clear from Firstcall's write-up that it was. Clearly Firstcall had ordered a mass of bulk rolls of TMax and had then put it into cassettes It was much cheaper than labelled TMax . It has now been many years since I saw that stuff. Maybe Kodak warned FirstCall off for doing it

I am not talking about the heyday of Kodak when econs of scale applied. This was probably only about 10-12 years ago. Then people wonder why I am a little cynical about Kodak pricing over its bulk v cassette and how little it apparently can do about prices

pentaxuser