Retropan-320 in D-23 (120 roll)

removedacct2 · Apr 11, 2023

I took a roll of Retropan-320 on a Horseman 985, 6x9 back, in order to take different kind of pictures outdoors, and see how it goes developed with D-23.
There's no data on Massive Dev Chart for Retropan-320 with D-23. I always developed with Foma own developer Retrodev or HC-110 dilution 1+63. But then I was curious about D-23 that I use otherwise with high contrast sheet film but recently was playing with it on small format.
Unfortunately I wasn't cautious and ruined almost all the roll because I forgot the lens inside the camera had the rear cap on , which I noticed only when changing lens after shot #6. It was getting dark anyway to I went back home and took two pictures indoors.

This is metered at iso-320, Topcor-150mm, f5.6, at 1/8 so a little bit of shake I guess.
I developed in replenished D-23 10 mn, 1mn constant agitation, then 5s every 30s, then 10mn constant agitation in 10% borax solution.
I inverted with the virtual gradation BW profiles of ColorPerfect, they emulate in software paper grades 00 to 5. Here i had to "print" to grade 4 to get it correct.
Hopefully I will have more time this week to take a variety of outdoors pictures for further testing.

bedrof · Apr 13, 2023

Surprised to see Mongolian and Uzbek traditional headwear
I developed few rolls of 120 Retropan in Adonal, the result looked nice.

removedacct2 · Apr 13, 2023

bedrof said:
Surprised to see Mongolian and Uzbek traditional headwear

well on last picture, the white hat was bought in Almaty, the black tubeteika I bough in Khiva I think. I have couple foldable uzbek doppa too. I had been traveling and staying long in Kazakhstan and on Pamir trakt + Silk Road wanderings. Sometime I had a kazakh kazakhstanian girlfriend also....
By car from Oslo region it's quite straightforward: 5hrs to Stockholm, 8hrs ferry daytime to Åbo/Turku, then night and half next day to Tver, there rest afternoon and drive night to get through MKAD quietly hopefully and exit into Ryazan road, to Samara then Orenburg, so enter KZ at Aktobe. Etc. After Uzbekistan, back via Nukus and Atyrau to Astrakhan.

bedrof said:
I developed few rolls of 120 Retropan in Adonal, the result looked nice.

I once developed in Adonal/Rodinal too. Now that I have lot of metol, I experiment with it, often with a 2nd bath in borax.

removedacct2 · Apr 15, 2023

more Retropan-320 in replenish D-23 + borax. This time 12 mn in D-23.

(camera: Moskva-5 )

Andrew O'Neill · Apr 15, 2023

I initially tried this film because of its slightly extended red sensitivity. I did not like it at box speed but... I found it to be at its best at EI 200, D-23 1+1, or Xtol-R. Reciprocity is a bit on the long side, though.

removedacct2 · Apr 16, 2023

Andrew O'Neill said:
I found it to be at its best at EI 200, D-23 1+1, or Xtol-R. Reciprocity is a bit on the long side, though.

yes all Foma films have very long reciprocity. I have used Retropan more often pushed (to 1250) than pulled a bit, have often wanted to try it at 200 but was unlucky each time with weather....
Will soon try 1+1 D-23, by now I am trying to find if the 2nd bath in borax has a noticeable effect on grain...

Don_ih · Apr 16, 2023

As an aside, have they stopped manufacturing this film in 35mm?

removedacct2 · Apr 16, 2023

Don Heisz said:
As an aside, have they stopped manufacturing this film in 35mm?

yes they have.
We are lucky in Norway to have a local importer/reseller who is himself a Czech (website fomafoto.no). I asked him and he confirmed Foma stopped manufacturing in 35mm. You have to try luck at resellers who still have stock.

Don_ih · Apr 16, 2023

antonio_b said:
Foma stopped manufacturing in 35mm

Thanks - that's what I thought. It's better as a sheet film, anyway. I think I still have a few rolls of 35mm frozen. I just recently used my last 4x5 sheet and noticed no 35mm being sold. That made me wonder if they were still manufacturing it at all - if the large format would be old stock being sold off. But it makes sense to stop making it in 35mm - it's really better as a larger format film.

albireo · Apr 16, 2023

Don Heisz said:
it's really better as a larger format film.

It's gorgeous as a 120 film too. Pretty unique 'pictorial' rendition and spectral response.

I find it really needs to be exposed/developed exactly as specified by the manufacturer. It looks terrible in Rodinal, ID11 etc, and looks especially bad when overdeveloped.

I use it a lot in its dedicated Foma Retro developer - Stock 20C, 4 minutes, box speed.

Don_ih · Apr 17, 2023

albireo said:
looks especially bad when overdeveloped

I agree - and it's very easy to overdevelop.
I only ever tried one roll of 120 - and I'm pretty sure I ended up with too-thin negatives, so I couldn't assess it.

pentaxuser · Apr 17, 2023

Yes it did seem to be a relatively short-lived film It does seem to have a different look from other Foma stocks It "suffers" or not depending on your taste as a more open but less contrasty film so maybe was not what users expected from a Foma film so its sales suffered.

It's a bit like the usual comparison between HP5+ and Tri-X where most users and YouTube testers conclude that HP5+ has more open shadows but lower contrast

However others say that the two can be made to look almost identical with alterations to development

pentaxuser

bedrof · Apr 17, 2023

antonio_b said:
well on last picture, the white hat was bought in Almaty, the black tubeteika I bough in Khiva I think. I have couple foldable uzbek doppa too. I had been traveling and staying long in Kazakhstan and on Pamir trakt + Silk Road wanderings. Sometime I had a kazakh kazakhstanian girlfriend also....
By car from Oslo region it's quite straightforward: 5hrs to Stockholm, 8hrs ferry daytime to Åbo/Turku, then night and half next day to Tver, there rest afternoon and drive night to get through MKAD quietly hopefully and exit into Ryazan road, to Samara then Orenburg, so enter KZ at Aktobe. Etc. After Uzbekistan, back via Nukus and Atyrau to Astrakhan.

Oh God that sounds like a really long drive

removedacct2 · Apr 23, 2023

bedrof said:
that sounds like a really long drive

yes of course, Pamir + Silk Road with a minimum of stops and local exploration requires like 4 weeks. Here a map of last travel.
KZ steppe after Orenburg is really looong. The high Pamir plateau is magical under clear sky. The road there and along Afghanistan can be very bad so slower ride and may be good to have extra shock absorbers and springs in the trunk.... Ancient timurid cities are gems. I spend a night at friends in Balashikha outside MSK, then a night in Samara, next day in Aktobe, on the way back from Astrakhan a night in Tambov, then a night in Tver, next night on board the Åbo-Stockholm ferry. We had planned Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, as it is also an architecturally significant timurid city but lack of time.

so, Retropan in D23....
I took some 4x5 sheets and three successive shots. Here to the left replenished D23 + 10' in 10% borax solution, to the right without borax bath:

then a 3rd sheet I did something totally different. I metered at 200 iso, and developed 2'30" in D-19:

Retropan-320 in D-23 (120 roll)

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