Retropan 320. XTOL test

I've just shot my first Foma Retropan 320.
I preffer to do my own test rather than strictly following timings from any chart.
I found about XTOL stock at 24ºC, being 7 min for EI320.
I decided to always work at 20ºC, so I did my first attemp at 7:30 min, as I shot at EI 200, and wanted to underdevelop about one stop.

Time was too short, as I expected. Negative came out very thin, with strong grain.
Density range from zone II to VIII was just about 0.5.

Printing on grade 5 paper delivers nice pictures, just with a very strong grain, even at low amplification (10x15 mm, 35mm).
If anyone is interested on trying, I'd recommend a longer time.

I might continue testing this combination, and if so, I'll post the results.
I like to make several tests for film/devs, with shorter and longer times, to get an idea of how to push/pull the film. Next time I'll do a longer development.

elerion said:

I've just shot my first Foma Retropan 320.
I preffer to do my own test rather than strictly following timings from any chart.
I found about XTOL stock at 24ºC, being 7 min for EI320.
I decided to always work at 20ºC, so I did my first attemp at 7:30 min, as I shot at EI 200, and wanted to underdevelop about one stop.

Time was too short, as I expected. Negative came out very thin, with strong grain.
Density range from zone II to VIII was just about 0.5.

Printing on grade 5 paper delivers nice pictures, just with a very strong grain, even at low amplification (10x15 mm, 35mm).
If anyone is interested on trying, I'd recommend a longer time.

I might continue testing this combination, and if so, I'll post the results.
I like to make several tests for film/devs, with shorter and longer times, to get an idea of how to push/pull the film. Next time I'll do a longer development.

Click to expand...

Yes - I should shoot my roll Retropan320
first - before giving recomandation.

But I would personaly try an other type
of developer.

with regards

It sounds as if the temp conversion for 7 mins at 24C in the MDC chart may be closer to the right time of 10 mins at 20C, based on your experience. Maybe shooting at 200 does not really affect the dev time in terms of a reduction in time and the 320 times should be followed

Let us know how you get on. I am an Xtol user as well, hence my interest

pentaxuser

Me too..if possible post some pix to see
Thanks in advance!!

In Kodak's data sheet they tend to add between 2 and 3 minutes going form 24 degrees to 20, for most films.
I too am interested to see how things progress.

These three on Retropan 320 with XTOL stock at 7mins 73F
I was going of 7.5 or 8 mins at 70F but it was a bit warm when checked so I went for the 7 mins.

Strong grain is what you will see almost regardless of developer in 35mm Retropan. I have not checked for others timings but there are a number of examples from various photographers here:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/2835476@N25/

Here there are the conclusions of my second and third tests.

9.5 and 10.5 minutes. 20.5ºC. Shots at EI200 and EI320.
10.5 minutes delivered best results. EI 160.

The images came out nice to scan, and good enough for wet printing too.
The density range has grown to 0.8 between zones I and VIII (0,09 - 0,88, respectively).
Still requires a high constrat / grade paper, but as I said, prints fine, and tones are nice on gloss and velvet surfaces. But if you look at the negative, it appears very thin, almost faint, when seen against a bright light source. Nothing close to other common films I've used. It might be something characteristic of this film.

Again I use XTOL stock. And I've read many poeple say they develop using diluted XTOL for around the same time I'm doing. I supose they get thin negatives too (even thiner maybe, which I don't like). I get very good results from my personal tests so far, with a variety of films, so I'll stick with it, and next time I'll do a 12 minutes dev, and try to get negatives which print in not higher than grade 3 paper. My main concern with this is grain.

Grain is strong. Very strong. By far, much more evident than other ISO400 film like HP5. It's something you should know when you shoot retropan. And it should not stop anyone from trying or using it. Just don't do it when you are looking for a hi-res/sharp image. And I'd avoid developers such as Rodinal, which I like very much for other films.

Hope this is useful. I'll try to upload some images.