The Panalure Era

Iskra 2 · Feb 21, 2007

I skipped the Panalure printing era but wondered if it produced any noteworthy prints from C-41 type negatives? Do the new B&W C-41 films compare with real silver B&w films? Thanks. Regards.

TheFlyingCamera · Feb 21, 2007

I've shot a lot of the Kodak T400CN b/w film, and it can produce wonderful prints, at sizes you wouldn't expect for a given format (I can make sharp and nearly grainless 12x18 prints from 35mm negs with it). There's one trick to it to get those results - shoot it about two stops over. I rate the T400CN at 100 when shooting. You get good contrast, and razor sharp negs, but they're also dense. Printing times for traditional b/w negs for me are somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 seconds for the base exposure. My T400CN negs are upward of 1 minute. This holds true when printing on VC fiber paper. Another tip - while I normally use both the magenta and yellow filters on my dichro head to adjust contrast with VC papers, when printing a chromogenic neg like T400CN, I use the Magenta or the Yellow alone to adjust.

DKT · Feb 21, 2007

well, panalure was used for making b/w prints from color negs. it worked really well for that one purpose, compared to printing a color neg on regular b/w paper. the panalure prints weren't exactly "great" b/w prints though, most of the time. they had kind of a weird tonality to them, almost smooth in a way, and it was often hard to get the contrast right. the paper was sold in several grades --low, medium & high. in use, the way you controlled contrast beyond that was by adding cyan filtration on a color head (gave a little more contrast) or by flashing the paper to lower the contrast. you had to use in the dark, as well, which was a pain for trays, but I always used it in a roller transport machine, so it was just like using color paper really. it was a lab product really, not a surprise that it's no longer around, but there's nothing really like it on the market anymore either.

Photo Engineer · Feb 21, 2007

I've been thinking that it would not be too hard to make a pan sensitive Azo type paper for contact printing LF negatives. It is doable, I'm just wondering if it is worth the bother.

PE

fparnold · Feb 21, 2007

PE,

It would be interesting for that purpose, but I could see it being used as a base for modern Calotypes instead. Get the paper negative effects without getting the blue-only sensitivity wierdness of tones.

PHOTOTONE · Feb 21, 2007

Believe me, I lived thru the Panalure era, and how. In the late 1960's, early 1970's, I worked in the b/w lab of a wedding photographer who shot all his engagement and Bridal portraits on color negative film, and it was my task to make a Panalure print of each and every exposure he shot. All 5x7's. This was on single weight fibre Panalure paper. Only one grade at that time. It worked quite well, good tones, if the negative was properly exposed. Really its intended use was for making b/w prints for newspaper reproduction of engagements and bridals. With a good negative, you could not tell that the print was not made from a b/w negative. Oh, the hundreds of prints I used to have to wash in a big floor mounted Drum washer, and then soak in Pakosol and put them on the big floor-mounted Pako drum dryer..I can still hear them sizzle now as they hit the drum. This was glossy, before RC. Gloss used to be pretty good. Key here is fresh paper, and using the dryer a lot, kept the highly polished drum in good shape.

DKT · Feb 21, 2007

most of the time that I used panalure, I was printing other people's negs. I've never really shot that much color neg, since for work we've always been heavy into chromes. when i used panalure (and we still have a couple of hundred sheets left in the fridge), I was printing basically "crap" negs from the outside world. there's really no way to get a good, or even halfway decent b/w print of a color neg on regular paper compared to panalure. of course, there *will* be those who say it can be done on mg IV or whatever, but panalure was the thing to use. ymmv, of course, since it's not around anymore.

otoh--those fiber based panalure prints Phototone describes? they outlived the color negs for sure.

PHOTOTONE · Feb 21, 2007

DKT said:
otoh--those fiber based panalure prints Phototone describes? they outlived the color negs for sure.

I think the color negs are probably OK, but in practical fact, worthless, as the Photographer is out of business, retired, etc. It would be the old C prints that would be faced... pre RC color paper.

nworth · Feb 22, 2007

I used Panalure from time to time to make black and white prints from color megatives. A few of the prints came out very well, but mostly it was a ho-hum paper. It was similar to Medalist, but did not seem to have quite the tonal range of Medalist.

Woolliscroft · Feb 22, 2007

I used to use a lot of Panalure maybe 5-6 100 sheet boxes a year, and miss its passing very much. You can just about print col negs on normal B&W paper, but it's not the same and it is also a lot more difficult to use filtration in the way you would on camera with B&W film to darken skys etc. I still have a bit in the freezer, but have to ration it now. There was a Chinese version for a while, which was OK, if not as good, but that has gone as well now. I often have to use colour film, but also need archival images and used Panalure for that. I also used it as a quick, cheap way to contact print col films. How about it Ilford?

David.

Simon R Galley · Feb 22, 2007

Dear David,

We have looked at it, its possible to do but the market is very, very small and the scanner to inkjet model makes it even smaller. We also had hopes for a low cost R&D project from a product we make for laser exposure, but the real killer would be selling it into retailers, too specialist, too expensive, too small in sales volume.

So its a no I am afraid

Regards

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN tecchnology Limited :

Iskra 2 · Feb 22, 2007

Thanks for all the info! Think I'll just rescan the old color negatives of interest and use the inkjet. I was considering picking up some Panalure but doesn't seem to be worth the effort for not too distinctive prints.

Kodak T400CN sounds interesting.

Regards.

Woolliscroft · Feb 24, 2007

Simon R Galley said:
Dear David,

We have looked at it, its possible to do but the market is very, very small and the scanner to inkjet model makes it even smaller. We also had hopes for a low cost R&D project from a product we make for laser exposure, but the real killer would be selling it into retailers, too specialist, too expensive, too small in sales volume.

So its a no I am afraid

Regards

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN tecchnology Limited :

I can understand that. Do you have any recommendations for filtration to get the best results from col negs onto your normal multigrade papers? I use a Magnifax 4 with col head.

David.

The Panalure Era

Membership Council

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency