the tricky Retropan 320

Dusty Negative · Mar 10, 2022

Anselm Green said:
I am aware this is an old thread so I’m coming in quite late. I hope you had a lot of success since; like myself I only know of a handful of photographers who use this peculiar film as their film of choice. I would say from my experience this is an ideal film for a gentle return to pictorialism. Retropan Portraits as well as still life or landscapes can embrace and reflect a lot of mood, with the right light you can achieve this dreaminess/ I think I just made up that word.
For me it is the film that allows me to express myself as well as act as medium for the way I see the world; because of my eyesight problem regarding colour processing I mainly turn to 4x5 bw , sometime ago I could best achieve the retro look on MF and 35mm which is visibly grainy, but I think was since discontinued.

Your examples are nice, as far as I can tell but quite straight cut, /from early days of your experience and for what you chose as subjects you could have used say Fomapan 400 with similarly satisfying results.

this is a soft film that if metered mainly at 320 and processed in retro foma developer can give you very satisfying results in terms of capturing mood and atmosphere. Prints best on baryta again by foma. All very affordable inviting for a lot of experimenting.

I'm glad you bumped this thread. I've been experimenting with it recently and have come upon a truly exciting combo (for me). I actually push this film, shooting at 640EI and developing 1.5x in HC-110 dilution B. This pushes the contrast a bit, and allows me keep that grain a bit more isolated where I want it, namely in the shadows and highlights, and much less so in the midtones, where I do not. This fits my shooting style perfectly, and I haven't been able to replicate this look with other Fomapan films.

Horses for courses, of course, but I really love this film.

Auer · Mar 10, 2022

I like the 320 too, This is from a Konishiroku Pearl II, HC-110 B

flavio81 · Mar 10, 2022

antonio_b said:
I did read a bit through some older threats about Foma Retropan

Yes, this is a violent forum. However, we love each other.

Foma Retropan 320 looks me like a higher speed film than 320. That is, that people are pulling this film on actual usage.

pentaxuser · Mar 10, 2022

It seems to have quite a range of usable EIs especially if its real ISO is about 200

pentaxuser

Auer · Mar 10, 2022

Ive shot it a 640 too, this one from a Pentax 645N, HC110 B:

the tricky Retropan 320

Dusty Negative

Auer

flavio81

pentaxuser

Auer

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency