Technical Pan
 

Dear friends:
Recently I have shot many portraits and human photos using Kodak Technical
Pan film.I've heard it is a "no grain" film,and so the ISO is not given on
its box.
I have used it with my Nikon F-100 camera programmed at ISO 50.
I noticed that some photos were slightly dark and that the contrast was not
that big even when amplified.
Would someone tell me how to get the best results with this film when
shooting portraits indoors or outdoors? Any ISO number recommended? Does it
need a lot of light? Does the result have to do with the processing
procedures?
Thanks in advance.
Joao Sousa (Portugal)

Technical Pan
 

Tech Pan film originated as a film for making high contrast copies of
documents. If it is exposed at a rather high ISO (~200) and developed in a
high contrast developer, you get only pure blacks and pure whites with
nothing in between. However, photogs found that when exposed liberally (ISO
25) and processed with a very low-contrast developer (POTA) it could produce
very fine-grained negs that produced an image of near-normal gray scale.

IMO, Tech Pan is probably one of the best ever portrait films. Its extended
red sensitivity gives a brightness and smoothness to skin tones that no
other film can match. I have found that POTA developers that use highly
diluted Metol leave a lot to be desired. PPD based developers are
notoriously low contrast and add a degree of softness that I think works
superbly with Tech Pan. The only readily available PPD based devs available
today are the C41 devs used in every film lab in the world. Yes, C41 is a
color process and Tech Pan is a B&W film, but that doesn't matter. I shoot
TP at EI64 and develop in C41 dev for 8 mins at 68F with normal agitation
(none of those minimal agitation techniques are necessary with C41 dev).
After development, the rest of the process is the same as conventional B&W
(stop, fix, wash). Do not use the bleach portion of the C41 process, use
just the developer.

KB




"Joao Pedro Sousa" wrote in message
...
Dear friends:
Recently I have shot many portraits and human photos using Kodak Technical
Pan film.I've heard it is a "no grain" film,and so the ISO is not given on
its box.
I have used it with my Nikon F-100 camera programmed at ISO 50.
I noticed that some photos were slightly dark and that the contrast was
not
that big even when amplified.
Would someone tell me how to get the best results with this film when
shooting portraits indoors or outdoors? Any ISO number recommended? Does
it
need a lot of light? Does the result have to do with the processing
procedures?
Thanks in advance.
Joao Sousa (Portugal)

Technical Pan
 

Most people use Technical Pan at an EI of about 25 - 32. (Yes, it needs
light.)Some experimentation is needed to find out what is right for your
camera, processing, and style. Several developers can be used to get
continuous tone negatives. Kodak recommends Technidol, which is similar to
(but not the same as) POTA. C-41 developer (followed by black and white
stop bath and fixer) is said to be excellent as well. Rodinal at a dilution
of 1:300 for 12 - 15 minutes has recently been recommended. Even highly
diluted HC-110 works decently.

"Joao Pedro Sousa" wrote in message
...
Dear friends:
Recently I have shot many portraits and human photos using Kodak Technical
Pan film.I've heard it is a "no grain" film,and so the ISO is not given on
its box.
I have used it with my Nikon F-100 camera programmed at ISO 50.
I noticed that some photos were slightly dark and that the contrast was
not
that big even when amplified.
Would someone tell me how to get the best results with this film when
shooting portraits indoors or outdoors? Any ISO number recommended? Does
it
need a lot of light? Does the result have to do with the processing
procedures?
Thanks in advance.
Joao Sousa (Portugal)