I'm interested in seeing others' experiences on this, too. I've got a
ton of PanF in the freezer in both 35mm and 120 from stumbling into
deals here and there. Over the years, I've started the project of
testing developers on some PanF and each time, I end up not carrying
through as my initial results leave me a bit "lukewarm" about the
results. Traditional developers (D-76, FG7, etc) seem to leave a soft
edge look to things on this film and my instinct is to use slow films
when I'm trying to gain resolution for a situation. I've been getting
great results with PyroCat HD and similar formulas with semi-stand and
limited agitation routines in adding nice edge effects.

In almost all tests with PanF+, I've found a true speed closer to 25
or 32 to get reasonable shadow detail. PyroCat HD is giving me that
sort of general speed behavior on faster films (1/2 box speed or so)
and if it gave 25 or 32 with PanF+ and also gives some edge effects to
help with accutance, it might be a good "go-to" soup for PanF
applications for me. Discussing this has got me thinking about this
again and I'll post results of things that I find and will try to get
at it a bit as soon as I can.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 13:25:24 -0500, "Jimmy Martin"
wrote:

I want to try out this 50 iso B&W film and need a developer suggestion that
gives good tonal gradations.Grain & sharpnes don't matter that much. I want
to go after good tonal latitude because that seems to be the sweet spot that
rivals the synthetic look of T-grain films from Kodak. It would look nice
for portraits & some closeups and detail shots to see how a print looks
blown up 20" x 30" or bigger. The price is low at B&H so I think I'll order
10 rolls to test out.

Jimbo


Craig Schroeder
craig nospam craigschroeder com