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#1
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
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 |
#2
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
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. It's always a subjective matter, but for what it's worth, I was pleased with the results I got using Ilford's own ID-11 and DD-X developers with this film. I don't think I'd try and develop it in anything like Rodinal. |
#3
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
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 |
#4
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:09:56 +0100, Andrew Price
wrote: 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. It's always a subjective matter, but for what it's worth, I was pleased with the results I got using Ilford's own ID-11 and DD-X developers with this film. I don't think I'd try and develop it in anything like Rodinal. Why? (honest question, not a troll). Vater Kodak |
#5
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Quote:
What subject matter will you be photographing? Are you aware that 20x24 inch photographic papers are usually the largest size readily available? Papers start to become more cumbersome to handle when the sheets are on the large side. Are you aware that because of the slow speed of the film that you will need to use a good tripod and probably a shutter release cable to ensure optimum sharpness , so not the best choice for low light subjects unless they are still subjects. (Deliberate blurring of motion being an exception.) You also need to be meticulous at the photographing stage with composition, focusing, exposure etc using a high quality lens preferably close to it`s optimum working aperture. The developer you use can have a significant effect too, a standard fine grain developer like D-76 and ID11 are formulated keep grain as fine as practicable without loss of speed yield. Developers like Acutol and Neofin are designed to enhance the appearance of sharpness but can make the grain a little more prominent and extra fine grain developers like Microdol-X and Perceptol keep the grain as fine as practicable provided you don`t mind some loss of film speed. Pan F Plus is a very capable film if used right, but not really a general purpose one. I don`t quite understand what you mean by tonal latitude. You mention portraiture, slow ultra fine grain films aren`t usually the best choice for female portraits, if the lady has a skin imperfection then films of this type will reveal every blemish, pore and wrinkle. Fine though for maximum resolution. |
#6
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
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 I get good results using Ilfotex DD-X. You can also use the same developer for when you want to try ISO 25. Since you are getting 10 rolls, you might want to try a few at ISO 25, though ISO 50 gives very nice results: http://www.allgstudio.com/gallery/automotive/MercTwo540_01.jpg shot at ISO 50 It also scans very nicely. Sometimes, depending upon scanner and software, it works better to scan as a colour transparency, then invert the results in PhotoShop. You might be able to get good 20" by 30" prints from Pan F. I am not so certain about using it for portraits, since the tones for fair skinned people are not so favourable, though that might just be my opinion. I prefer AGFA APX100 for portraits, though tough to tell how much longer that will be available. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#7
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
Try Acutol 1+19 for 7 minutes @20C/68F.
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 |
#8
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
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 Try souping it in Diafine, Pan F is closer to iso 25 thus it works well in Diafine if shot at 50 |
#9
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
i've had good results with EI 50 then rodinal -- very high contrast,
nearly no grain and EI 80 then diafine -- tames the contrast nicely, bigger grain |
#10
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Ilford Pan F plus and good developer needed.
sunbears wrote:
i've had good results with EI 50 then rodinal -- very high contrast, nearly no grain and EI 80 then diafine -- tames the contrast nicely, bigger grain I have shot Panf at 80 but that will depend more on the given light at the time. I prefer to shoot it at 50 most of the time. One of the nice things about using Diafine is I can change the iso while shooting and not have to worry about it during developing. |
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