[pure-silver] Re: Ilford PanF 50

Mark Blackwell wrote:
> Just picked up a couple of rolls of Ilford PanF 50 and thinking back I
> don't think Ive ever used it before.  I have used just about every other
> bw film Ilford makes (except the fake C41 bw) and the partical IR stuff.

Disclaimer: I haven't use Pan F+, although I pay a lot of attention to
what people say about things and can read characteristic curves.

Pan F+ is in the same line of films as FP4+, but you already knew that.
 My recollection was that people sometimes complained about the curve
shape, and looking at the data sheets Pan F+ is a straight line right
through a 2.0 density whereas FP4+ starts to shoulder off around 1.5.
Oddly, this is not dissimilar to Delta 100 with more of a toe.  This
suggests that runaway highlights are a real danger, something I recall
being a routine complaint.  It's also considerably higher contrast when
developed according to Ilford's instructions than FP4+ is, another
common complaint.

You can work around both of these--the shoulder with a compensating
developer, the contrast with a little more exposure and a little less
development.

As far as XP2 goes, I have to admit to liking the film's results,
although it's murder to get people to print it properly on color film.
Mostly I bought it when I was going to be away from my darkroom for an
extended period and wanted to shoot B&W film, and it's been quite good
to me for that.  I certainly like it a lot more than T400CN, another C41
B&W film I've shot a lot of.

Graham

Other related posts: