Kodak Pan 2484

I have been offered several rolls of this film. My investigations

tell me it is a high-speed (2000 asa) emulsion on an Estar-AH base

in 70mm width. What I've been offered is supposedly 35mm. Is this

right or is my supplier incorrect?

I used this film in High School, along with 2475. It is a high speed film and if I remember correctly it also has extended red sensitivity. Don't try to tear the film with your fingers. The Estar base is incredibly strong. A scissors would be better.

 

The problem with this film is that I don't know when it was last made. As we know, fast films do not age as well as slower films. Earlier this year I read a posting somewhere on the internet which claimed that either 2484 or 2475 was still in production but that you needed some kind of Government contract number to order it from Kodak. I have no idea whether this is true or whether the film is still available. I remember getting 2475 in 35mm cartridges but I think 2484 may have been available only in bulk rolls. In any case, 2484 is very grainy stuff and apart from some different spectral sensitivity I don't know whether it would be considered as good as T-MAX P3200 or Ilford Delta 3200. These newer film did not yet exist in the early 1970s. Does your supplier say that this is fresh film?

Supplier may have been too generous a term. It's a private individual who says he has had this in storage in his basement for 15+ years.

I think 2484 was, when fresh, disappointing by comparison to 2475 (unless you were a police photographer).

 

2475 was treasured for tonal scale and grain. Arty types often rated it at 800 or less, typically processing in D19, but it could reasonably be rated at maybe 2400. In very low light its extremely long tonal scale was a big advantage Vs pushed TriX at the same rating. However its grain was undesirable for surveillance and 2484 et al were better in every respect for that purpose.

 

2484 had much less character, more speed. There were several other emulsions along this line with various different estar base densities...vague memory.

For just plain ol' interesting grainy pictures even 1475 wasn't as nice as the Kodak Royal-X Pan Recording that was marketed before them, on a standard base. On other problem with the Estar base was that it was a THIN base. A 100 ft. spool used in recording cameras held 125 feet of the thin base - handy for a surveilance situation but sometimes a problem in normal cameras using high speed lenses for ordinary low light photography. The thin base just has too much room in standard 35mm cameras and doesn't always stay exactly where your focus point is.

 

Back in 1962 Royal-X Pan Recording gave a useable speed of 3200 with good shadow detail at 3200 using the then new Acufine. Today's latest high speed films, while having slightly finer grain, still seem to peak out at 3200 if you want any semblance of good shadow detail. I suppose that that must be about the speed limit of silver based emulsions, or Kodak would have found it in the last 40+ years. Or Ilford, or Agfa, or somebody...

 

As for your question, yes, 2484 was made in 35mm.

Looking in a just-acquired copy of Kodak Publication P-29, "Kodak 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm Films", April 1970, Kodak 2484 Pan has normal red sensitivity, not extended. At least in this publication, it was available only in 16mm and 35mm. But the sort of people who bought this sort of film (scientists, spies, military) were perfectly willing to buy an entire master roll, and have Kodak custom finish it to whatever format they needed.

 

It is indeed rated at ASA 2000.

 

But it didn't come in 35mm cassettes, so it never was as accessible as 2475 Recording.

<p>I used this c.1970 for little theatre productions. It was the fastest thing around. I recall shooting it at ASA 5000 but I don't remember what I used to develop it. I believe it was intended for recording oscilliscope traces so there may not have been much interest in having the results look pretty;-) I did not have priority seating so I had to use a 400mm f/6.3 lens propped up on my knees to zero in on individual performers. I think it used a strange base that was not entirely clear. It's main use was to capture things you could not get otherwise and it did that well in its day. But image quality was not up to Anscochrome 500, it's color counterpart;-) There were articles in the photo magazines of that era about using this stuff (and 2475) which you might be able to track down. With digital cameras offering speeds around 51,200 in color this seems obsolete for picture taking. If you want weird grain effects you could experiment -- at random as who else knows what weird effects would appeal to you;-) </p>