Opinions on Pan F in Xtol

I'm looking for opinions about Pan F developed in Xtol. In your

opinion/experience, what EI is realistic for this combination? I'd

like a long tonal scale with lots of shadow detail and "classic"

tonality, sharp and fine grained. I know I should do my own tests (and

I will), but am looking for opinions as to what to expect. Thanks in

advance for all replies!

Beautiful! What more can I say? You can also try XTOL at 1:3 dilution. Just be sure to use at least 100 ml of stock solution if you do this or else you will have thin negatives. With the proper amount of developer, you should see a slight gain in shadow detail and nice mid tone separation without blown highlights. Grain is not a problem with any developer. I've developed this film in Rodinal at 1:50 and have made 11x14 prints from 6x6 negatives with no apparent grain.

Shoot at ISO 50 and develop for 12 minutes at 68 deg. F. with 10 seconds agitation every 60 seconds, which is the time/tem combination recommended at http://www.digitaltruth.com in the Massive Dev Chart. YMMV, but this has worked well for me.

I know you didn't ask about this, Peter, so, my apologies for drifting...

I've had good results with Rodinal for Pan F+. The film already has extremely fine grain and Rodinal won't hurt that. My first roll of Pan F+ in Rodinal 1:50 showed all the characteristics you've described as being desirable.

BTW, at least with Rodinal at 1:50 the true EI for Pan F+ appears to be closer to 25 than 50.

Kodak has a very extensive Tech Pub on their website for XTOL with development times for various contrast indexes and EI's. I would dilute at least 1:1 and maybe experiment with 1:2 or 1:3 (Kodak does not publish times for dilutions above 1:1).</p>

For a condenser enlarger, use a CI of .52 (ISO 25) in sunlight and .58 (ISO 50) in flat lighting. For a diffusion enlarger, use a CI of .58 (ISO 50) in sunlight and .65 (ISO 100) in flat lighting. Times for 120 format should be the same. As always, these are starting points and need to be customized for your processing situation.</p>

<a href=http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j109/j109TableRollFilms3.jhtml#table3>XTOL Tech Pub</A>

Peter: I use DDX instead of XTol (less mixing fuss and mess) but Pan F in ANY developer (so long as you don't overdevelop) has THE longest highlight scale I've ever seen - very sexy for caucasian skin tones and white silk (e.g.) - while retaining good separation in the midtones. 35mm looks like 4x5 as far as tonality is concerned (but not grain and sharpness, obviously).

I shoot at a half-stop under EI 50 (between 64 and 80) but that's because my scanner prefers thinner negs.

For silver prints I'd start at EI 50 and develop 10% less than 'normal' in either Xtol or DDX.<div></div>

For "normal conditions," I expose Pan F+ at EI 40 (incident metering) and develop in Xtol 1:2. Shadow detail thins out quickly with underexposure, so err on the side of overexposure if that's an issue.<P>

Example below was printed on Ilford ColdTone.<P>

<center><img src="http://mikedixonphotography.com/cindybw01.jpg"></center>