Ilford Pan-F and Microphen

[neil_rankin1]

I've been trying out Ilford Pan-F a bit lately and find it to be a

challenging film. High contrast, no grain and fairly sharp. But I

would actually like to lessen the contrast a bit. What I've gotten

with ID-11 is almost too much. So I'm going to give Microphen a try

with it tomorrow. Anyone out ther have experience with this combo? Any

thoughts? Thanks.

[lex_jenkins]

Y'know, Neil, I've experimented with Pan F+ and found it, as you've noted, to be a difficult film. I finally got some really good results developing it in Diafine.

 

But for some reason it never occurred to me to try it in Microphen. I can say that Microphen is excellent for taming the quirks of TMX, another difficult film.

 

Microphen is an effective speed enhancing developer so you should be able to get the full nominal ISO 50 speed, which is otherwise difficult to reach with many developers.

 

When I'm anticipating contrast problems (such as when pushing TMY or Tri-X to 1600 for theatre photography) I'll agitate in Microphen no more often than at one minute intervals and, in some cases, up to three minute intervals (if I happen to be stuck shooting a roll of pushed film in bright sunlight).

 

I prefer Microphen as stock solution for pushing but will occasionally use it at 1+1, especially for normally exposed film.

[spider_.]

Here is Pan F+ in Kodak T-Max developer.

 

<img src="http://fototime.com/{77B0CCEE-E6FA-4B52-9116-4E8186F40298}/

picture.JPG">

[spider_.]

More Pan F+ and T-Max developer.

 

<img src="http://fototime.com/{0E5DA2DB-236E-4C18-AAE0-C1159E560AA8}/

picture.JPG"

[magumi]

Here's a formula suggested by a friend: Pan-F in ID-11 1+3, 15 minutes: 1st - 5th minute three agitations per minute, 6.30 - 11.00 2 agitations per 90 seconds and 13th minute one agitation.

[neil_rankin1]

Very cool. Love the police car. I'll have to try the T-Max developer if I'm not satisfied with the Microphen. Microphen looked amazing with the portrait I shot with HP5 at 800 last weekend. I don't have a scanner, but I'll post my findings here. Thanks so much.

[spider_.]

Another Pan F+ and T-Max developer. I like the tonality of this combination. Leica M6,

Summicron 50.

 

<img src="http://fototime.com/{7E04F1F7-A3F3-4E85-9257-29B492DDD9F3}/

picture.JPG">

[Mike Gammill]

Spider- what time and dilution did you use for Pan F+ in TMAX developer? Nice results. I can get similar results in Paterson FX-39, but only at an E.I. of 25.

[john_finch]

Spider. Have you tried DDX with Panf+ and if so what did you think?

[spider_.]

Yikes... I made a mistake. Checking my notes, those police car photos and boardwalk

scene were done with Pan F+ in DDX, not in T-Max developer. My apologies. I exposed

the film at EI 50, using incident metering with a Gossen Luna-Pro, which put the shot at f

11, 1/125 sec, handheld. The processing was Iford DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes at 20 deg C.

Distilled water was used in the process. Jobo Tank with 10 seconds of gently tilting/

swirling inversion at the beginning and then for every one minute thereafter. Ilfostop.

Ilford Rapid Fixer. Nikon Coolscan 4000, scanned as 2900 dpi TIFF. Photoshop elements

on Macintosh, autocontast and resizing with conversion to JPEG... no level manipulation or

other manipulation.

 

To redeem myself on the T-Max developer issue, T-Max developer works great with Kodak

Plus-X film. Here is a shot at EI 125 with the Gossen Luna Pro. Leica M4, Summicron 50.

T-Max Developer at 1+4. 5.5 minutes at 20 deg C with agitation as noted above.

Ilfostop. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Nikon Coolscan 4000 as 2900 dpi TIFF. Photoshop Elements

on Macintosh, autocontrast and resizing, conversion to JPEG.

 

<img src="http://fototime.com/{C4C659B1-34A5-4BBD-AD49-359259DB2716}/

picture.JPG">

[john_finch]

I like those photos Spider, thanks for posting them for us. I'm digging out my bulk PanF+ now and ordering some DDX to play with. When it's right it's very right isn't it. Anyone got some Diafine shots used on PanF+ I could see?

 

Thanks again Spider

[spider_.]

Pan F+ is one of those films that can really put a smile on your face when you see your

results. It's a beautiful film for 35 mm sunny day use. I have a stash of it in my

refrigerator, so I think I'll join in the fun this weekend and shoot some of it.

 

Happy shooting!

[john_finch]

Weather sucked today, so I tried a portrait of sisters little 'un.

Pan-f+, Pyrocat-HD developer. The focus is not quite on her eyes, which is a shame, but you can see the basic look of the developer and film. Printed on Multigrade FB warmtone in ID-20 soup. scanned from 10x8 print.<div></div>

[spider_.]

That's a very nice portrait John. What was the lighting?

[john_finch]

There is a window to her right (I was hoping for natural light), but the shutter speed was too low so I popped a flash on the tripod mounted Canon T90 and pointed it more at the window blinds than the subject. A token effort to bounce some of the strong flash and soften the shadows. It was very impromutu. I am an 'outside' photographer and don't do portraits. I think it works, just....

 

The main problem was her moving back and forth lol. She's only 4 and was excited at the chocolate biscuits I kept promising her; to sit there for '5 minutes more'.

 

But, it gives me an excuse to practise! Anyone reading this will think we are drifting off thread but this film does rock. It takes time to learn it's nuances. It's less forgiving than, say FP4+ BUT when you get it right, when you have learnt the correct development time and found your personal EI it truly sings making negatives that print beautifully with fabulous tone and a great glow. Trouble is that it doesn't just do it out of the bag. You have to play with it and work with it before it will open up to you. But the results get very exciting.

 

I bought several miles of Panf+ when Ilford went topsy turvy and froze it. Interestingly, I tried to buy some DD-x yesterday, but in north east Scotland there is about two camera shops, both of whom asked me how to spell it!