Pan F Contrast Control

[david_jenkins]

Hi All,

I have started using Ilford Pan F (50iso) developed in Ilford Plus Developer (LC-29). Results are fine grained but extremely contrasty - grade 00 looks more like a grade 4 to 5!! Any suggestions on developers that will retain the fine grain but lower the contrast??

 

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Thanks for your suggestions.

 

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Cheers David

[olliesteiner]

I've been using Pan F+ developed in Rodinal, with dilution, time and

temperature as suggested on the inside of the Pan F+ box: 1+25, 68

degrees F, for six minutes and loving it! Tonal scale is wonderful,

grain is not visible on an 11X14 print from a 35mm negative, and edge

sharpness wonderful. I'm coming to the opinion that the early

photographers got it right when they used slow film and developed it

in Rodinal. Perhaps many advances since the early 20th century (such

as fine grain developers, and more recently, tabular grain films)

have been at the expense of qualities I'd rather not give up.

[sandra]

In Ilford´s technical information sheet the developer you use is not

listed. I´d recommend to use one of the ones they suggest.

 

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I use Ilford´s ID-11 1:1 with great fine grained results. Most of the

negatives (depending on shooting situation) print on Grade 2 to 3.

 

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HTH,

 

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Sandra

[david_jenkins]

Thanks Sandra,

Just to clarify Ilford Plus Developer is also known as Ilfotec LC �29

and is their specific developer to be used with Plus Films (Pan F

Plus, FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus).

 

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Thanks for your help and suggestions - David

[michael_feldman1]

Although LC-29 is listed at the "Economy" developer for Pan+ on the

Ilford website

(http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Pan_F_Plus.pdf), it is not

the developer dsignated by Ilford as the Best Overall, Finest Grain,

or Maximum Sharpness. However, if processed using an appropriate

dilution, time, and temperature, LC-29 should yield negatives with

reasonable contrast. Which dilution did you use, and what was your

time and temperature?

[nigel_smith2]

Once my supply of APX-25 runs out I was intending to try Pan F with

LC29 so I'll be interested in hearing about this too. I have

processed Pan F (35mm) in Ilfosol many moons ago and I think I

thought it was great! Must dig the negs out and have a look!

[ted_kaufman]

Pan F is beautiful in PMK. You will achieve very fine grain,

outstanding tonality and super sharpness. Also, PMK staining/tanning

property will help to contain Pan F's contrast and loss of highlight

detail. This is a great combination. In fact, it is the combination

Gordon Hutchings (the creator of PMK) himself uses with 35mm.

[scott_walton2]

ID11 and D76 or Divided D76 are superb with Pan F!

[j._salty]

I agree with Ted K. I used to make copy negatives of old family

photos with Pan F50 and develop them in ID 11. I reshot them and

developed them in PMK Pyro and the printed pictures are noticeably

sharper and all around better looking than the ones done in ID 11.

[tim_brown5]

Why not just reduce dev. timeor increase dilution in LC-29?

[david_jenkins]

Hi All,

I have been using Ilfotec LC-29 for both FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus and

the results have been consistently good. In a vein attempt to keep

life simple I though I would at least start by trying the Pan F in LC-

29 combination. As noted the results have been extremely contrasty

and are no where near the beautiful results I have had with APX-25 �

which of course Agfa have discontinued!! The truth known I would like

to achieve simular results with Pan F that I got with APX-25, but

this does not seem to mean using Ilfotec LC-29.

 

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(I was lead to believe that Ilfotec LC-29 was the standard developer

for the Plus range of films were as Ilfotec DD-X is designed for the

Delta range of films. I processed Pan F by the book 1+19 20c for four

minutes.)

 

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Thanks for all the help!

 

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Cheers David

[ted_kaufman]

Do yourself a favor and get some PMK. All the films you use--HP5+,

FP4+ and Pan F--are great in it.