Which filter for TechPan?

[shiqf]

I am going to try TechPan. Since this film is high contrast, I am

wondering if I need any filter. I will shoot with 24mm lens for

buildings and landscape. The film will be rated at 25 and be

developed in a local pro b&w lab. (I don't have an darkroom) Any

other suggestion to take care of this film?

 

Thanks!

[stb]

Well, of course I don't know your lab, but I would never do TechPan without

processing it myself. TechPan is high constrast when processed with regular

developper. If processed with Technidol it becomes a regular film contrast-wise,

provided you have established the proper EI and development time for your way of

working.

 

Filtering can be a bit different considering echPan's extra sensitivity to red. You can

compensate it with a blue filter or just leave it alone if you enjoy the result.

[jmc1]

i use tech pan quite a bit for my fine-art images. i use no filter, but i do use a very specific developer:

td3 from photographer's formulary <photoformulary.com>.

 

when i first started with this film, i was told that technidol is the

prefered developer, however, i'd already bought the td3, as

recommended by anchell in one of his darkroom "cookbooks,"

and i am very happy with the even tones i get with td3. while a

professional lab should be able to develop in technidol, i agree

that there is no point in going through the hardship and expense

of using tech pan if you aren't going to develop it yourself. a tank

and chemicals are not that expensive, and you can transfer the

film to reels in a bathroom with the door stopped: no safelight or

ventilation are necessary, since the tank lets you develop in

room light. a good lab can then print for you.

 

expect low contrast and a peculiar deadness in the prints. i think

this dead look is probably from tech pan's tendency to blow out

in the upper ranges yet not go completely to white. this is a

quality i use in my work, but it would be a problem for many

people.

[patrick_mckay]

From Kodak's technical info "To approximate the response of conventional panchromatic films more closely, make exposures through a color-compensating filter such as a KODAK Color Compensating Filter CC40C or CC50C (cyan). With this filter, no exposure compensation is necessary; however, there may be a slight loss in sharpness"

[roger krueger]

A filter to accomplish what?? It's not going to fix the contrast.

 

Tech Pan's color response is weighted slightly towards the red, and it also has a little bit of near-IR response, so if you want absolutely panchromatic response, yeah you need a filter. For most folks it's completely a non-issue.

 

Re: development--what's the local lab developing it in? If it's Technidol, it really isn't high contrast anymore, although it does have a pretty abrupt shoulder. But there are vanishingly few labs that offer this. Photo Factory in San Diego does, but they're really expensive for this particular service. For the price of four or five rolls you could get tanks and chemicals to develop it yourself.

 

If they're using D-76, your speed is way above 25, probably 80 or 100. You get pretty high contrast, and, hand-in-hand with high contrast, zero lattitude. Bracket even more than you would with slide film.

 

Unless you specifically want high contrast, I'd second Mr. McKenna's recommendation of TD-3. It also has the advantage over Technidol in being simpler to use. Technidol uses very short times and is easy to screw up. TD-3 is 18-22 minutes with limited agitation--much easier.

 

Tech Pan in TD-3 can sometimes look oddly flat printed traditionally (TD-3 is a compensating developer, giving a ton of shadow separation, but a long shoulder and flat-looking highlights), but it scans beautifully, and it's easy to get a more "normal" tonal distribution in Photoshop.

 

Whichever developer you use, realize that Tech Pan's base is very clear, and it never builds much density, no matter how hard you expose or develop it. So you may have a fairly normal density range, but it'll look thinner than it really is.

 

Of course, even pretty-nice film scanners are going to fall far short of the extreme resolution Tech Pan is capable of. Plan on at least a Minolta 5400. Me? I'm debating whether my wife is going to kill me or just maim me when the freight company drops the crate with used drum scanner in middle of the lawn. If you read about me washing up on the beach you'll know what happened....

[shiqf]

Thanks for the suggestions! It's a good idea to develop the films myself and let the lab to print.

[scott_eaton]

If the lab processes in their normal B/W processing line you *will* a high contrast image and no filter can fix it. The get normals contrast from this film requires a developer like Technidol which most labs don't have laying around. Processed by hand in technidol to an EI of 25 this film as no worse pictorial contrast than TMX 100.

 

For skin tones, a green filter will offset the film's exagerated red response. Normally the extended red is actually well liked unless you are shooting masculaine portraiture.