Royal Pan

[Daniel Stone]

hey all,

found a person selling some Royal Pan in sheet form, expired in 1984. Supposedly frozen up until 1mo ago.

any ideas on how it could/would come out? its cheap, thats why I'm asking :)

contact printing only, not enlarging/scanning

-Dan

[Drew Wiley]

That's sorta like digging up a dinosaur egg and wondering if it will still hatch.

[Renato Tonelli]

That's sorta like digging up a dinosaur egg and wondering if it will still hatch.

I like that!:D

[drew.saunders]

Give it a try, but don't complain if it turns out to be a Royal Pain.

Sorry, someone had to say it.

Drew

[BrianShaw]

Dan, I have 50 sheets (2 sealed packages) that came with a Speed Graphic I bought several years ago. I'm so skeptical I haven't even really thoguht of trying the film. Of course, I'm not so completely skeptical and threw them in a file drawer rather than in the trash.

Can't wait to hear of your results!

[Sevo]

Royal Pan had a strong tendency to be DoA even when fresh - even TMax 3200, the current instability king, seems to keep eternally compared to it. 25 years of freezing will not have improved matters...

[Merg Ross]

That's sorta like digging up a dinosaur egg and wondering if it will still hatch.

Probably so! In its day, and fresh, the film had medium grain with a long toed curve. Kodak suggested DK-50. We shot thousands of sheets a year in the studio, mostly portraits with hot lights. It had a good retouching base.

[BrianShaw]

So... should I throw mine in the trash, or offer it to Dan?

[Daniel Stone]

if you don't want it, I'll take it Brian ;).

since I'm contact printing only my LF stuff(at least for now), I don't mind it being "medium grain, fine grain or what-not". Having a good retouching base is a nice thing, since I'm starting to retouch out dust spots on the neg, rather than the print(no black spots in the final print due to dust on the neg during exposure).

these are 100sht boxes of 5x7 btw I'm looking at, and at a somewhat-good price $like $27/box.

-Dan

[BrianShaw]

Dan,

I found them. I think each packet might be only 10 sheets, and there are two packets. Expiration date on the box is 1973 and I have no idea if htis film is original to this box or not. I suspect it is, though. 1973 was a great year, by the way, and I way young and spry back then. Now I'm getting arthritis and a few other effects of aging. Maybe this film is too, but I'll send you a PM... once I can loosen up my nuckle joints enough to type. :)