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Thread: Cryo treating film

  1. #1

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    Cryo treating film

    Greetings,
    My question pertains to the slowing of film speed due to cold storage. I am a huge fan of Tech Pan and now that it is gone I am looking for a replacement. One of the wierder ideas I had was to send out some Plus-X or T-Max 100 and have it cryo treated( cool to -300 degrees F and bring is back up slowly). My idea for this comes from the fact that supposedly some of Admiral Byrds film was recovered and showed a definite slowing of the film speed. Just a whim but it might work. Thanks to all for the info.
    Cheers,
    Chris

  2. #2

    Cryo treating film

    just buy some pan f plus and call it a day. i like the tonal range of pan f plus much better than tech pan anyway.

    i must say, i am curious to hear why tech pan was your film of preference. to me, it always made (some) sense for miniature format users who were trying to get fine grained enlargements at the inevitable high mags. LF users are more or less liberated from that concern, and can select their film purely based on tonal scale, zonability, etc.

    and whilst on the subject, tech pan is notoriously hard to zone. individual treatment of negs is one of the great plusses of LF. using tech pan, you more or less have to give up this great advantage. people try really hard, but never seem to get beyond an n-1/n+0.

    anyway, i guess i'm just curious to know why tech pan would be appealing to a LF shooter.

    best regards, roger

  3. #3
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Cryo treating film

    Just wondering where you find Sheet Pan F+? especially 8x10. I thought it only came in 35mm and roll film?
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  4. #4

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    Cryo treating film

    Roger,
    You got me. My Tech Pan fetish goes back to my minature format but I have also wanted to try fine line so...

  5. #5
    Eric Woodbury
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    Cryo treating film

    Although not my standard, I have used TechPan over the years in large format. When the light is low and the contrast from lighting is gone, I can shoot Techpan at about N+4. If you get the exposure just right, the results are unusual and the contrast is that that comes from the subject's coloring. Something no other film can do. The red sensitivity is a bonus.
    my picture blog
    ejwoodbury.blogspot.com

  6. #6
    Moderator Ralph Barker's Avatar
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    Cryo treating film

    I've heard of astrophotographers cold-treating their film, but I was under the impression it actually increased their effective film speed. Either way, I'm not sure that cryo-treating film would change the grain structure. So, you might end up with slow grainy film instead of a substitute for Tech Pan. Unless, of course, you were to also subject the cryo-frozen film to the loud roar of a Polar bear while frozen, thereby breaking up the silver halide crystals. ;-)

  7. #7

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    Cryo treating film

    I would like to echo what Eric mentioned. I have shot T-Pan in 4x5 and 120 on my 4x5 camera. Not only can you expand it to N+4, but also N+6! This works great for abstracts, architectural, and pictographs. In addition, if I ran out of 4x5 I could shoot 120 roll film normally and enlarge it the same as 4x5. The red sensitivity definitely helped photographing out west. I have bought 200 rolls and frozen them down. I use about 10 rolls/year, so......hopefully in 20 years there will be a substitute.

    Mike

  8. #8

    Cryo treating film

    Back in the days of film, astronomers would chill some emulsions to gain film speed. The camera body was built to carry a coolant, usually dry ice. The speed boost was only present while the film was cold, so you couldn't warm it up and expect to see any difference.


    http://members.shaw.ca/jmirtle/coldcam.htm


    If Admiral Byrd's film was lost for a lengthy time and then recovered, it lost speed because it was fogged, not because it was cold.

  9. #9

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    Cryo treating film

    From what I understand, Ralph, the the chilling of film for astrophotography is to mitigate the effects of reprocity failure.

  10. #10
    Moderator Ralph Barker's Avatar
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    Cryo treating film

    I think you're correct, Jim.

    I've also heard that eating expedition food from lead-soldered tins will slow down the photographer, too. ;-)

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