Ooooohh, give me that Techpan feeling! Never mind muskrat love, its time for Techpan love! (do I date myself by referencing that?) I remember Gene Crumpler waxing his affection for Techpan with 35mm, but man, this is a whole 'nother acid trip! (I promise you, I have not been dropping the PMK. I have not, absolutely not.)
As you may be able to tell, I have just finished developing some 4x5 Techpan. A friend had some in his freezer since 1984 (expiration date of 1985 on the box). I got two boxes, and one box was opened and one of the packets was missing a few sheets. I used sheets from the opened packet. I whipped out my Graflex Super Graphic, and ran through a few sheets to see what the camera can do.
Camera can do! I am looking at bicycle spokes in a window two blocks away under a 22x loupe. F8 seems to be a sweet spot, but 5.6, 16, and 32 aren't shabby, either. I can count bricks clearly that I was losing in the grain with Agfa APX 100. Twigs on limbs over 3 blocks away are clear. The film is still good, no blotches, fog, or anything like that. Ohhh, what a feeling!
Of course, Kodak doesn't care about Techpan like I do. Techpan is dead and abandoned, with a few boxes still available at Freestyle.
So what do you high-resolution junkies use now? Anybody try the Maco films? Or am I just a lone freak with a Navy surplus camera who has smoked too much Crystal Archive?
Bookmarks