Best equivalent for Ilford Pan F in 4x5?

[John Brownlow]

I should probably pull out my reels and tanks... I bought out a commercial lab recently and got all their stainless steel 4x5 tanks and hangers as well as lots of 120 stuff... it needs a dedicated darkroom though which will have to wait until the new house is built...

[Colin Robertson]

Ahh! This has been my biggest heartbreak recently. For the last ten years I have shot almost nothing but PanF in a mamiya TLR, developed in dilute Paterson Acutol (I like to buy British. Can't help it). This film really is just beautiful- smooth, grainless, luminous blah de blah. Anyhow, having hankered to try LF for years I recently bought a 5x4 field camera, and the obvious choice of film was Fp4. My first results made me think I'd made a big mistake. To my eyes, 120 Panf looked smoother and finer! As soon as I got over the urge to cry I set about getting my film speed and dev times sorted, and recently produced my first really satisfying 5x4 negs. BUT- I'd still sell my goddam soul for a few boxes of the Beloved Orange One in sheets . . . by the way, Ilford web site has news of a new selenium toner. Always used Kodak RST, but lately I haven't much felt like I could depend on Kodak. Real, real shame.

[Tom Hoskinson]

"I can't get on with the T-grain films like Tmax and Acros (and I've tried). The midtones are so boring."

"this probably has to do with how the film is being developed. tmax midtones can be pushed around to look like just about anything. "

"if you're only interested in using a commercial lab, then that unfortunately limits your choices. especially if they use t-max developer ... i never thought it was an inspiring combination, even though presumeably they were designed for each other."

I certainly agree with paulr about Tmax, it is a beautiful and versatile film.

I shoot as much Kodak TMAX TMY as Efke.



My favorite developer for Kodak Tmax TMY is Pyrocat. Recently I have been testing TMY, TMX, Efke 100 and Efke 25 in Sandy Kings new version of Pyrocat. (16 minutes of Semi-Stand agitation at 71F).

Sandy calls the new developer Pyrocat P since it incorporates p-aminophenol (the p-aminophenol replaces the Phenidone in the -HD version). I found that Pyrocat P gives superb tonality and high acutance with all four of these films. Other Testers have reported excellent results with Pyrocat P and continuous agitation.

[Donald Qualls]

I've used Fomapan 100 in both 9x12 cm sheets and 120 (and cut down from 120 to smaller, discontinued sizes), and I like it enough to keep buying it. It's happy in HC-110 (despite the "not recommended" in the 120 box -- more dilution, less agitation, and it's all good), Caffenol, and Parodinal (which last implies it'll be happy in Rodinal as well) -- even Diafine at EI 200. IMO, it's one of the better bargains going, and there are two sources in this country: J&C Photo, who have it in 9x12 cm and recently added 4x5 as well as 120, and Freestyle, who have it as Arista.EDU Ultra 100 in 4x5 and 120 (both have 35 mm, too, but that's not what this forum cares about, mostly).



I don't think there's much likelihood of mistaking it for Pan F if you make *huge* enlargements, but if you print at reasonable sizes from large format negatives, you might well find it works for you.



Above example is 9x12 cm, through a 1935-ish Radionar, processed in HC-110 Dilution H (I now prefer Dilution F for most things).