Kodak 4155 Contrast Process Pan Film

[Shootar401]

I came across 2 10 sheet boxes of Kodak 4155 Contrast Process Pan Film at an estate sale today for $1 a box. Both boxes are sealed with an expiration date of 1988. The Google machine turned up no technical information on this film at all.

Does anybody know anything about it? Speed rating, recommended developer & times, etc...

[Keith Fleming]

I found the film listed in the 1974 revision of the Kodak Darkroom Dataguide. It is listed as pancrhomatic (of course), high contrast, with speeds of 100 in daylight and 80 under tungsten light. The dataguide says it is a Fine Grain film with Very High Resolving Power. A sidebar adds: "In line copying with high-contrast materials, the indexes are intended for determining a trial exposure only." That seems to be a way of saying, "Your mileage may vary" when determining exposure speeds. The same appears to apply to developing times. The developing section of the guide does not give any time/temperature recommendations for 4155 film. I hope someone else will chime in with more definitive recommendations for developing this film. If not, I suggest choosing a developer and then use the time and temperature you have used previously with an ISO 80 or 100 film. Actually, my recommendation, given the age of the film, would be to expose it initially at an exposure index of 50. Again, I do hope someone can give you better data.

Keith Fleimg

[Jay DeFehr]

I think you'll need special developer to get pictorial gradation, and since we're guessing, I'd say expose for an EI of 12. Film speed is tied to contrast, so EI 100 for line copying is probably going to be a few stops above what you'll need for pictorial gradation. You can try a normal developer, diluted, with extended development time and low frequency agitation to tame contrast, but a special purpose developer will probably provide better results. Technidol (discontinued) and Rollei RLC are commercially made low contrast developers, and there are others, as well. There are many published formulas for low contrast developers, like H&W Control, Burton 195, TD-16, and many more. I've formulated my own, and recently have been using my Portrait Pyro developer diluted 1:300 for films like Rollei Ortho 25, Kodak Imagelink, Kodak Technical Pan, etc. Here's an example with the Rollei Ortho 25:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8289320408_d37d3ac098_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jay_defehr/8289320408/) Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jay_defehr/8289320408/) by Jay DeFehr (http://www.flickr.com/people/jay_defehr/), on Flickr