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Thread: Bergger Film Developer?

  1. #1
    Al in NC
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    Bergger Film Developer?

    Bergger's 8X10 film is $45/box of 25 cheaper than Ilford's HP5+. At that, I'd like to try Bergger, but I don't know what developer to use. Does one of the myriad of Formulary developers work, or is something more generic suitable? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

  2. #2

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Wait, what? Are you talking Pancro 400?
    Where’s $45 for 25 8x10? I haven’t seen it cheaper than around $125.

  3. #3

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Quote Originally Posted by mossbloom View Post
    Bergger's 8X10 film is $45/box of 25 cheaper than Ilford's HP5+. At that, I'd like to try Bergger, but I don't know what developer to use. Does one of the myriad of Formulary developers work, or is something more generic suitable? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
    I assume you're talking about Pancro400.
    This is not an easy film to work with, but when you get it right, it produces beautiful results. For starters, its NOT a true 400 ASA film. Expect to have to expose it at 160 ASA (or lower, depending on your choice of developer) to get optimal results.

    I would suggest you NOT use Rodinal/R09 with it. You'll find yourself in a battle to preserve shadow detail and maintain usable highlights. Rodinal is likely the worst option. D-76 is excellent, but I prefer D-23 even more (better tonality) and Xtol is also an excellent choice. Bergger also packages Atomal 49 under their own name: BER49, and that works very well too, producing excellent tonal values. However, the development times with BER49 can stretch into the 20 minute plus range if using it 1:1.
    When exposing the film at 100ASA, I find PMK also gives an outstanding negative.

  4. #4

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Xtol 1+1, D76 1+1, PMK all work great. Those are the ones I’ve tried.

  5. #5

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kiwi7475 View Post
    Wait, what? Are you talking Pancro 400?
    Where’s $45 for 25 8x10? I haven’t seen it cheaper than around $125.
    He's saying its $25 cheaper than HP5+

  6. #6

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Quote Originally Posted by paulbarden View Post
    He's saying its $25 cheaper than HP5+
    Ah yes, read too fast :-)
    I was ready to order 1,000 sheets lol

  7. #7
    Pieter's Avatar
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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    I have used Rodinal 1+50. Nice, but grainier than HP5+ in Rodinal. Here is the chart from the data sheet.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    Quote Originally Posted by mossbloom View Post
    Bergger's 8X10 film is $45/box of 25 cheaper than Ilford's HP5+. At that, I'd like to try Bergger, but I don't know what developer to use. Does one of the myriad of Formulary developers work, or is something more generic suitable? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
    Unless there is something very wrong with this film it should work well in any general purpose developer.

  9. #9

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    One thing about the Bergger Panchro 100 is that it requires a pre-rinse. I have discovered that about half a teaspoon of baking soda into the pre-rinse reduces the base-fog density a bit. I've tried Bergger, Rodinal, HC-110 and Spur. Spur gave far and away the best results, but is just too expensive for me. I've settled on HC-110, dilution E. That gives me a tonal rendition I really like and a nice tight grain structure. I strongly recommend doing a film speed test for each developer you try. I've burned through 8 rolls of 120 just testing, but I think it was worth the time and effort. I got ISO 200 with Rodinal, 125 with HC110-E. Spur was about ISO 80. My Pan F gives me that kind of speed! But do your own tests. My conditions, including water supply, agitation methods and temperature control are completely different from what you are likely to do.
    Michael W. Graves
    Michael's Pub

    If it ain't broke....don't fix it!

  10. #10

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    Re: Bergger Film Developer?

    This is highly problematic if true as it would mean Bergger is deliberately mislabeling/mischaracterizing the film’s emulsion speed, and by a large amount. Bergger clearly indicates this is an ISO 400 emulsion, so they would be violating the standard.

    Quote Originally Posted by paulbarden View Post
    I assume you're talking about Pancro400.
    This is not an easy film to work with, but when you get it right, it produces beautiful results. For starters, its NOT a true 400 ASA film. Expect to have to expose it at 160 ASA (or lower, depending on your choice of developer) to get optimal results.

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