Technical Pan Film

[Jim Jones]

If one had plenty of Tech Pan to fine tune the process, it made wonderful solarized negatives. The results were high key prints instead of the solarized prints which were dark. As I recall, I exposed it at an exposure index of 25 and developed it with agitation for about 45 seconds in Solarol developer before flashing, and about the same without agitation after flashing. Of course a similar effect can easily be made in a digital image editor, although without the Mackie lines.

[Emil Schildt]

The way I heard it is that Kodak stopped actually making Tech Pan almost fifteen years ago. Everything sold since has been off that last master roll. They needed
a specific polyester support material which was discontinued. Really pissed off the
astrophotographers who prized this film for its extended red sensitivity. I still have quite a few sheets of 8x10 which I use for panchromatic highlight masking. There is no
direct substitute, although there are other microfilms which can be soft developed for
normal contrast range. The idea that Techpan would let a small camera shot look like a
big camera shot was utter bunk all along. Yeah, it had extremely fine grain, if you could
find a lens with adequate MTF to take full advantage of it. But the scale of the highlts
and shadows was disappointing, and every little inevitable blemish in the sky or other
smooth surface would enlarge to the size of the Goodyear blimp. I have a friend who
used it extensively in medium format until I turned him onto Efke 25, and now is finally
beginning to discover the detail that can be put into the extreme ends of the curve,
something we LF practitioners have being able to accomplish for a long time with our
silver-rich thick-emulsion films.

might all be true... if I only knew what you were talking about

BUT - with "my" development, I have never had more information in any other type of film than this one...

(So maybe I am just bad at developing other films....)

And because it has this extra red sensibility, it is perfect for portraits - especially if your "victim" is a young girl! Porcelain skin!
They love that....

[Brian C. Miller]

I loved Techpan while it was being made. Yes, the grain is fantastically small. Tmax doesn't compare. However, Fuji Neopan Acros is very much like it, in terms of grain. I haven't tried Efke, though.

[venchka]

Suppose we could talk Kodak into making a batch of Tech Pan? K

Sure. The same time they make a batch of Kodachrome in 4x5 and 120 and 135.
Kodak published numbers for Xtol and Tech Pan. I plan to use those numbers for my 1 roll of Tech Pan 120.

[Emil Schildt]

here are a couple of the portraits I did yesterday.

Simple ones - and quick scan (never mind the dust... )

Iso 80 - pre rinse - 6min cont. agitation. Neofin Doku (2 bottles to one Liter)

[imagedowser]

Gandolfi, you used a Boyer 300mm for these and it made me a happy camper to hear it.... I have the same lens (different s/n) and a 360 that I love.... but to hear it was on TP completes the "picture" ... absolutely stunning...

[Emil Schildt]

Gandolfi, you used a Boyer 300mm for these and it made me a happy camper to hear it.... I have the same lens (different s/n) and a 360 that I love.... but to hear it was on TP completes the "picture" ... absolutely stunning...

thanks.
I love the Boyer!

Actually it was my first LF lens and I bought it 20 something years ago, when I purchaced my big Gandolfi...

I had no idea what it was... it was the only lens in the shop with a working shutter, so I just chose that.
I'm happy I did.....

I lust got 15 bottles of Neofin Doku for my Tech Pan film, so not I actually think I have enough developer for all my films..

[Neil Purling]

I used to use Tech Pan in 35mm and I was developing the film in POTA after rating it at 50ASA. I even tried rating it at 100 in the same developer.
I don't know what was special about the film base. In 35mm it was the same thin Estar that they coated the Infra-Red film onto, very bendy.
Was it a different thickness of the same base they coated for the 4x5 version? I don't know why it could not be coated onto the normal base material used for other Kodak 4x5 offerings.
It probably wouldn't have saved the film in the end when digital came along.
The slowest film I used on 4x5 was the EFKE 25 somebody mentioned and that has disappeared as well.
What alternative is there in 4x5?

[jnantz]

it had a variable ISO. I never processed it as a pictorial film,
but as an fx film. ISO 200 and processed in print developer
for a couple mins. beautiful contrast and beautiful mid tones.

[Vaughn]

...
The slowest film I used on 4x5 was the EFKE 25 somebody mentioned and that has disappeared as well.
What alternative is there in 4x5?

Litho film for slow ISO -- and there is a formula or two out there for continous tone developing of the litho film. But it is certainly not a replacement for Tech Pan.