hello, i just shot, processed, and printed my first roll of tech pan in 120 and i was amazed. i shot at ISO 25 and developed in ID-11 for 7 minutes. what i have access to (chemical wise) is perceptol, hc-110, microphen, and id-11.

here's the question...the negs are still quite contrasty. does anyone have any good experience with tech-pan? did anyone use the aforementioned developers? i am trying to get a little more tonal qualities, but i know that'll be difficult with this film.

thanks, levin

-- Levin Haegele (lhaegele@hotmail.com), November 06, 1999

Answers

The popular developers for Tech Pan here are Technidol, Diafine (according to Gene Crumpler), Xtol, and some Photographer's Formulary soup I can't remember. I use Technidol. I've heard that you can use really diluted Rodinol (1:50, 1:100?) to achieve near-normal contrast -- so you might try using a really weak dilution of the most compensating developer you have.

In "The Negative," Adams doesn't report getting any lower than N+1 with this film: so if you can achieve that, you're doing as well as any of us.

-- John O'Connell (joconnell@adelphia.net), November 06, 1999.

Try HC110 at dilution F, or Rodinal at 1:200(!).

Tech pan doco has times for HC110, see the work (and books) of Eddie Ephraums for examples of Tech Pan in Rodinal.

-- Christopher Biggs (chris@stallion.oz.au), November 07, 1999.

For printing on soft paper (#1) I use Rodinal 1:150 for 7 mins at 200C. A nice way to use up all the soft papers. Sometimes I copy flat slides on Techpan to get a more contrasty negatives for printing.

Wolfram

-- Wolfram Kollig (kollig@ipfdd.de), November 08, 1999.

Try Microphen diluted 1+5, 14 min. @ 75 deg. F, EI 32.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), November 08, 1999.

To get a first impression of Tech-Pan it really is the best way to use Technidol as prescribed by Kodak.

-- Lot Wouda (lotw@wxs.nl), November 08, 1999.

Hi Levin, if you are stuck with those developers I'd guess Perceptol in a compensating dilution (see Adams Negative). For TP, I use Technidol, which gives a full tone, but more often I use PMK Pyro with TechPan. It gives almost full tone, stretching the highs and the lows a bit but leaving the mids alone. For shooting people, Pyro gives an incredible skin tone if metered well in the first place, and highs are wild as well. Pyro creates a beautiful tan on some negatives, though in my own experience the effect with TP is minimal, but still beautiful. But Pyro is pretty crappy on your health, so I recommend you read all the directions/disclaimers(!!!) in Gordon Hutchings book first. Pyro is a good developer for every emulsion I have tried so far...and it's bloody cheap!!!

-- shawn gibson (s_g@stu.wdw.utoronto.ca), December 13, 1999.