Hi All, I have started using Ilford Pan F (50iso) developed in Ilford Plus Developer (LC-29). Results are fine grained but extremely contrasty - grade 00 looks more like a grade 4 to 5!! Any suggestions on developers that will retain the fine grain but lower the contrast??

Thanks for your suggestions.

Cheers David

-- David Jenkins (dhjphoto@hotmail.com), March 05, 2002

Answers

I've been using Pan F+ developed in Rodinal, with dilution, time and temperature as suggested on the inside of the Pan F+ box: 1+25, 68 degrees F, for six minutes and loving it! Tonal scale is wonderful, grain is not visible on an 11X14 print from a 35mm negative, and edge sharpness wonderful. I'm coming to the opinion that the early photographers got it right when they used slow film and developed it in Rodinal. Perhaps many advances since the early 20th century (such as fine grain developers, and more recently, tabular grain films) have been at the expense of qualities I'd rather not give up.

-- Ollie Steiner (violindevil@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

In Ilfordīs technical information sheet the developer you use is not listed. Iīd recommend to use one of the ones they suggest.

I use Ilfordīs ID-11 1:1 with great fine grained results. Most of the negatives (depending on shooting situation) print on Grade 2 to 3.

HTH,

Sandra

-- Sandra (SSchaenzer@we.de), March 06, 2002.

Thanks Sandra, Just to clarify Ilford Plus Developer is also known as Ilfotec LC –29 and is their specific developer to be used with Plus Films (Pan F Plus, FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus).

Thanks for your help and suggestions - David

-- David Jenkins (dhjphoto@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

Although LC-29 is listed at the "Economy" developer for Pan+ on the Ilford website (http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Pan_F_Plus.pdf), it is not the developer dsignated by Ilford as the Best Overall, Finest Grain, or Maximum Sharpness. However, if processed using an appropriate dilution, time, and temperature, LC-29 should yield negatives with reasonable contrast. Which dilution did you use, and what was your time and temperature?

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), March 06, 2002.

Once my supply of APX-25 runs out I was intending to try Pan F with LC29 so I'll be interested in hearing about this too. I have processed Pan F (35mm) in Ilfosol many moons ago and I think I thought it was great! Must dig the negs out and have a look!

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), March 06, 2002.

Pan F is beautiful in PMK. You will achieve very fine grain, outstanding tonality and super sharpness. Also, PMK staining/tanning property will help to contain Pan F's contrast and loss of highlight detail. This is a great combination. In fact, it is the combination Gordon Hutchings (the creator of PMK) himself uses with 35mm.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), March 06, 2002.

ID11 and D76 or Divided D76 are superb with Pan F!

-- Scott Walton (walton@ll.mit.edu), March 06, 2002.

I agree with Ted K. I used to make copy negatives of old family photos with Pan F50 and develop them in ID 11. I reshot them and developed them in PMK Pyro and the printed pictures are noticeably sharper and all around better looking than the ones done in ID 11.

-- Salty (j3g2s55@juno.com), March 06, 2002.

Why not just reduce dev. timeor increase dilution in LC-29?

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), March 06, 2002.

Hi All, I have been using Ilfotec LC-29 for both FP4 Plus and HP5 Plus and the results have been consistently good. In a vein attempt to keep life simple I though I would at least start by trying the Pan F in LC- 29 combination. As noted the results have been extremely contrasty and are no where near the beautiful results I have had with APX-25 – which of course Agfa have discontinued!! The truth known I would like to achieve simular results with Pan F that I got with APX-25, but this does not seem to mean using Ilfotec LC-29.

(I was lead to believe that Ilfotec LC-29 was the standard developer for the Plus range of films were as Ilfotec DD-X is designed for the Delta range of films. I processed Pan F by the book 1+19 20c for four minutes.)

Thanks for all the help!

Cheers David

-- David Jenkins (dhjphoto@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

Do yourself a favor and get some PMK. All the films you use--HP5+, FP4+ and Pan F--are great in it.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), March 06, 2002.