pan f developer?

[unclescarMT]

hello all. was gifted some developing tanks and reels recently. have done some reading and am ready to take the plunge and start developing. shooting lots of ilford pan f 50 with my m2. which developer should I use? also shoot much tri-x, too. is there a developer I can use for both?
thanks.

[Mark Antony]

The old standards ID11/D76 are good start points, if you don't mind mixing powders.
Personally I like one shot developers like Rodinal which is great with Pan F at 1:100.
If you need to check developer times there is this useful resource
Massive dev chart

have fun!
Mark

[Dan States]

D-76 can not be beat for PanF50. Hopefully you are shooting at 25-32 ASA as that is the natural actual speed of this film. Be sure not to overdevelop as this film is very intolerant of both underexposure and extended development.

I've used Rodinal and also Neofin Blue and they look sharp but are pretty grainy.

Best wishes
Dan

[unclescarMT]

dan and mark,

thanks for the advice. I was thinking d76, so that sounds perfect. dan, I didn't know about pan f being 25-32asa. I was shooting it at 50. on my third roll and the results from my lab (develop only, I scan them) have been decent so far. Though, I'll definitely try your suggestion on my next roll.

[haris]

Originally Posted by unclescarMT

dan and mark,

thanks for the advice. I was thinking d76, so that sounds perfect. dan, I didn't know about pan f being 25-32asa. I was shooting it at 50. on my third roll and the results from my lab (develop only, I scan them) have been decent so far. Though, I'll definitely try your suggestion on my next roll.

Virtually all films have "true" speed different (and as rule slower) than nominative (written on box) speed. "True" speed of film depend of your camera (that is is 1/125 shutter speed really that or some slower or faster), you shooting tehnique, you light mettering technique, your developer (processing technique) etc... And nominative speed of film is determinated in controlled laboratory conditions, not in "real life", so that is first factor for nominative/"true" speed difference.

Using google or APUG forum you can find articles how to determine "true" speed of film(s) you use.

[vic vic]

hi all...
pan-f is an amazing film (one of my faves especially in small format). looks great and rich for normal 12x16" prints and enlarges very well even bigger.

both id11/d76 and rodinal are great for it. very balanced and beautiful results. my personal choice is rodinal with 1+50 delution.

speed... unless it is a very technically orineted question, i would say that in practice the speed indicated by ilford is very good indication to work with (and that is true for almost all fillms im femiliar). one can further play with it accoring to lighting conditions (existing contrast) , and desidred effect. exposure, developer delution, tank aggitation - all are effective with this film. personally, many times i use it even at 64 as "normal".
only thing - if u wanna print this film in the darkroom, especially from the high contrast scene, it is recomended to be careful with id11/d76 overdeveloping (those developers are very active all the time of developing). the film base is very clear, so when printing, the contrast is quite high even with typical diffused enlarger head. for scanning, there is no problem even with slight overdevelopment, the film still remains clear and soft enough for scanner, cause scanner/software has more problems with high density negatives (like hp5) rather than those with clear base...

[andybarton]

I prefer to over expose by 1/3 stop and under develop by a similar margin on all my B&W work. (Develop for 7 mins instead of 8 mins, for example). The massive development chart linked to above is a great place to start, however.

Works very well if scanning, in my experience.

[vieri]

Originally Posted by unclescarMT

hello all. was gifted some developing tanks and reels recently. have done some reading and am ready to take the plunge and start developing. shooting lots of ilford pan f 50 with my m2. which developer should I use? also shoot much tri-x, too. is there a developer I can use for both?
thanks.

I use Diafine - expose Ilford Pan-F @ 80 or 100, and Tri-X @ 1000 - 1250; you can develop both in the same tank with the same timing & temperature. Diafine is a two-part compensating developer, you can reuse it forever, takes care of your highlights just fine, lower contrast in contrasty light, gives you real film speed by the way it works. Cons: you have to use the films at their real speed (no pushing-pulling possible), and if you shoot in flat light you get quite flat negatives. Other than that, a great solution and very easy to use - almost impossible to mess your negs with it

[zernikepolynom]

Hi,

welcome to alchimy, the dark side of the force

For practical reasons - how many rolls are 'lots of', which are to be developed at the same time? I would recommend one shot developers for infrequent developments, since undiluted developer will last for months, whereas ready powder developer will age quite rapidly.

Stefan

[NZDavid]

I haven't developed B+W for ages, but Pan F has always been one of my all-time favourites. Grain (or lack of it) and tonality are fantastic. Rodinal is one of the oldest developers around and it's excellent. However, for the very finest grain, expose at 32ISO and develop in Ilford Perceptol.You'll need to hunt around to find some.

[unclescarMT]

so many options! thank you for all the replies/advice. I am really loving the pan f so far,a wonderful counterpoint to tri-x. having tried tmax and ilford delta(as finer grained film choices), I was sure that finer grained films were just to sterile for me. but pan f has soul!
that said, I find that delta is more suitable as a MF film, at least for me. so I'll be purchasing some chemicals soon, and will post my results (if they are postable).
thanks again to everyone for the info.

[wls.shanghai]

Pan F has been long time my B&W favourit film,
and like #6 (vicvic)
Pan F is an absoluty amazing film!

I develop with ILFORD Perceptol 1+3
Temp. 20° celsius
Time 15 min.

with great, fantastic results!!

regards
wls