#DevClub: Ilford PanF Plus
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Welcome to the first edition of #DevClub, a journal of film shooting and home development. In this post, I review a roll of Ilford Pan F Plus 50.
Days ago, a fresh roll of Ilford’s PanF Plus arrived and since, I’ve been dying to try it out. Okay, not literally dying, but whatever feels you get when a new-to-you camera is almost at the house according to Ebay’s tracking number… I was experiencing that same level of impatience. And very much like looking at a tracking status that still shows “on truck for delivery,” I had to wait.
Waiting occurred because a day after the film appeared at my doorstep, Kansas City had a snow storm, then storm clouds, rain, freezing rain, frozen fog, blah blah… the weather was refusing to cooperate with my needs for the light-thirsty Ilford film. I had to wait a few days and when the weather finally broke, I excitedly took a late lunch break and went for a sun drenched photo walk. Unfortunately, I incorrectly metered the light sunlight and ended up with mixed results. But, let’s start from the top…
The black and white PanF (or is it Pan F?) is a slow film emulsion meaning that it needs LOTS of light for its native speed of ASA 50. Indoors with slow film are difficult and night photography without a tripod is impossible. The pro to all them cons is that the film is supposed to have a very tight, fine grain pattern which makes for an unique, hard-contrast look. Because of the unique challenges of exposing some of the slowest film I’ve used this year, I loaded the roll into my Nikon F4 SLR. Back in 1990, this camera was considered a professional camera body and sold for $2000 (or $3,935.85 in today’s money). Although it’s 30 years old this year, the camera’s metering system is very good, fairly fast and trustworthy; something I needed for experimenting with this film.
