Ilford Pan-F: a classic that can bite!
Pan-F is Ilford’s oldest formulation and was originally released in the 1930’s. It features a super fine grain and has a strong following, especially for landscape and genre where its finite characteristics lend themselves perfectly. However Pan-F is a film that repeatedly challenges photographers, and we see many failures from customers. Certainly, of all Ilford’s range, it stands out as causing photographers the most problems….and disappointment. Here I wanted to explore some of the ways of avoiding disappointment with this film and improve your results. Just following some basic rules will lead to much greater satisfaction, and possibly even a masterpiece!
Expiry Date
Pan-F is NOT a robust emulsion – unlike FP4 or HP5 which seem to perform fine well beyond the best before date, Pan-F is very different. It deteriorates much more quickly and the symptoms of this are increasingly faint edge markings, lower contrast and speed. In some extreme cases we’ve seen virtually unusable negatives, even though they may have been exposed correctly and the film has yielded hopeless negative quality where the image is very faint. Sometimes the customer has blamed us for under-developing the film! However our systems and equipment prevent this and these poor results are common with out of date Pan-F, or film subjected to the wrong storage conditions – see next.
Storage
Following from this, Pan-F reacts badly to excessive heat and humidity, in a way the likes of HP5 or FP4 do not. We would say, for travel photography, where the film may be subjected to a wide variety of conditions, and in particular to destinations with high levels of heat and/or humidity, Pan-F is a risky choice. If you need very fine grain consider Delta 100 or maybe FP4. Refrigeration is not necessarily the answer with Pan F, and certainly not (as with any film) if not sealed in original packaging due to the very high humidity in a typical fridge. This is especially important with 120 format as any film – and particular Pan-F, which is even more susceptible – can develop a mottling effect due to a level of moisture between the backing paper and film. We advise a cool, dry place with a reasonably consistent temperature and humidity. In old properties (pre WW2) upper floors are better because, due to poorer damp courses there can be a higher level of humidity on the ground floor, especially in lower cupboards etc. and you could be storing film in unsuitable conditions without even realising it.
Exposure
Assuming correct storage, use within best before date, and processing soon after exposure, you can concentrate on the best possible exposure. This is also very critical with Pan-F and we strongly advise striving for accurate metering and assessment of scene contrast – Pan-F can yield excessively contrasty results under the wrong conditions. If you don’t have the time, (or inclination!) to run your own tests with this film, we can recommend these basic rules for achieving the best possible exposure.
- Expose the film at ISO50. Do not try to over or under expose (push / pull)
- Make an accurate assessment of the scene contrast and interpret your meter readings intelligently – understand how your particular meter is reading the scene and we aware of any large areas of shadow or strong highlight that may be affecting the reading to the detriment of important details in the image.
- If you have exposed your film under very contrasty conditions, there may be some sense in pulling development a stop in order to control highlight density and reduce contrast. Obviously, with 35mm and 120, the whole roll will be subjected to the same development, so this needs to be borne in mind.
- Accurate metering. We advise against the use of anything other than good quality hand held or in camera meters that are in good working order. Metering is often overlooked and underestimated these days because many people are used to the high level of automation from the latest smart phone cameras. With film, and Pan-F in particular, you really need to be sure of accurate metering, or your results will disappoint.
