JCH Street Pan 400 Photos

[Pioneer]

That's why I shoot 5222 (Double-X). It's cheaper than Tri-X if you roll-your-own and I'm really pleased with the way it renders, especially with old Nikkor glass (LTM and F mount). It's movie film, but it soups nicely in either D-76 or HC-110. And I love the tonal range.

Best,
-Tim

Double X is a terrific film and I have at least two 400 foot rolls in the freezer and one out to be used. I love it in the winter time. It is a very flexible film, meters well, easy to develop in D76 and D23 and relatively inexpensive though the prices have gone up on that as well.

I do find this Street Pan film intriguing though. It responds with higher contrast than what I normally get from XX (hence the reason I like it in the snow.)

I am not certain I like it enough to buy more when I am done with this batch but I will at least know how to use it when I finish.

Regards and enjoy your weekend

 

[Pioneer]

To Curl or Not To Curl

To Curl or Not To Curl

I stated pretty categorically awhile back that this film dries straight. Well, as usual, I have to eat my words AGAIN.

MOST of the time it dries really flat.

But of course there always exceptions to every rule.

Street Pan 400 can curl quite well when it wants. So now, when some person on a thread claims the film dries flat, you can whip this out to show them that there is always an exception.

We had several thunderstorms that rolled through the night this was hanging to dry so it either was scared by the thunder or the humidity got to it. 🙂

 

[Pioneer]

Two Baths Anyone?

Two Baths Anyone?

As most of you are aware, it is summertime in Nevada. As a result it has been a tad warm. Though I like heat, it seems the developing chemistry likes things a little cooler. To keep my developing solutions anywhere near 20C I have had to frequently refrigerate the solutions to bring the temps down.

Anyway, to make a short story even shorter, I was reading about Diafine the other day and, wouldn't you know, it does not seem to be quite as picky about warmth. In fact, from what I read, it seems that as long as I keep my solutions anywhere between 68 and 85F (you C guys can do your own conversion) Diafine is supposed to give reproducible results.

Voila!! I just happen to have some Diafine. So, I read further. Not only is it fairly relaxed about heat, it is also known as a film speed enhancer (probably not the right lingo but you get the idea.)

So far so good. Now things get a bit tricky. Needless to say, there is no guidance for JCH Street Pan. Too new. But its too late for that. I have already mixed up a couple of gallons of Diafine, one gallon Bath A and one gallon Bath B.

So, I threw a couple of spitballs on the wall (my wife hates that) and came up with a film EI of 800 and a development time of 4 minutes in Bath A followed by 4 minutes in Bath B.

The day I mixed things up the solution temps were just below 85F. Things have since cooled of a little so I can probably expect upper 70s the next time around. I agitated 5 times at the beginning and then 5 times every minute after for each bath. Everything else was pretty much the same except I rinsed with water instead of using a stop bath.

I'm not completely satisfied. I may try upping the exposure to EI1000 and trying this again. After all, I now have plenty of Diafine to work with. 😀

 

[Pioneer]

UPDATE ON HC110 Dil B

UPDATE ON HC110 Dil B

EDIT - Please ignore the incorrect information I posted in Post #37. My copy of Bellamy's email below came in a few days ago to update that information.

Dear Customer,

Many thanks for buying JCH StreetPan film, I hope you are really enjoying it.
It has come to my attention that there is a mistake on the information printed inside the boxes of film. It seems that the development information for Kodak HC-110 is incorrect, giving a time of 10.30 which is too long. The correct time is actually 5 minutes for the dilution stated.
I have attached an updated PDF with the correct information for the correct developing times for the most common developers. Unfortunately we don’t have information for all developers as of yet. When we have more information we will put it on the website.
I apologise wholeheartedly for any inconvenience caused by this error. This was supposedly correct at time of printing, so as of yet I am unsure how this has happened. I have mailed everyone who has purchased the film with new information and will be including updated information with all orders from now on.
Your feedback helps JCH StreetPan to be better and become a regular part of the photography market.

Many thanks for your support and best regards,
Bellamy Hunt

Japancamerahunter

 

[Huss]

Thanks for all your work Pioneer, I have been following this with interest.
In your bracketed series, I liked the underexposed images the most.

Also... those shots in the Humboldt 'desert' - did u use a coloured filter on your lens?

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks for all your work Pioneer, I have been following this with interest.
In your bracketed series, I liked the underexposed images the most.

Also... those shots in the Humboldt 'desert' - did u use a coloured filter on your lens?

So far, no filters. I did do a few on one roll but since I didn't do any comparisons of the photo with and without I decided it wasn't worth posting them. Hard to decide whether you like it or not unless you have something to compare against. I do intend to revisit that but haven't yet. Here is one to wet the appetite.

I do agree with your assessment on the bracketed photos. In most cases I preferred those that were about 1/3 stop underexposed @ EI500. I will say though that this film is a bit strange sometimes and I am still sorting it out. I'll get a string of those at EI500 I like and then several on the same roll that look dull and terrible. It could be the metering but I have been using a meter since that first roll caught me unaware.

Ah well, if everything worked perfect the first time out we wouldn't learn a thing; would we? 🙂

BTW - Thanks for following along. I do hope people are getting some information even if it comes in bits and pieces.

More fun coming, developed film hanging on the rack to dry that I should get time to scan by tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying the week and getting some shutter time yourself.

 

[sepiareverb]

...I do hope people are getting some information even if it comes in bits and pieces...

Absolutely. Thank you for taking so much time to do this.

 

[emraphoto]

Granted New55 was a large format instant, which never was inexpensive even in its heydey.

I've voiced many times that taking money away from the remaining fresh film stocks isn't good for the future of current emulsions, however I can see where you are coming from in that if there are parties out there now who want to pick up where larger companies like kodak or fuji will leave off they should start now to build infrastructure and get products in peoples hands so they have something to continue with whenever that happens.

Either way I can't afford boutique films. At the moment I'm considering shooting tri-x a luxury since HP5 and other offerings out there are noticeably cheaper.

Enjoy the film.

delta 400 baby

 

[Pioneer]

Nevada Dry Storms

Nevada Dry Storms

There are times in late summer when storm clouds come rolling through Nevada and you really believe that you will get poured on. Unfortunately, though it does rain, the only thing that hits the ground during those storms is lightning. The rain dissipates before it ever makes it to the ground.

But, though it can create some doozy fires, it also makes for some pretty dramatic photos. I spent some time in the desert the other day with my Pentax Spotmatic and Vivitar 35/1.9 and this is want I came up with.

Film is JCH Street Pan 400 (of course), developing was done in Kodak HC110 dil B for 5 minutes (as per Bellamy's most recent e-mail) with two gentle agitations every minute.

 

[Daryl J.]

Blue Moon Camera in N Portland is using D-76 per box recommendations and the results are beautiful. It looks better than FP4 to my eye.

I don't do scans otherwise would share my own images. Suffice to say I am very very happy.

1,5/50mm Sonnar on an M4, metered on my iPhone with myLightMeter (free) under some very tricky and varied lighting circumstances in the Columbia River Gorge. B+W UV multicoated filter used for lens protection only.

Can we have this film in 4x5 sheets please?

 

[Pioneer]

Developing in Beutler

Developing in Beutler

A busy and an eventful week.

First, I managed to find some Kodak TriX film so, along with my stock of Ilford HP5+, I have conducted some side by side photography between the 3 films. The film is developed and ready to go but...unfortunately my trusty old Plustek 7600ai needs some attention. The platen, or lens, or whatever, has become so filthy that I have been struggling to get any decent scans.

So, I will have to get out my old Epson V500 and set it up to scan these 3 rolls of film (along with a few other things.) If I can't find reliable instructions to open the scanner up and clean it I will have to send it off for service. We'll see how that turns out.

Meanwhile I also mixed up some Beutler developer, as per Tom A, to try with this film. I shot a couple of rolls in the MA and then developed them in Beutler as Tom A suggested.

Overall I think that this developer is a pretty good fit for Street Pan 400.

Enjoy,
Dan

 

[Nokton48]

Wow, Without a doubt.

Buetler (Leica developer) looks the best to me! 🙂

 

[Huss]

It looks like you have dialed in the dev requirements. Those results are nice.

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks Huss.

I like Beutler with this film. I still think I may need to tone down my agitations with it though.

It is a bit expensive but I am starting to like this film quite a bit. It dries flat, with only the occasional curl but no cupping.

I ran out of D76 yesterday so I am going to mix up a batch of D23 to try with it. I kind of like of like the grain but it would be nice to be able to tone it down sometimes. Maybe D23 can do that. If I remember my developer info, metol without the hydroquinone is less active. It starts developing the film quickly but ends up with less grain, lower contrast and more shadow detail.

Anyway, shaping up to be a terrific week for me. I have plenty of things to work on and lots more to learn...and teach.

My grandson is now learning to use his first Leica LTM. Kind of like teaching a kid to drive. But his first roll looked pretty good. This is an example -

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your week as well.

 

[bayernfan]

echoing what some of the others have said, i'm always happy to see a new (or resurrected) emulsion hit the market. at the end of the day, it comes down to personal taste and budget. unfortunately, JCH streetpan doesn't tick either of those boxes for me. even if it were priced the same as hp5/tri-x/etc, i wouldn't be buying it. to those that like the look and don't mind plunking down twice the money, enjoy!

 

[Pioneer]

That's the wonderful thing about life today Alex. You can buy and use about any type of film or camera your inclined to like.

Just trying to give people a glimpse of another type. 🙂

BTW - Nice webshots. Enjoyed your site.

 

[bayernfan]

agreed, having options is a wonderful thing. it looks like you're nailing down some great results with the latest developers. job well done and thanks for sharing the technical info.

i appreciate the kind words regarding my work. 🙂

 

[gnome chompski]

glad you are still plugging away with this film Pioneer. I have a few rolls awaiting development but I have been lazy lately. My 2 year old also discovered the joy of pulling down daddy's film thats hanging to dry so I have narrowed my processing window to begin about 10 minutes after her bed time😀 But I also am liking your results with the Beutler developer. I might have to procure something of that sort...

Cheers

 

[Pioneer]

glad you are still plugging away with this film Pioneer. I have a few rolls awaiting development but I have been lazy lately. My 2 year old also discovered the joy of pulling down daddy's film thats hanging to dry so I have narrowed my processing window to begin about 10 minutes after her bed time😀 But I also am liking your results with the Beutler developer. I might have to procure something of that sort...

Cheers

Ya gotta love those little ones. Anything within reach is fair game. 😀

I was actually quite surprised how easy it is to mix up Beutler and also to use it. I mixed mine in an old 2 liter water jug and then poured it into two glass quart sized mason jars from Walmart. The chemicals came from Amazon (3 lb bag of sodium sulfite), Walmart (box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) and Photoformulary.com (the metol.)

If you are not interested in having those chemicals in the house than you can by a type of Beutlers called Neofin Blue from Photographer's Formulary and mix it up just like Kodak D-76. It is a little different but probably not enough for any of us to worry about.

I also use the metol and sodium sulfite for my D-23, and the washing soda for my caffenol, so I get great bang for the buck out of these chemicals.

 

[Nobita]

First time posting here (been lurking for so so long) but I wanted to first thank you for posting all of these shots. There was a serious lack of samples when this film first came out and you were one of the first to let me check out what I was going to work with.

I finally developed my 2 rolls and posted these on Instagram but wanted to share them with the people here too. The more samples of "new" film the better right?

Both rolls were developed in HC-110(b) for 5 minutes. Same time as HP5+ which makes it handy since that's my usual go to film and I can do multiple rolls at once.

These are pretty much straight from the scanner (Epson V700) though i tweaked the levels a bit pre-scan. It's definitely contrasty. The film is thin but because of that it dries very flat. Reminded me of Acros 100 and it was easy to mount for scanning.

The first shot of my nephew was with the Pentax MX and the standard 50mm f/1.4. The rest from the Night Market Cleveland event was with the Contax G2 with the 40mm f/2.8 (autofocus felt so...fresh and new!).