A friend gave me all of his film. It has all been freezer kept.
Among the mix are two 36 exposure rolls and one hundred foot roll of Panatomic X....
Do I shoot it at box speed?
What is a good developer to maintain the super fine grain?
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt,
Some of us love slow film. It has such incredible detail.
I still use Panatomic X film, although mostly in 120 roll format (expiry date circa 1989) and 4" x 5" cut down aerographic roll. There is (detectable) base fog, depending on how critical your imaging requirements are - which you can suppress in several ways. If you know the vintage of your Panatomic X, here are some solutions:
Box speed is ISO 32: you can shoot at ISO 8-25 in order to cut down the development time proportionally and restrain the base fog. I see your open apertures are not quite fast enough perhaps to work your rangefinder comfortably at this ISO. Perhaps then, you might need to try one of the other development techniques.
Average generic developers like D76 or HC110 are alright for average medium grain film. Perhaps it feels a little wasted on such a fine film. If you must, Rodinal's acutance is preferable however you may need to adjust for the development time in view of base fog.
A 1% Benzotriazole solution to the developer acts as a restrainer. Alternatively, Sodium Metabisulphite can be used. You will have to experiment by adding low concentrations into the developer, since there is a trade off in tonal range with using either kind of developer restrainer to compensate.
The principle of using an 'energetic' developer like Kodak HC110, is helpful for Panatomic X when it can shorten the developing time: the shorter your developing times for your working ISO, the less time there is for base fog to develop. If you can source it, Fuji Artdol (discontinued) is more successful than Kodak HC110. Development times are typically contracted to 2 1/2 minutes - phenomenally short and delivering a full tonal scale: even with HC110 dilution B, such short development times are unheard of. By the time you push for HC110 dilution H, significant increase of development times obviate all the benefits of using an energetic developer to achieve rapid development without base fog ascension.
Finally, I'd recommend consideration of using a staining development technique with a (speed) compensating developer like PMK Pyro (or Pyrogallol proper) staining development if you haven't already tried this method: the yellow-green stain masks base fog. Typically at ISO 16, development times run into 8 - 8 1/2 minutes at 21 degrees C. The base fog is extremely hard to detect in with this staining developer technique.
There are a number of darkroom developer resources (including Steve Anchell's useful primer and the Book of Pyro) which really bring out the best of this film. It's worthwhile learning how to match the development technique with such a fabulous film since you will be one of the last of this generation to shoot with Panatomic X. If you really cannot shoot any lower than ISO 32, then Ilford Microphen (a compensating developer or a similar like Microdol) would be better for the half stop speed increase, but still falls short of the other development techniques above.
Kind regards,
RJ
