Pan F- Develop right after shooting.

kdemas

kdemas

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I had an interesting experience yesterday that I thought I'd share. I went out shooting with my Nikon SP that had a rollof Pan F in it that was about half shot. It had been sitting for a few months, one of those rolls you just don't finish.

I went out and shot the last 16 or so photos, as well as another roll, and cruised home to process the rolls. As I mixed up the developer I remembered that I had read that Pan F needs to be developed relatively quickly or the image may start to degrade. Hey, the perfect test!!!

Well.... it's certainly true with the roll I developed, the old shots were incredibly degraded while the newer shots were spot on. Really fascinating.

I still really like Pan F but I thought I'd pass the word along in case any of you think of shooting it and letting it sit for an extended period of time.

Kent
 
Was the camera sitting around exposed to high temperatures, such as in the trunk of a car on a hot day? I'm wondering if that was the case. If so, it could have contributed to the degradation of the older shots.
 
Nope. It was in my nice relatively cool camera cabinet.

...process PAN F Plus as
soon as possible. Images on exposed but unprocessed film
will not degrade during normal working periods, that is, up to one month when stored as recommended.


Mine certainly sat FAR longer than a month. Maybe 3 to 6. I wish I could find the original article I read on the issue, I'll post it if I come across it.


ornate_wrasse said:
Was the camera sitting around exposed to high temperatures, such as in the trunk of a car on a hot day? I'm wondering if that was the case. If so, it could have contributed to the degradation of the older shots.
Click to expand...
 
someone else posted about this recently. It would explain some issues I have had with this film in the past too.
 
Ilford will tell you this too. PanF+ MUST be developed promptly. It has less robust latent image keeping ability than other films, which is why the frame numbers are always so hard to read. Storage doesn't matter if it is a few weeks before development in my experience. I've been bitten by this too Kent, I now am very sure to shoot it all or just rewind it and run it asap.
 
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sepiareverb,

How quickly must one develop it after exposure? I was not sure if you meant storage does not matter within a few week (as in it will be fine) or that good storage won't prevent the degradation that will occur within a few weeks.
 
This is what Ilford says in the fact sheets of not only PanF but *all* of their films:
"
Exposed film
Once exposed, process FP4 Plus as soon as
practical. Images on exposed but unprocessed film
will not degrade for up to several months when
stored as recommended
"
 
So PanF is, in this aspect, like IR films, which need to be developed right after the exposure. Are there other films that one should be aware of? All Ilford films?

Kent, could you please post a few samples, or describe the degradation of the old shots? (ex: loss of acutance?)
 
Hmmm... I don't know that Ilford says that. I'll pay attention next time I use Pan F... and I'll look more closely at my 4-month HP5 experiment recently developed...
 
wow I did not know about this. Thanks for posting. Is it regardless of the iso? I have pan 100 right now in my camera and its been 1-2 weeks and havent finished.
 
Hmm...I dunno about this. I had some rolls I shot overseas, and couldn't get around to for a month or so after returning.
So, that would be about 2 months from exposure to development...no worries on my part.

Not discounting what you say, just that it seems pretty rapid.
 
Thanks for sharing!

I've had problems with a few rolls, so I stopped using it last year... But I didn't have problems for more than ten years before that... And the three consecutive weak rolls I experienced (not really bumping contrast up when development time was increased roll after roll) were one year before expired, and were developed the same day they were shot... I never knew why... But the film is great...

Cheers,

Juan
 
When I bought Efke 100 at B&H, the sales guy told me to develop ASAP after shooting, due to the high silver content of the film. Maybe a similar thing with PAN F?
 
I've seen what looks just like underexposure on rolls left sitting for more than three weeks. It can be quite dramatic on a roll left half shot in a body for a while that gets finished and run the same day.

I've not found that cold storing the exposed film seems to help- it seems like time is the culprit.
 
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Back in 2004 when I was on deployment to the desert, I took 3 bricks of Pan-F and two bricks of Plus-X. It was so bright I exposed about 50 rolls of Pan-F, beginning in August and ending in January of 2005. I didn't have a chance to get them developed until mid-February when I got home and off leave. Most of that time the exposed film was in a badly working refrigerator that kept what was inside marginally cooler than the temperature in my office. Before that it was out on convoy for a few months in 120+ heat. as for the image degradation, I don't know. The photos I got turned out really well. Everything was developed in HC-110 in a dip and dunk processor.

These days I like Plus-X or PX125 (whatever they call it now) since the emulsion is a bit hardier than that of Pan-F which I've found is very easily scratched and doesn't like combat photography nearly as much.

Phil Forrest
 
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