Yashica MONO 400 - Developing

[jimmyvalentine]

Hi all,

I've recently finished shooting a roll of Yashica MONO 400. I picked it up at the photographers gallery in London, hadn't seen it before, thought I'd give it a punt.

The problem I'm having is, I cannot find any developing information on the film. I was thinking of doing a stand development in Rodinal, I've done this before but not with any neg's I've planned on printing.

Does anyone have any experience using this film? Or any ideas what might be a good starting point for developing? I have another roll, and I don't have any pictures on the current roll that I'd be heartbroken about if they wasn't perfect.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[Coldkennels]

Does anyone have any experience using this film? Or any ideas what might be a good starting point for developing? I have another roll, and I don't have any pictures on the current roll that I'd be heartbroken about if they wasn't perfect.

It'll be repackaged/rebranded film, so figuring out what's actually in there is the real answer you're looking for.

The best clue is always the "made in..." line on the box if you still have it.

Made in the UK? Kentmere 400 (llford don't provide HP5+, XP2, Delta 400 etc. as "raw material" for repackaging).
Made in Czech Republic? Foma 400 (a common choice).
Made in the EU? Could be Foma 400, could be ORWO 74, or could be Aviphot Pan 200 (despite the "ISO" shown on the box - Aviphot 200 is what's used for Rollei Retro 400S, Rollei Superpan 200, and JCH Street Pan).

As far as I know, Kodak and Fuji don't supply film for rebranding, so those are your options; every new "film company" that's providing a B&W 400 ISO film is using one of those four stocks (bar Bergger, apparently; their Pancro 400 is supposedly something totally new. Supposedly).

Conveniently, Yashica's own website hides the "made in..." info on the product photos, but considering one website lists the same time for Yashica MONO 400 and Superpan 200, my guess it's Aviphot Pan 200. That'd certainly track with the high-contrast, grainy, borderline underexposed images I'm seeing for Yashica MONO 400 online, too.

Minor rant: as much as I love the Photographer's Gallery, I really hate the fact they stock all these repackaged films for this very reason. My girlfriend picked up some JCH Streetpan from there because she wanted something different from the Rollei Retro 400S she'd been using. Needless to say, she was annoyed to find out she'd just paid a premium for the exact same thing we have in bulk at home!

 

[jimmyvalentine]

It'll be repackaged/rebranded film, so figuring out what's actually in there is the real answer you're looking for.

The best clue is always the "made in..." line on the box if you still have it.

Made in the UK? Kentmere 400 (llford don't provide HP5+, XP2, Delta 400 etc. as "raw material" for repackaging).
Made in Czech Republic? Foma 400 (a common choice).
Made in the EU? Could be Foma 400, could be ORWO 74, or could be Aviphot Pan 200 (despite the "ISO" shown on the box - Aviphot 200 is what's used for Rollei Retro 400S, Rollei Superpan 200, and JCH Street Pan).

As far as I know, Kodak and Fuji don't supply film for rebranding, so those are your options; every new "film company" that's providing a B&W 400 ISO film is using one of those three stocks (bar Bergger, apparently; their Pancro 400 is supposedly something totally new. Supposedly).

Conveniently, Yashica's own website hides the "made in..." info on the product photos, but considering one website lists the same time for Yashica MONO 400 and Superpan 200, my guess it's Aviphot Pan 200. That'd certainly track with the high-contrast, grainy, borderline underexposed images I'm seeing for Yashica MONO 400 online, too.

Minor rant: as much as I love the Photographer's Gallery, I really hate the fact they stock all these repackaged films for this very reason. My girlfriend picked up some JCH Streetpan from there because she wanted something different from the Rollei Retro 400S she'd been using. Needless to say, she was annoyed to find out she'd just paid a premium for the exact same thing we have in bulk at home!

Ah! Thank you for the info.

I had a feeling it was repackaged film, I did a bit of searching and read somewhere it was HP5+ emulsion, but with a different base, but was dubious to believe they would allow that to be repackaged, so had a feeling it might be Kentmere 400 (Which annoyingly I have a fridge full of).

I also found the Yashica website frustrating, zero helpful details.

I'll check those links out and let you know how I get on with it.

Thank you again for your help, really appreciate it 🙂

 

[Coldkennels]

If it does turn out to be Aviphot Pan 200, I recommend a dev time of 6:00 in LC29 1+19 at 20ºC, with just ten seconds of agitation every minute.

I've now gone through two bulk rolls of Rollei Retro 400S; there's a lot of conflicting times across the internet for that stock (and, of course, the various other repackaged Aviphot Pan 200 films), and most of them result in too much contrast and heavily burned-out highlights, so I spent some time tweaking the development until I got to that. It works out quite nicely. Certainly much better than the Massive Dev Chart's recommended 11 or 12 minutes in that developer!

 

[jimmyvalentine]

If it does turn out to be Aviphot Pan 200, I recommend a dev time of 6:00 in LC29 1+19 at 20ºC, with just ten seconds of agitation every minute.

I've now gone through two bulk rolls of Rollei Retro 400S; there's a lot of conflicting times across the internet for that stock (and, of course, the various other repackaged Aviphot Pan 200 films), and most of them result in too much contrast and heavily burned-out highlights, so I spent some time tweaking the development until I got to that. It works out quite nicely. Certainly much better than the Massive Dev Chart's recommended 11 or 12 minutes in that developer!

Thanks for the help with this.

I have just read that it is ORWO N74 from someone who has matched the DX barcodes, I bought some LC29 just incase, but cant find any recipes for ORWO N74 + LC29.

Think I might stick to the Rodinal for now, unless you have a recipe up your sleeve?

I'll send through some scanned negs and prints over the weekend.

 

[dourbalistar]

Thanks for the help with this.

I have just read that it is ORWO N74 from someone who has matched the DX barcodes, I bought some LC29 just incase, but cant find any recipes for ORWO N74 + LC29.

Think I might stick to the Rodinal for now, unless you have a recipe up your sleeve?

I'll send through some scanned negs and prints over the weekend.

Welcome to the forum @jimmyvalentine. I don't have any recipes for LC29, but have used LegacyPro L110 which is a HC-110 clone. There's a thread here on the forum with some image samples, including with Rodinal. ORWO N74 is/was also repackaged by Lomography as Berlin Kino 400. Some of Lomo's marketing images clearly show ORWO N74 in the edge makings.