Ilford Pan F Plus - What Developer?

[jbrough]

I'm just about to embark on developing some rolls of Ilford Pan F Plus and was wondering if anyone had experience with developers for this film i.e. Is one better than the other?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Jonathan.

[Keith]

I've had very nice results with Rodinal and this film!

[David William White]

Ilfosol is Ilford's best recommended developer, and it's very forgiving. I've used Ilfosol, HC-110, and Rodinal with similar results.

[eman]

Had nice results with D76 1+1 (20C, 10 mins), rated at EI25

[craygc]

XTOL 1:1 ...but Pan F is much more closer to being an EI 25 speed film than an EI 50

[Turtle]

something with acutance. I used Ilfosol but found excessive frothing and air bubbles attached to film causing spots. From experience with Fx-39 and other films this produces stunning acutance from smooth fims. Wilt D100 it is stunning and I would expect it to add some real bite to Pan F. I would try EI 25-32.

Rgds

[Roger Hicks]

Whatever you use, both exposure and dev times are fairly critical -- especially the latter. True ISO speeds range from about 25 (Perceptol) to about 80 (Microphen/DD-X). Add in 1/3 stop for better tonality and you're looking at EI 20-64.

Needless to say it works very well in D76/ID-11 (true ISO about 50) and I rather like it in FX-39. It should work very well in most 2-bath devs but I've not tried that in decades. And Rodinal (speed loss + big grain with many faster films) can't do much harm to either speed or grain with Pan F and gives tonality that many love.

Cheers,

Roger

[40oz]

yeah, I'm not sure it matters what developer you use. Just use what you've got, and see what you can do. I've had good results with D-76, but then that's what I use for everything.

[navilluspm]

I'm with Keith: Rodinal has produced some wonderful results for me: the tones these two produce together are very addicting. (I guess I am one of the people Roger is talking about)

[sienarot]

I'm going to have to agree with the rodinal suggestions as well. Ilfosol S is also nice, however given it's short shelf life, it's not a developer I purchase often. If Ilfosol 3 is supposed to give the same results without the sudden developer death, that may be worth a try too.

Here's a few shots I took with my Holga using Pan F+ and developed in rodinal

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/443228551_4f75999dd8_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/188/443224224_b4bd5d0d9c_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/443229345_2c306bc301.jpg

[stuken]

I have used ilfosol S and Rodinal. I love rodinal for basically everything, but I think the ilford developer had the upper hand in this case.

[wintoid]

My vote is for Rodinal, from what I've used.

[PhotoJim]

My vote is for PMK. I was, at first, disappointed with this combination. PMK doesn't really provide a lot of stain on Pan-F Plus compared to other films. Then, one day, I tried to print those disappointing negatives. They were a joy to print. PMK is now my standard developer with Pan-F Plus.

[cosmonot]

I shot a bunch of PanF that I found in the fridge while I was in high school and mostly used Rodinal 1:50. It was old stuff though, paper labels, in snap cap cassettes with the long LTM-friendly leaders. I might have used some Microdol-X as well... Had a lot of fun with that film.