Hi Mark ...
Thanks for that very thorough report. The inconsistencies with J&C film
are enough to put me off using it, at least with 120.
I'm not a nature photographer, and the detail on many of your pics are
lost
on the small monitors, so I was wondering as I was looking at the pics if
you had any photos of people - portraits, candids, etc.
Shel
"When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the
people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and
tears, you will know you are on the right track." - Arthur Fellig
[Original Message]
From: Mark Cassino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: 5/31/2005 6:34:41 AM
Subject: Re: Getting That Old Fashioned Glow
Classic Pan 200 was my standard film for most of last summer - I shot
somewhere around 50 rolls, 120 format. A few shots taken with it:
http://www.markcassino.com/feature.htm
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga00.htm
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga03.htm
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga04.htm
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga13.htm
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga21.htm
I switched over to APX 100 when JandC ran out of CP200 late last year.
Ordered up another 20 rolls of the new CP200, but it seems to be subtly
different than the old (not surprising to see batch to batch variation in
a
film like this.)
With proper treatment you can produce a beautiful negative with this
film.
Personally, I exposed at ISO 100 (there was virtually no shadow detail at
ISO 200), developed in HC 110 Dil H for 17 minutes, with agitation only
once
every 3 minutes. It brought out beautiful shadow detail while preventing
the highlights from blocking up. (Dil H is an 'unofficial dilution, 1:64
-
double the dilution of Dil B.)
I would rinse the film with water and then apply the acid stop bath - I
had
a few cases of pin holes when I just dropped the acid bath in. I also
used a
hardening fixer. The folks at JandC said you could go either way on
hardening it or not.
This is a very low contrast film - it's hard to factor in the agitation
and
dilution aspects of the developer, but I basically was over exposing it
by a
full stop and pushing the development to some degree at least. I also
found
that it needed additional adjustment with filters - I got very poor
shadow
detail with a #25 red filter and 3 stop exposure adjustment. With the
green
filter I went to a 3 stop adjustment, more than the 2.5 stops I'd usually
do.
With the new batch of CP200 I've cut development time by 3 minutes and
the
negs still look a little dense, so YMMV, as they say.
I only tried a couple of rolls of CP400 so never really got to know it.
It
seemed to be comparable in many ways to CP200 (except faster.)
The biggest PITA about CP200 in 120 format is that the film is not rolled
onto the spools as well as modern films. This is the only 120 film I've
used
where I would find light leaks along the edges pretty consistently. I
finally wound up bringing a black T-Shirt along with me in the field and
using it as a covering cloth when changing film - and then promptly
transferring the exposed rolls into a dark bag. Even then, a slight
squeeze
to the center of the roll could result in light leaks, even in the
subdued
indoor light of my basement.
And if you do use 120 film - note that JandC often neglects to put glue
on
the end of the roll tag (most of the CP200 I bought this year has no
glue,
last years stock did.) So you need to bring tape to tape the roll shut
(a
rubber band will compress the center of the roll, push the ends out, and
cause light leaks.)
At the end of the day - with the right development of APX 100 (I'm using
a
more dilute version of HC100) I find that the results are every bit as
good
as CP200, and the AGFA product is much easier to handle and is a cheaper
as
well... except for them going bankrupt I'd plan on using it indefinitely.
