- Super high grain
- Great for enlargements
- Looks great (detail wise) when it is shot correctly

- ASA 25
- Super "contrasty"
- Must develop it yourself

I a not a big fan of this film. I shot this film for a project and used a Rolleiflex 2.8F. My subject was in the studio with not much lighting. The shots came out suprisingly good but it was very "contrasty". The detail is superior to any other film I have used but when you are shooting at ASA 25 you are very limited to what you can and cannot shoot.

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None similar to Techpan

medium format quality im 35mm.
Very dramatic skies with red filter. Smooth midrange tones.
Variable contrast depending on developer used can be put to good use for low contrast subjects.

slow, slow, slow - tripod always required.
Extended red sensitivity not good for imperfect skin (freckles etc.)

for mono landscapes this is the best film - extended red sensitivity darkens sky - delta 100 with orange filter similar. No grain, smooth tonality, very sharp. No point using this film without a tripod or good quality optics.

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apx25 - good for landscapes
delta 100 - good for portraiture, ok for landscapes

Incredible sharpness and grainless,this film has a lovely smoothness on skin and really picks out detail on textiles,wood,stone and metal surfaces like no other film!!,In my opinion its easy to process with technidol(and other developers)
On a thick base,easier and quicker to load into a spiral.

only that it costs nearly as twice as much as,agfa apx 25.
gets costly when buying 50 rolls.

This is my standard film for my art work,and commision work,I photograph mostly textiles and metal art/museum objects.
Incredible resolution with mamiya rz 67.
I have some 20"x24" fibre base prints,for my exhibition work,with technical pan processed in PYRO. INCREDIBLE FILM!!

Customer Service

not needed.

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agfa apx 25

Try finding the grain when using a grain focuser! Like looking in a mirror. Beautiful tonality. Prints like a dream. Great for outdoor and portraits.

Slow. Not an issue when using studio flash though. Getting harder to find.

Once you try it, you never want to use anything else. Help keep it alive and try some.

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Ilford Pan F 50

Incredible sharpness, virtually without grain, wonderful tonality...easy to develop

Base is a little thin, so care must be taken when loading on the reel, although I have never noticed any stress marks on negatives

Absolutely astounding film. To maximize the film's ability, put it behind some first rate glass. Yes, shooting at 25 speed puts some restraints on picture taking, but this can be obviated by using a short focal length lens, strong light conditions, or a tripod. I usually shoot this film behind a 35mm or 50mm, but in the right light I'll use longer lenses, too.

Extremely easy to develop in Technidol. It is not tempermental at all, and results are quite uniform.

The more you shoot with this film, the more you want to shoot, as the image detail and tonality are staggering (the look is quite different from other films, so shoot a test roll in varying conditions to see if the film's personality appeals to you). It's tough to go back to any other film after Tech Pan, even though conditions sometimes dictate a faster one. Each time I open the tank I can hardly wait to see what the film captured, because I always find more detail than my eye could possibly have captured during the shoot. One gets the impression that one could take a photo of a penny from a hundred yards away, blow it up, and find out if Abe Lincoln had shaved that morning...and this from the 'tail' side of the coin, not the 'heads'.

Hopefully Kodak will keep this film in their line for years to come. If you ever hear they plan to discontinue it, buy a trainload for safekeeping.

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Nothing of this speed, but all the other Kodak B&W films

what can I say... its so sharp people think my 35mm images are large format. Crystal clear and creat contrast.

Expensive unless bought in bulk and then its really quite reasonable

great for scenics, panoramas, architecture and even better for figure/nudes. the tonal range, detail and contrast is very complimentary to skin tones, but note that it captures every detail. I use it exclusively now for practically everything, and at its worst it performs at least as well as tmax, so despite the extra work in rolling my own rolls its very worth using for everything.

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all the others

Unique in its class.

Unbeatable for resolution and absence of grain.

Has a distinctive, hyperreal look to it in many applications.

Very particular about exposure and development.

Requires special developers, and you typically end up developing it yourself, since hardly any lab will do it (especially at any reasonable price).

It's an expensive film.

Requires lots of experimenting to get things just right.

Technical Pan has no competition in the domains for which it is best suited, but it isn't suited for everything. If you've always wanted to be able to read street signs a mile away in your 35-millimeter negatives with a 28-mm lens, or if you check for grain in your negatives with a scanning electron microscope, this is the film for you.

If you just like extremely faithful, extraordinarily detailed and precise representations of real-world scenes in black and white, Tech Pan is also for you.

If you are put off by developing your own film according to strict protocols, or paying a lot per roll of film, or searching around for rare developer solutions, this may not be your film.

I like to alternate between Tech Pan and Tri-X. Tech Pan is the racing car that will whip anything else on the track with enough tender loving care. Tri-X is the dented but reliable utility truck that will get you to your destination even if you're tired and lazy, and no matter what the road conditions are like.

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Web site is very thorough.

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None. Tech Pan is in its own class.

As fine grained and sharp as photographic film can be. Good for smoothing out blemishes in skin tones due to extended red sensitivity.

As the ISO of this film changes with the amount of red light in a scene, it is a poor choice when consistency and predictability are required. The extended red sensitivity leads to inaccurate, if interesting results. Very difficult to fine-tune processing and don't even think about zone system control.

A great film if you want something different, but if you want fine grain and sharpness, use Agfa APX25 or larger film.

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Agfa APX25

The finest crispiest film i have used.Very easy to print,holds shadow & highlite detail better than most

In the 120 size it is almost imposible to dev an even sky without uneven dev marks

I either like no grain or obveous but nice grain.For grain i feel tri x is the go and for no grain then tech pan is the best.One big thing to think about for all of you super sharp freaks is that films like APX 25 realy need high light levels.They are not at there best in long exposure ,low light situations .The shadow detail suffers.Tech pan is just superb for those inside natural light 20 second exposures.I shoot Leica & Linhof so lens quality is not a problem for me but if you use zooms orlower quality lenses then you will be under uterlising this film.The speed is not bad when you take into account that the extended red sensertivity means you don't need a light yellow filter.To dev make sure you always use a pre-soak and put the film into the dev not the other way around and agitate very very vigorously before you even think of putting the lid on your dev tank.After that remember to agitate for 2 seconds every 30 ,not 2.5 seconds or 1.6 seconds.This advise is more for the 120 size than 35 mm .The fist time i used this film i didn,t like it but i remember reading about Ansel Adams recomending students of his use it in their 35mm cameras while doing one of his desert tutorials so i gave it another few tries. Perservere it realy is worth it .It is also worth buying an Leica M for.

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agfa 25 , pan f ,panatomic x

Virtually grain-free, extreme sharpness

Slow speed when used as pictorial film (ISO 25), requires special Technidol developer for pictorial processing, somewhat expensive for B&W film

Kodak's Technical Pan film is one of the best films I have used for black-and-white outdoor photography. The prints I had printed from this film are tack-sharp - so much that I could have blown the images up all the way to 32x48" without sacrificing much in the way of image quality. And the grain is of the "Huh? What grain?" variety.

This is the good news. Now for the not-so-good news: Technical Pan film requires the use of special Technidol developer for continuous-tone pictorial processing - and that developer, though I have had no trouble whatsoever using it, takes some getting used to in terms of developing technique. (For pictorial use, Technical Pan is rated at ISO 25.) Conventional developers, such as D-76, HC-110 and Xtol can be used with Technical Pan film, but only for super-high-contrast line art (ISO speed range varies with the developer used). And these days, the price for a 36-exposure roll of this film is considerably higher than for an equal-exposure roll of my old standby, Kodak Tri-X (ISO 400).

So, if you want the ultimate pictorial results, particularly for outdoor photography, and you are willing to invest time and money in special processing, then Technical Pan is the film for you. Otherwise, for general B&W photography, there are more suitable choices, such as T-Max 100.

***Note that my value rating is based on today's over-inflated prices on this film.***

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T-Max 100