Polypan Party With A Theme Of P.

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Ian
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So I made a (drunken) decision to buy-it-now on a 50ft roll of 2014 expired Polypan F film and then after listening to a similar idea floated on a podcast, I thought I might see if anyone here is interested.

The Idea
I have 9 spare rolls of Polypan F that expired in 2014. I've rolled around 24 exposures on each roll apart from one which was the end of the bulk roll and has about 32. The Internet reckons you can shoot it at 50 through to 200 with decent results.
I have a little Analogue Wonderland box that fits the rolls in nicely. Rather than bear the expense of mailing out 9 rolls to 9 people (or mess about collecting money for small postage amounts), I thought I'd send the box of 9 to one person, then they could take one roll and mail it on to the next participant. Each person therefore pays the postage to post it on to the next person and that's the only cost.

Shoot your film with a subject or theme of "P" (reasons: Alliteration) or "F" (reasons: It's Polypan F) or whatever you want...

Get it developed and post your efforts in this thread.

As these are hand rolled, I am not sure how Filmdev or AG would deal with it, so if you don't home dev your black & white, it might be worth asking your lab (unless you know - in which case post here!)
As these are hand rolled, I am not sure how your camera would treat it (auto wind). The film is wound on to old 35mm cans so anything that reads the DX encoding may be an issue. I use my rolls in mechanical cameras so don't have this problem.

Anyone interested? If not, I shall shoot the lot myself and bore you all silly.

Edit to add signups...

@desf
@Carl Hall
@Peter B
@sirch
@FishyFish
@steveo_mcg
@medwaygreen
@Andysnap
@RaglanSurf
@ChrisR
 
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Sounds like great fun Ian, I'd love to join in.

(Hastily nips off to check if massive dev chart has Polypan F listed)
 
Brilliant, that's 4!

5 more spots :)
 
Never heard of this film Ian, but a quick Google got the site below and I'd love to shoot some of this. (y)
I read that review. I'm a Rodinal user so it would be good to see the varying results with different developers.

(Hastily nips off to check if massive dev chart has Polypan F listed)
It does for Rodinal, but if it hasn't got anything for your developer, the label on the can says dev as for (Ilford) Pan F which makes sort of sense.
 
That's 6. Still got 3 rolls left!
 
Sounds like a great idea,count me in please.

If I cannot find a lab to develop I am sure I could persuade someone to help me out. :)
 
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Go on then, you've talked me into it (y) I've got a Voightlander Bessamatic waiting for just this sort of thing.
 
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It does for Rodinal, but if it hasn't got anything for your developer, the label on the can says dev as for (Ilford) Pan F which makes sort of sense.
It's got times for all the common Developers for Polypan F so we are good. I've never done a 35mm Tin Can job so in a fit of massive over ambition I'm half thinking of trying that.
 
I’d be up for this if there’s still space.
 
Looks like we're done.

I'll drop @desf a PM to get his address, then sent the box out. If you could PM the person above you in the list in the OP with your address details so they can send it on that'd be great.

I'm half thinking of trying that.
I've marked up the 30-odd end of bulk-roll roll with your name so you've got a bit more to play around with. ("4 Chris" it says...)
 
Just had confirmation that AG can and will dev the film standard B&W price.
 
I’m stupidly excited about this, I love a film challenge.
 
Be interesting* to see how the same film responds to the different developers.


*I mean interesting in the loosest possible sense.
 
I thought I replied to this thread to say that the box is on its way to Des.
 
@desf you want to arrange to meet up, if your office is still in Corstorphine I can meet you in the morning.
 
@desf you want to arrange to meet up, if your office is still in Corstorphine I can meet you in the morning.
Sure thing, the box was only posted today though and 2nd class so I probably won't get 'til early next week.
I'll let you know?
 
Sure thing, the box was only posted today though and 2nd class so I probably won't get 'til early next week.
I'll let you know?

No hurry, just thought about to save posting it down south and then back up.
 
So I rolled myself a few short (10 exp) rolls to make sure the film actually works.

The results from the first roll which was shot at 100 (pushed+1) and developed in Rodinal 1+25 for 10.5 minutes as per the Massive Dev Chart. It works! So that's a relief that a) I didn't light leak it in the bulk loader and b) it's expired so no guarantees....

All images taken on an M6 with a Voigtlander 35mm Ultron - almost all are wide open at f2 which hasn't helped.

Post
by Ian, on Flickr


Prohibition
by Ian, on Flickr


Pole
by Ian, on Flickr


Portrait
by Ian, on Flickr


Path
by Ian, on Flickr

My initial impressions... It's ok. I'm guessing most of you know that I struggle to get decent scans out of 35mm (V550) so I'm looking forward to seeing what those of you with better solutions can do.

The Internet reckons this film likes sunshine and all these were taken on a grey rainy overcast day, so I think that all these photos are good for is proving that the film actually works and that 100 ISO is very doable. I think I'll push the other rolls to 200 and 400 just to see how they do. Unless we get some sun of course.

This film was £30 for a 50ft roll out of which I got 11 rolls of 28 and 3 rolls of 10 which is about £2.50 per 28 exposures (£4 for a 36).

Edit to add: I think the dynamic range is pretty damn good considering it's pushed. My office "porrtait" is a great test of high contrast because of inside vs outside.
 
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Looking good Ian, particularly like "Portrait", really effective image.
 
I'm fairly sure it'll be fine. Can't give any guarantees etc, but I ran a few hand rolled rolls through my old Minolta and that worked ok. My sellotaping method is fairly sturdy (I tape both sides) and I'd only have a concern if you were freezing it 'cos I don't think sellotape freezes well. You could also shoot 22 frames and then force-rewind. I took the counter to 28 on each roll and (assuming 4 frames of leader), so once you get past 20 if you're worried just rewind.
 
If anyone drops out I'd love to give this a go. The penalty of not checking F&C regularly when away (in Edinburgh, as it happens).

Back now... but just a side note in case the Edinbu*gers are still reading this. We drove down the A701 on Thursday, mostly in brilliant sunshine, and the autumn colours in the Tweed valley were just fabulous. But no, I couldn't stop and take a photo as we'd spent far too much time faffing about in the morning, and still 6 hours to go, darkness due to creep in, etc etc... Someone please get themselves down there with a bit of colour film?
 
Box of films has arrived here safely!

Will post on to @Carl Hall this lunchtime.

@steveo_mcg - I have taken a film out for you too. Will PM to meet up and hand it over ...
 
OK, so the next 10 frames I shot at 200. In typical fashion I changed a lot which was pretty stupid, but hey - it's me.

This time I went out on a sunny day (today) still with the M6 but this time with the Summicron 50mm f2. Shot at 200 and no massive dev times for this so I guessed at 13.5 minutes in 1+25 Rodinal. Developing looks pretty good.


Prohibition II
by Ian, on Flickr
Clear blue sky this time coming over my right shoulder and you can see the (characteristic) bloom in the highlights on the sign. I quite like it.


Pools of light
by Ian, on Flickr
Quite surprised by this one. Was shooting the high dynamic scene because I really liked how the light was playing through the trees onto the ground. With a 2 stop push I was expecting something much more contrasty.

Hoping for a bit more sun tomorrow so I can shoot my last ten frames at 50.
 
The penalty of not checking F&C regularly when away (in Edinburgh, as it happens).

Roll going in the post in the morning Chris :)
 
Final roll today. 10 exposures at ISO 50, with a yellow filter, the M6 and the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2. In Rodinal 1+25 for MDC recommended 6 minutes.


Plane
by Ian, on Flickr
This was scanned with my (just arrived today) Plustek 8100. Flickr has killed any semblance of sharpness but I'm much happier with the results. I can even spot the crow perched on the hedge. Buggered the negative with my wipe off. Forgot to soak it before using it.


Prohibition III
by Ian, on Flickr
Three shots of the same thing. Today was also sunny, and I had a yellow filter on. Got a lot more definition, and the yellow filter has lifted the leaves.

Overall, I quite like this film. Probably needs a bit more playing around with, and I've got a single roll of 28 left to shoot which I'll try once I see some of your results coming in.
 
Roll going in the post in the morning Chris :)

Brilliant Ian, thanks.

It's probably of importance to no-one but me, but I discovered that Polypan F is (as the name implies) based on a polyester substrate rather than acetate. The last time I tried a polyester film (Rolle Superpan from a single use camera I think), the guillotine in my Rondinax was unable to cut the end of the film, and I had to retreat under the stairs with a pair of scissors!

Now I have a changing bag, if necessary, but I've also got the Lab-box, whose guillotine struck me as crazy sharp when I checked it on arrival. So maybe it's time to put another film through there!
 
No worries from me Carl, since it's been raining here since Friday afternoon and to be much the same until about Friday this week. Here are a couple more virtual Jaffa Cakes for your efforts. :jaffa::jaffa:;)
 
Went to the post office at lunch today to post the box of film to @Peter B . Just as I got to the front of the queue their computers decided to do a lengthy update, and after ten minutes of waiting I gave up.

I bought some Jaffa Cakes to bring back to work though, so not a complete loss.

I feel a wee bit guilty as I felt I should have posted a film to @Peter B to avoid the box bouncing the length of the country!
 
I feel a wee bit guilty as I felt I should have posted a film to @Peter B to avoid the box bouncing the length of the country!
No need to feel guilty at all Des, since sometimes the long distance mail moves quicker! I've had a 2nd class large envelope posted in Cheshire in the afternoon arriving at 10am next day in Inverness, while 1st class to Filmdev in Cleveland always seems to take 2 days. :thinking:
 
No need to feel guilty at all Des, since sometimes the long distance mail moves quicker! I've had a 2nd class large envelope posted in Cheshire in the afternoon arriving at 10am next day in Inverness, while 1st class to Filmdev in Cleveland always seems to take 2 days. :thinking:

True. Once I was tracking a parcel from Ffordes to me in Edinburgh and it went via Heathrow!
Took over a week to arrive!
 
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