Development of 35mm B+W film - specific process

Nick_oliveri wrote: »

Hello.

I would like to get advice on a certain film.

It is a roll or two of Kodak Technical Pan.

But the problem is its out by 20 years.

I haven't shot with it yet but would like to do so if possible.
It has been in a safe for the past 20 years.

Any point in trying to shoot with it?
Or would you recommend a similar film that I could buy in bulk?

I will be looking into developing with a tank in the future,
but would like to get someone with experience to develop the roll(s) as it is a specific chemical.

It's a fairly slow film so it's worth giving it a shot, was it kept in a fridge? Kept at room temperature for 20 years might be pushing it a bit. Dunno waht you'd use to develop it if technidol isn't around anymore, dilute rodinal, as the wiki article suggests, might be the way to go, or there are a bunch of specialist developers on the market specifically designed for those slow high contrast films.

What specific aspect of it are you interested in? The fine grain? The slow speed? Contrast? Extended red sensitivity? There are films that exhibit one or more of these things that are available now, getting right off the bat by shooting 20 year old pernickety film might just be frustrating.

Nick_oliveri wrote: »

I suppose I would be interested in a very low light capable B+W film. And a very sharp B+W film for medium to large sized prints.

low light your options are a bit limited nowadays, I think Ilfords Delta 3200 is the only high speed emulsion sold. Kodak discontinued its TMAX 3200 a few years ago. Alternatively you can push TRI-X or TMAX to 1600 or 3200 and develop in XTOL or Rodinal. You can look on flickr for examples but best to muck about yourself :-)

Slow & sharp I guess Ilford's Pan F 50 is theoretically the best bet. I've never had much use for it though, it's slow enough that you can't stop down much and it always in practice ends up losing out to my crappy camera technique Any of the modern (TMAX, Delta, Neopan) 100asa emulsions would probably be as good and give you the benefit of that extra stop to play with.