Written by James Baturin
Last week, I decided to take my Hasselblad 500CM out with me on the golf course. After all, why not live my best life by combining my two favorite hobbies in one outing?
I don’t typically shoot in bright, sunny conditions. Partly because harsh light often isn’t conducive to the images I want to take. But also, my Hasselblad’s fastest shutter speed is 1/500 of a second, which means I’m not able to shoot with wide apertures in bright conditions if I’m using faster film speeds with a higher ISO (and I usually am).
So I took this on-course shoot as an opportunity to try a new film that would give me the flexibility to shoot wide open in extremely bright conditions even with the limitations of my camera’s shutter speeds. That film is Ilford Pan F Plus 50.
Find Ilford Pan F Plus 50 on Amazon.
The Lowest ISO Film in Ilford’s Lineup
At 50 ISO, Pan F+ is the slowest film speed in Ilford’s lineup of black and white films. In other words, it’s the least sensitive to light.
On their website, Ilford describes the film as “suitable for bright conditions from sunny days to controlled studio lighting.” The slow speed was perfect for me on the golf course on a clear, sunny afternoon in early June.
I was able to shoot everything handheld, using an aperture of f/4 or f/5.6 and still had a stop or two of shutter speeds to work with on my camera. The ability to shoot with a wider aperture was great for shooting portraits where I really wanted to shallow out the depth-of-field to bring attention to my subject.
The Clarity, Sharpness, & Grain of Ilford Pan F
The drawback to the slow speed of Pan F+ is obviously that it’s not going to do well in overcast or low light conditions, unless you have a tripod. But what it lacks in versatility, it makes up for in its clarity and sharpness.
If you’re looking for a faster speed b&w film that also does well on sunny, high contrasty days, CineStill BwXX is definitely worth a try.
I only shot one roll of the 120 version of Ilford Pan F, but based on the shots I got, this film might be the smoothest, sharpest film I’ve ever used. It’s incredibly sharp and brings out so many fine and intricate details in the images.
I brought out my extension tube as well to try shooting macro images for some close up detail, and I’m glad I did. This film is a perfect candidate for close up portraiture, architecture on a sunny day, and macro photography, as the details it captures are stunning.
But if you like grain, this film is probably not going to be for you, as there is very little of it. However, what grain there is is really smooth and pleasant.
The first word that came to mind when I scanned the Pan F+ images was “classic.” This film has a really classic look to it.
The contrast is lovely, with nice deep blacks and bright whites. Shooting on such a bright, sunny day, I was concerned about blowing out the highlights in some of the shots, but this film held its own, and I was really happy to see so much detail in the whites of the image.
There were even a couple shots that I slightly underexposed as the light grew less in the early evening, but the film still captured a remarkable amount of information in the shadows when I brightened the scans up in Lightroom.
Developing Ilford Pan F Plus
I developed Pan F+ in Kodak HC-110 (dilution b) for 4 minutes.
I never have experimented much with developers, but given its sharpness I’m sure Pan F+ would be a good candidate for experimenting to see which developer was best for bringing out the clarity and sharpness of your images.
Final Thoughts
While it probably won’t be your everyday go-to film, if you’re looking for what might be the sharpest film on the market and are planning on shooting subjects with lots of detail on a bright, sunny day, you won’t do better than Ilford Pan F Plus.
I don’t always shoot film on the golf course, but when I do, I’ll probably reach for another roll myself!
Thank you so much, James! James is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, including 6 Tips for Photographing Fog & Creating Magical Images on Film and Ilford FP4 Plus Black & White Film Review.
You can also check out James’s work on Instagram.
Leave your questions about shooting Ilford Pan F Plus 50 below in the comments, and you can pick some up for yourself on Amazon!
Leave a Comment
Shoot It With Film on Instagram
Blog Comments
Michael Elliott
June 23, 2023 at 11:09 am
One of the few emulsions that I’ve used very little, save for one roll when I first started with film and was experimenting with finding what black and white emulsions I liked.
At the time, I chose Acros over the Ilford offering; it pushes very well to 400, is glorious at 100, though I never shot it at 50, as I never really needed to.
With hindsight, I probably should have played more with Pan F, but I then decided to go down the Tech Pan/Panatomic X/Agfapan APX25 route for my slow B&W offering. When I run out of that (in 10 years time ????) I’ll probably give Pan F another go 🙂
Anthony Marsh
June 23, 2023 at 12:10 pm
It would have been so much more informative to have known the lens used.
Dan
June 23, 2023 at 11:27 am
This is one of my favorite B&W film stocks! I have gotten splendid results in both 120 and 35mm. I love its sharpness and smooth tonality.
Ray Goulter
June 23, 2023 at 8:29 pm
I haven’t used Pan F for years, and I’m fortunate enough to still have 4 rolls of 35mm, 3 x 120 rolls, and about 20 4″x5″ sheets of that glorious micro-grain film Kodak Technical Pan. TechPan is currently being offered on the internet at exorbitant prices due to it’s increasing scarcity. I also have 4 x 120 rolls of Agfa APX25, also a great fine-grain film. Technidol developer is also becoming difficult to obtain, but I got good results recently with two 4″x5″ TechPan sheets using HC-110 dilution F (1:79). I exposed both at 12 ISO but doubt if this made any difference to exposing at the rated 25 ISO. In fact, it appears to have created greater contrast for a film that is inherently contrasty to begin with so I had to do some dodging & burning in to get good prints. Note that sharpness is better using a wider aperture as you did with your golf course photos, as this avoids diffusion. The trade-off is reduced depth-of-field.
Stephen Kayara
June 24, 2023 at 10:50 pm
I roll my own bulk. 35mm, I develop using Rodinal 1+50, 11 minutes at 20C.
Results have been very nice. I have to look real hard at blowups to find any grain.
David Lai
July 21, 2023 at 5:33 am
None of those pictures look sharp.
Robert
December 13, 2024 at 4:28 am
Counter intuitive but Ilford pan f is my go to winter film stock. The film exhibits higher contrast than the rest of the ilford range and is perfect on overcast & dull cloudy days with the camera mounted on a tripod. The contrast is too high for sunny days.