Today was a bright, crisp day. I decided to escape the city and breathe in some fresh coastal air. As I wandered along the sandy shores, the rhythmic sound of the waves and the interplay of sunlight and shadow evoked a sense of timeless beauty that perfectly matched the vintage character of Panatomic-X.
A few months ago, I discovered three rolls of Panatomic-X for 20-odd euros on Le Bon Coin—the French equivalent of Craigslist. Introduced in the 1930s and updated several times until its discontinuation in the mid-1980s, this film is renowned for its unique character and its low ISO of 32. Although I’d never shot with it before, I was intrigued by its history and potential, so I bought it. After a few days in the mail, the rolls sat patiently on my shelf, waiting for the right moment.
Fast forward to today: with the sun shining and the day full of promise, I thought, what better film to try than this classic ISO 32 film?
Since this is a low-ISO film—and therefore a high-resolution film—I decided to pair it with my Nikon F5 and Otus 55mm lens.
I loaded the film into my camera and set the ISO to 25 to give it a little extra boost. To be honest, even though Panatomic-X is reputed to age gracefully, I expected the emulsion to be somewhat damaged. This particular roll expired in September 1980—about 44 years ago. To mitigate larger grain and a loss of resolution, I chose to develop the roll in T-MAX 1+9 for 8 minutes and 30 seconds. This developer is considered semi-compensating and tends to produce slightly less grain than Rodinal. I’m glad I chose this combination—I believe it preserves a rich tonal range with a pleasing spectrum of grays.
I scanned the roll using my Nikon PB-6, a 55mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor lens, and my D850 camera. I’ll discuss this scanning method in more detail in a future blog post.
I’ve noticed that many expired Kodak films, when developed, have a very sticky emulsion side that attracts a lot of dust. This film was no exception. Also, some scans clearly show that the emulsion is damaged—when zooming in, a grain pattern emerges. The resolution is decent for a 44-year-old film, but I believe it isn’t as good as it once was.
Anyway, I have another two rolls of Panatomic-X, and I’ll probably develop them in T-MAX developer since I’m pretty happy with how these images turned out.
All in all, it was a nice day in Arcachon.
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