[Leica] Neopan 400

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

On 11/28/06 12:12 AM, "Marc James Small" <marcsmall@comcast.net> typed:

> At 08:31 PM 11/27/2006, G Hopkinson wrote:
>> Marc I haven't seen such an opinion on the Neopan 400 before. From my
>> own recent and limited b&w renaissance, I've had better
>> results from the Neopan vs HP5.
> 
> Hoppy
> 
> Perhaps I spoke in haste and, certainly, whatever
> works for you, works for you.  I go back a LONG
> way with Ilford, back to H.P. 3 in 1965, which I
> used to pump up to 1200 ASA for astrophotography
> in my High School days.  This is an emulsion I
> really like and understand after four decades of
> use.  I generally develop it in home-brewed D-76
> but I also use one of several Crawley mixes or
> ID-11 and even XTOL, when I can find it.  For
> that matter, I've had some really good results with HP-5 and Rodinal.
> 
> I had a miserable time with Neopan in its early
> days and I've not tried it since then.  It was an
> unworkable emulsion with a huge learning
> curve.  I had climbed that one already to tame
> T-Max but simply lacked the time and energy to
> learn how to use Neopan when I was so damned
> happy with HP-5.  (I eventually DID learn the
> trick to using T-Max and came to love it for its
> virtues, though I never warmed to its higher-speed brethren.)
> 
> So, if you find Neopan friendly to your needs, I
> apologize.  I simply find it an unworkable film
> with little apparent benefit and much
> difficulty.  Perhaps I ought to try it again.
> 
> Marc
> 
> 

I'm a shooter of the Green. When I shoot real black and white film. Usually
I shoot xp2 which is developed by anywhere in c41. Darned hard to screw that
up.  I bought brick of it today my first time I ever visited B&H notable as
they have been my main supplier for 30 years. I may have spent my last dime
there.
I could never got anything out of HP3 or 4 or 5 my friends all did but I bet
in Xtol 1:3 it makes everything look like roses and roast beef.
I've stated to think it doesn't matter what you shoot just as long as you
run it in Xtol 1:3.
Just as long as it isn't. Tmax 100. Or Delta 3200.

I tend to go between my street film which is Neopan 1600 which in Xtol 1:3
looks better than my tri x in d76 1:1 or 1:2 ever did in the 60s, 70s and
80s.

In the studio with studio strobes or doing tripod high rez stuff I used the
100 which is ACROS which is a tab grain film of peculiar sensibilities.
Which is fine because the world is boring enough the way it is. Nice go get
somthin with just a little different look to it.

Sometimes like when they're out of Neopan 1600 I'll shoot the 400 and its
like I'm shooting high rez film. It really is a lot sharper than the 1600.
You wonder if its really not the 100! The 1600 seems plenty sharp as long as
you don't have any prints from the 400 lying around. I used it for an on
location at Lewis and Clark college Oregon family portrait session two years
ago. Looked like Pan F in Beutlers. Maybe Rodinal. But with dof. And action
stopping power.





Mark Rabiner
New York, NY
40?47'59.79"N   
73?57'32.37"W

http://rabinergroup.com/