 |
| Photo by Michael Raso |
Have any readers used this stuff? I'm not aware that it's on sale in the UK but it looks an interesting film. The Film Photography Project sold out a while back but now have more Polypan F in stock and, unlike some Lomography products, it's reasonably priced at $4.99 for a 24-exposure roll. Previously, it had only been available in bulk but the FPP is now hand-rolling it.
It's apparently a Cinecopy film that has little or no anti-halation layer and which imparts a Leica-like glow to the highlights. It's not going to be good for every scene but it might well be quite special for the right ones. Michael Raso's portrait above is a nice example. Grainy and gritty appear to be the film's other qualities.
The FPP admits that it doesn't know the origin of the film. There has been much speculation that it could be anything from Ilford Pan F to a cine film from the Russian Shostka Film Company. There's no DX coding on the cassettes but the film speed is in the 50-100 ISO range, depending on developer.
Since it's highly unlikely there will be any more Polypan F made in future - this stock seems to be quite old - it's not going to be on sale forever but it's still nice to have an alternative emulsion around at least for a while.
Use the stuff a lot. Like it at 100asa in Rodnial mainly but do shove it 200asa sometimes. I get it in bulk from Lumiere shoppe - cheap as chips there.
ReplyDeleteNever tried buying from Lumiere, Andrea. Do you have a web address?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lumiere-shop.de/index.php?page=categorie&cat=79
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, Andrea. I'll have a good look.
ReplyDeleteI used to use the Chinese Lucky SHD 100 film occasionally which also lacked an anti-halation layer.
ReplyDeleteIn normal circumstances it did indeed provide a nice "glow" to the highlights, but in strong sunlight it was more like nasty lens flare (although in your part of the world you may not experience this problem very frequently!)