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Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 21 Jan 2017, 15:57
by mark.darragh
Old growth Snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora), Cobberas Wilderness Area, Victoria, Australia


SnowGum_Cobberas_Techpan_wm.jpg




Arca Swiss Universalis 4x5, Schneider Super Symmar XL 80mm, Kodak Technical Pan 4x5 rated at 25
Developed 510 pyro for 18 minutes at 21˚C, initial agitation for 1 min, 10 sec at 3, 7 & 15 min

Re: Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 21 Jan 2017, 22:11
by Walter Glover
Sumptuously resplendent — real treat of tonality and the perfect description of the lens.

Re: Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 22 Jan 2017, 09:23
by Maris
Oh yes, Technical Pan used the right way. Remember the old Kodak advert for Technical Pan : "4x5 quality from a 35mm negative"? If 35mm Tech Pan really equalled 4x5 I always wondered what 4x5 Tech Pan equalled. Now I've seen it. And the composition is brilliant. In the bottom half the forms lean right to left, in the top half left to right!

Re: Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 22 Jan 2017, 10:55
by Barry Kirsten
I never used Tech Pan, was always going to, and now it's too late. Beautiful result, Mark, a real stunner. Is there a film that comes close to Tech Pan I wonder? Perhaps some of the ortho films like Rollei or the new Wephota FO5, but they're not panchromatic.

Re: Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 22 Jan 2017, 13:53
by smbooth
Nice to meet you yesterday Mark. Your've posted another splendid image for us to admire.

Re: Snow gum, Technical Pan

Posted: 22 Jan 2017, 13:55
by mark.darragh
Thank you all for your kind comments. This is one those images that very nearly didn’t happen and committing it to a sheet of Tech Pan required rather a leap of faith. What the final image doesn’t hint at is the half hour of precarious balancing by both photographer and camera on an adjacent rock outcrop in order to get the height required for the final composition. It’s not unusual for me to use do some climbing to get to a location but resorting to climbing techniques to be able to stay attached to the rock, compose and focus is a first.

Sadly TP is one of the many films that have been lost to us with no current equivalent. We used TP along with T Max 100 for scientific photography years ago when I work at the Museum of Victoria. The unique thing about it in the class of high resolution, utlra fine grain b&w film is the extended red sensitivity. My knowledge of current films is very limited compared to most on the forum, the only films I have used which are even vaguely comparable would be ACROS or T MAX 100 which are really not that close. I am intrigued by ADOX CMS 20 II which appears to have many of the similar characteristics to TP except the extended red spectral sensitivity.