Black and white film — Photography Now

This past summer, I was shooting photos for Small Stage and their #LoveBubble Project. Small Stage features live dancing, music and fun interactions with the public. This is exactly the kind of action I love shooting.

When I was shooting the events that day, the light conditions varied from high contrast bright afternoon sun, to soft, slightly overcast diffused light. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try out the Lomography Earl Grey ISO 100 black and white 35mm film, and put it’s capabilities to the test.

From Lomography’s website:

This film produces deep blacks, bright whites and soft shades of grey even under low-light conditions.

When I developed the film and saw the results, I was so impressed! This film has so much range, especially in the mid-tones. It is perfectly versatile for shooting in changing light conditions. It’s got a nice, wide exposure latitude, showing plenty of details in the shadows, and in the highlights, and indeed, it’s got rich looking blacks. There is some noticeable grain, but it’s not unpleasant, it’s quite soft, small and uniform. It reminds me of an older, classic black and white film, but with decent sharpness. Thank you Lomography for producing yet another exceptional black and white film! I’m looking forward to shooting more, and also trying the 120 version of this film.

Lomography Earl Grey ISO 100 film comes in 35mm and 120 formats.

Here are some photos from my recent roll of Lomography Earl Grey 100 35mm film.

Small Stage dancers. The #LoveBubble Project. Lomography Earl Grey 100 black and white film. Canon EOS1 SLR. Developed with Kodak HC-110 (1+31).

And one more photo that I shot that same evening:

Boy with fishing rod at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Lomography Earl Grey 100 black and white film. Canon EOS1 SLR. Developed with Kodak HC-110 (1+31).

All of these photos were shot with my Canon EOS1 SLR and home developed with Kodak HC-110 (1+31) developer. Epson V-850 Scan.

A little while ago, I was in Kerrisdale Cameras stocking up on some film, when I noticed a brand that I hadn’t seen before—Berger Pancro 400 black and white film. I’m always keen to try new film, and so I bought a couple of rolls in the 120 format (also available in 135).

When I got home, I did some research about the Bergger company, and WOW! They are a very well established company, with a wide variety of photography products available, including film, film paper and even developing chemistry.

Bergger is the heiress of the much older film company Guillemot, the last French firm that specializes in making photosensitive surfaces.

Of course, one of the very first things I did was search for image examples of the film I had just purchased, and I was immediately blown away by the quality and uniqueness of this film! I’d have sworn I was looking at film with an emulsion base of platinum or gold. The examples I found were exquisite to say the least.

From their website:

BERGGER Pancro 400 is a two emulsion film, composed with silver bromide and silver iodide. They differ by the size of their grain. These properties allow a wide exposure latitude. Cristals are precipitated by double-jet process, under the control of a computer. The two emulsions are panchromatic, and are stabilized by high tech systems.
BERGGER Pancro400 in 120 is coated on a 100 microns PET base and includes an anti curling layer. It is designed with an undercoated anti-halation layer which clarifies during processing, and a anti-curling layer.

I loaded my first roll of Bergger Pancro 400 120 film into Apollo, my lovely old Hasselblad 500c, and I shot some photos around The Shipyards District in North Vancouver. Because this was the first roll, I shot it at box speed, ISO 400, so I would get a true sense of the nature of this film.

I developed the first roll with Kodak HC-110 (1+31) 6:30 minutes at **24°C.

Lovely Joanne at the Shipyards pier with her Leica R5 SLR. Bergger Pancro 400 120 film. Hasselblad 500c. 1/500th f/8.0. Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2.8. Developed with HC-110 (1+31) 6:30 24°C. Epson V-850 scan.

Notice the incredible midrange details, and the beautiful, fine grain. Bergger Pancro has an amazing dynamic range. With most film, a photo like this would have very strong contrast, because Joanne is standing in direct sunlight, yet there is so much lovely detail in the shadows. The highlights are not blown out at all. There is a perfect balance.

An artist painting a scene at the Shipyards pier in North Vancouver. Bergger Pancro 400 120 film. Hasselblad 500c. 1/500th f/8.0. Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2.8. Developed with HC-110 (1+31) 6:30 24°C. Epson V-850 scan.

As you can see, even though this film reveals so much detail in the midrange, it does not lack good contrast at all. It’s rare to see a film that can render both so well.

A man in The Polygon Gallery, with outside scene reflecting on the glass. Bergger Pancro 400 120 film. Hasselblad 500c. 1/125th f/5.6. Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2.8. Developed with HC-110 (1+31) 6:30 24°C. Epson V-850 scan.

So, after shooting the first roll and discovering just how wonderful this film is, I wanted to see how it handles being pulled a couple of stops. Pull processing a film simply means you are metering for a lower exposure index than the normal box speed ISO sensitivity of the film, and then adjusting your development time accordingly. So for example, if your film’s box speed is ISO 400, you can pull it 2 stops to EI (Exposure Index) 100 by adjusting your camera metering to the exposure settings as if you were shooting ISO 100 film. You are purposely overexposing your film, and then under-developing it. The main reason for pulling film is to decrease contrast, and to give you more details in the shadows. (Note that this is the opposite effect of pushing film.) This is especially useful on bright sunny days with harsh shadows.

So, I loaded my second roll of Bergger Pancro 400 film, into Legend, my Hasselblad 205fcc, and set it at ISO 100. I developed using HC-110 (1+31) 7:17 at 19.5°C. Here are the results:

Joanne with one of her Polaroid cameras at The Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. Bergger Pancro 400 120, pulled to EI 100. HC-110 (1+31) 7:17 at 19.5°C. Hasselblad 205fcc. Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2.8. 1/500th at f/8.0. Epson V-850 scan.

The Bergger Pancro 400 performed wonderfully when pulled to EI 100. You can see in these photos of Joanne that there is a lot of fine detail in all of the shadows, and the highlights are not blown out, even though these photos were shot in direct sunlight.

In conclusion, it’s very clear that Bergger Pancro 400 is an exceptional film, with excellent dynamic range, and it yields beautiful images with fine, pleasing grain. I will certainly be shooting more of this film, and I highly recommend it. I may try some push processing on the next roll.

**My development temperatures sometimes vary from the standard 20°C, in which I adjust my development time accordingly. I may increase the developer temperature occasionally to speed up the development time, especially with push processing, as the development time can be very long. In some cases my developing temperature is less than the standard, simply to align with the actual room temperature. There are a lot of variables to maintain and control while developing film. I do not recommend this unless you are well experienced with the developing processes.