Film Recipe - Pan F (Monochrome)

Embark on a photographic journey reminiscent of the classic Ilford Pan-F film stock with this custom X-Trans IV recipe. Designed to replicate the fine grain, sharp contrasts, and subtle warmth of Pan-F, this recipe transforms your digital captures into timeless black-and-white masterpieces, blending modern technology with vintage charm.

Pan F Black and White Fujifilm Recipe

Pan F Black and White Fujifilm Recipe

Ilford Pan F Plus is a renowned black and white film stock, celebrated for its exceptionally fine grain, high resolution, and superior sharpness. It's a low-speed film, typically rated at ISO 50, which contributes to its fine grain structure. This makes it an excellent choice for a variety of photographic applications, especially where high levels of detail and crisp image quality are desired.

One of the defining characteristics of Pan F Plus is its contrast. It tends to produce images with high contrast, making it ideal for situations with controlled lighting or where a dramatic look is desired. However, this high contrast can also be a limitation in high-contrast scenes, as it may lead to loss of detail in shadows or highlights.

Photographers often favor Pan F Plus for its ability to capture subtle details, making it particularly suited for landscape, architectural, and studio photography. Its fine grain also makes it a popular choice for enlargements, as the images retain their quality and detail even when significantly magnified.

Fujifilm JPEG Settings:

• Film Simulation: Use "Acros" as it provides a strong foundation for black and white photography, with rich gradation and contrast.

• Grain Effect: Set to "Weak". Pan-F is known for its very fine grain, so you'll want to minimize the grain effect to emulate this.

• White Balance: Keep it at "Auto" but adjust the White Balance Shift to add a slight warmth - R: +2, B: -1

• Dynamic Range: Set to DR200%. Pan-F has a more limited dynamic range compared to other films, so keeping the dynamic range setting lower will help mimic this characteristic.

• Highlight Tone: Set to +1. Pan-F has a tendency to produce slightly pronounced highlights, so adjusting this will help replicate that look.

• Shadow Tone: Set to +2. This will deepen the shadows slightly, emulating the contrast typical of Pan-F.

• Sharpness: Set to +3. Pan-F is known for its excellent resolution and sharpness, so increasing the sharpness will help to mimic this aspect of the film.

• Noise Reduction: Set to -2. Lowering the noise reduction will allow for a more natural texture, which is important as Pan-F is known for its fine grain structure.

NOTE: Some settings may not be available on every Fujifilm Camera

Pan F: Black & White Film Simulation Recipe (Sample Images)

If you prefer Shooting RAW:

Those of you who prefer to shoot RAW and edit with the more advanced latitude this gives you may be interested in my current set of Professionally designed profile-based Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw Presets.