Topic: Is there a 4x5 film comparable with Ilford panF 50?

[6cmsquare]

After moving up to my new 4x5, I thought I would be blown away by the sharpness and resolution of the sheet film, however, I feel like my MF shots on the PanF 50 were sharper, and had more depth?  I switched to ilford FP4+, is there some thing else the would be closer to the tonal quality and sharpness of the Pan F?

[Bryan]

I like Ilford Delta 100 for 4x5.  I'm starting to use it more in other formats as well.

[Late Developer]

When I first had a dabble at 5x4, I was also a bit underwhelmed and effectively gave up on it prematurely.  However, being brutally honest with myself, I suspect it was more about the way I'd shot it the film than the medium itself.

I've seen photos 5x4 that have been produced by Leon, Paul Mitchell and many others on FW - using a variety of film, including FP4+ and HP5+ and the quality of the end result is breathtaking. I can only surmise that it's just a matter of getting the combination of light, exposure and processing / printing method in balance.

I'm not trying to be glib or in any way critical but I doubt that simply swapping films will make the difference.  Like yourself, I'm currently much more comfortable with MF but I'm about to step put of that comfort zone and see if I can make 5x4 work for me with HP5+ and New Type 55.

[Francois]

Sharpness wise, there are always two things: sharpness and the illusion of it.
The thing is with smaller formats is that you get greater depth of field at wider apertures than with large format. And then comes lens diffraction at smaller apertures. Then there's grain size relative to the enlargement ratio. And so on.

The developer used also has a big influence on the apparent sharpness of the negatives.

[Volker]

You can try Adox CMS 20 II

More infos here:
http://www.macodirect.de/films-blackwhite-films-sheet-films-127cm-adox-adox-102x127-4x550-sheet-p-3223.html?language=en

[Ezzie]

PanF is not quite like any other film I have tried. It is by nature quite contrasty. Approximating that look may require slight underexposure and overdeveloping of a suitably fine grained film. I would try out FP4+ or ADOX 50 maybe?

[jharr]

Haven't tried it myself since sharpness hasn't been a priority for me, but I suspect that Acros 100 in caffenol or Rodinal would be pretty sharp.

[Francois]

The thing is you probably want a film with a contrast curve that is similar to panF 50 in other brands.