Tom Hildreth 
, Jul 24, 2005; 09:01 p.m.
As a person whose primary effort has been amateur photography of
transportation subjects, I followed the general trend of many in this
field who converted from MF for black and white to Kodak 5060
Panatomic-X in 35mm. This ASA 32 film offered very fine grain
required for detailed full-frame shots of aircraft, locomotives and
related subjects. I believe Kodak referred to this as an extremely
fine grain film.
Of course I often had this film in my camera when other subjects were
available, and while recently looking at some of my negatives from
the mid-1970s, I was surprised to see how well this film worked on
dull days. I was occasionally able to take action shots with it as
well, as you will see. I did not always have an appropriate B&W
filter on the lens, and as can be expected, a featureless sky was the
cost.
A photographer looking for fine grain B&W films today has a
surprising number of choices. At ISO 50, Ilford Pan-F is still
available, and although the wonderful Agfa 25 is gone, I see
considerable talk of Efke in ISO 25. My compromise has been to use
TMAX-100 and Delta 100, and I have been quite satisfied with both for
my application.
Here are a few samples of a bygone film that in my opinion, really
had no equal.
Superb for full-frame shots of aircraft, such as this Argus Mk.I.
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:04 p.m.
The Aldrich Mills water wheel
Even on a dull day, the Aldrich Mills water wheel in South Hadley, Massachusetts looked pretty good on Panatomic-X
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:06 p.m.
Panatomic-X A Look Back
Aldrich Mills water wheel
Nearly grainless detail of mill from previous shot
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:08 p.m.
Response to Panatomic-X,
Some guys summer home, way back when
Taken while on a boat tour of New York's Thousand Islands
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:11 p.m.
Panatomic-X
Spring runoff at the Holyoke dam in Massachusetts can be dramatic if there has been substantial snow melt up north.
Michael Ging 
, Jul 24, 2005; 09:11 p.m.
Tom , I shot with Panatomic-X and developed in Microdol-X 1 to 3. I made some prints up and took them around the Lab.People could not tell them from 120 film and even 4x5. I have a half a dozen rolls of Agfa 25 in the freezer that are kept for special photographs. I too miss the slow, fine grained films, of the past.
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:12 p.m.
A Look Back
This film lent itself to scenic photography quite nicely
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:13 p.m.
And it could be pressed into service for action shots as well.
Scott Pickering "25 ASA" , Jul 24, 2005; 09:13 p.m.
Though I didn't use it too many times when it was actually out (I just started doing photography), I have since bought some rolls on the auction site and have used it quite a few times these past couple years. The film has held up quite well considering its age. Even the non cold stored bulk roll is fine. I find Pan X looks very similar to Pan F. Efke 25 looks to me more contrasty yet. I haven't used to many rolls of APX 25 to compare, though I do have some. It would be interesting to shoot all 4 rolls of this stuff, scan them, and compare results. I like Pan X.
Tom Hildreth , Jul 24, 2005; 09:18 p.m.
Thought you might like to see what I was able to do with this film. It was available in 120, and though I used a couple of rolls of it the subjects were boring and I never attempted to make a large print from the negatives. There was an Aero Panatomic-X in ASA 40, though I never used that version.
