Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The Film: Japan Camera Hunter’s JCH StreetPan 400 film is a versatile panchromatic film that’s said to be “perfect for the lovers of monochrome.” The emulsion is coated onto a 0.10 mm transparent polyester base providing excellent dimensional stability. Its (relatively) high speed is claimed to make the film ideal to use under a wide range of lighting conditions.
The spectral sensitivity of StreetPan 400 is extended in the near infrared panchromatic up to 750nm. So the film should offer excellent penetration through haze, fog and other less-than-ideal atmospheric conditions.
It’s base substrate layers provide permanent anti-static properties to the film, at exposure and after processing. The film’s two-layer architecture should make it easy to scan, although one of it’s listed features is “Very high grain” but we’ll find that out in testing. JCH StreetPan 400 also has a gelatin back coating to prevent scratches on the back of the film that could be picked-up by image scanners. But that’s not how it all turned out…
Processing & Scanning
I took my exposed roll of JCH StreetPan 400 film to Mike’s Camera in Lone Tree, Colorado on November 19, expecting their normal two week turnaround for black & white film but was told instead that it would be ready on December 9. Visiting the store on On December 10 I was told the film was not ready because of “sickness in the Boulder lab” but “I should have it next week sometime.” On December 18, I received an email with a We Transfer link to download the scans. They were a disaster. (See below.) Because I wanted to see the film before making a final decision, Mary stopped by the store on December 19 to pick up the film. It was not there. She was told “Boulder is a mess” and is “not sending negs in a timely manner.” Later that day, I received a voice mail that the negatives would be delivered on December 20. Mary went to the store on that day and, sadly, it was not available but they said they would call when the film arrived. As of today I had not heard anything from the store and consequently sent an email to ASMP’s liaison at Mike’s Camera outlining my situation. I will update this post If (and when) I hear back.
The scans: The film looked terrible. It was splattered with dirt particles and had some scratches on several of the frames. The film looks underdeveloped and appears to have surge marks that are typically caused by over agitation. Up to this point all of my film was sent to Mikes Camera was properly processed, clean and unscratched and the scans were good.
Based on this experience I have no idea of how good or bad JCH Street Pan really is. I plan to buy another roll and send it to The Darkroom, who seems to have a better handle on processing these kinds of film emulsions.
The Store Experience: When I placed my order on November 19, the counter man—I think he was the manager—never asked if I wanted high-resolution scans and the ones I received are not just crap but low-res crap. I thought that by joining Mikes Smile Club I would automatically get high res scans but the guy never asked what I wanted.
After being told it would be “three weeks” for the black and white film to be produced, I asked Mike’s Camera employee behind the counter what their turnaround for C-41 film was and was told it was their standard 3-4 days, so I asked to purchase a roll of Kodak Gold. The man, who I assumed was a manager (he had on a jacket and tie,) reached into their film display and grabbed a yellow box and handed it to the nice person helping me. But the film was not Gold 200, it was Kodak Color Plus. This film appears to have more color intensity than I want for portraits but I asked how much it cost and was told $18.99. Amazon sells four rolls of Kodak Color Plus for $49.90 or 12.48 a roll; B&H wants $13.99 per roll but warns “Limited supply at this price.” So I decided not to buy the film saying “I don’t want to pay that much for a film I don’t want.” And so it goes in the world of color negative film. Read my rant on the subject here.