Foma Retropan 320Foma Retropan 320 Soft Film is available in 35mm 36 exposure cassettes, bulk rolls & now in 120 roll formats. It is an unusual film that does not fit into the standard Fomapan range. A relatively new film on the market, it is not to be regarded as a general purpose film, but has quite unique imaging characteris-tics that need to be explored to make them work for you.Firstly it does not have a conventional characteristic curve, with a ‘toe’ at each end - this is shown over the page, the rendition is a shallow response cutting off sharply at both ends.

35 mm filmsFoma Retropan 320 135-36Retropan 320 17 metre bulk lengthRetropan 320 30 metre bulk length

Roll FilmRetropan 320 120 roll film

Consequently the film delivers excellent tonal separation, but extreme highlights & shadows go ‘off the radar’ & the result is rather like installing a specialised softening filter on the camera.The film can be very sharp working, in an acutance type developer & yields quite hard grain. In 35mm it is easy to get the ‘Ralph Gibson’ look, high edge sharpness but information in broader areas fading into the grain. w

Retropan 320 35mm used in Tri-colour photography - unusual application, 3 seperate exposures through Red, Green & Blue filters, recombined for full colour.

Retropan 320 35mmTop - full frameLeft - negative + rebateAbove - negative detail

Film processed in Rodinal R09 at 1+25

Generally Retropan needs energetic development, dev. times are significantly longer than most films, & fog level will tend to be higher than with conventional films.

Foma produce a specialised developer specifically for Retropan, ‘Retro Special Developer’, a 2-part powder making 1 litre of working solution. Using this the film can be rated at EI 320 with a time of 4-5 minutes at 20°C, or up to EI 640 with a time of 7-8 minutes.

Retro Special Powder Developer

Retropan 320 spectral sensitivity example using Kodak chart

Fomapan_Retropan_CardFomapan_Retropan_Card_B