My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

By belola_goth

Let’s travel back to the beginning of 2014, me and my friend Jonas had a discussion that we wanted some cheap and good film black and white film to shoot. After doing some research we ended up going for a black and white iso 50 called “Polystar Polypan F”, it is a cinema duplication film that doesn’t have an anti-halation layer. Hence, you get a dreamlike glow in your highlights, it is also sensitive to light piping so load the film in the dark!

Polylan F 50 also tends to be sensitive to scratches on the negatives, but that isn’t something I had too much trouble with after scanning the roll thanks to photoshop. The base iso is 50, I shoot my frames with one-stop push and develop as 100 and in one case accidentally shot a roll as 200, the film handles it wonderfully and hasn’t once let me down!

I like the results from the film, it’s a good amount of contrast, sharpness, highlights, mid-tones and generally gives me a pleasant look! The 152-meter big canister I got expired in 2015 but I made sure to cold store it in my fridge since I the film so no problems at all!

Bulk loading

After getting the film, I realized I needed a way to bulk load the frames into 35mm canisters, and the bulk loader I own is limited to only 30 meters of film, so I needed a plan!

My solution was to go into a darkroom (my bathroom) and manually cut 36-ish frames by measuring them by using the length of my arms, making sure I don’t ruin my big source canister and working in the darkness. This method has worked great for me!

When I only had about 30 meters left, I tried loading it in my bulk loader, but I never became friends with it so put back the film into its big canister and continued with the darkroom and guess loading 36ish frames manually by hand method!

Development

I prefer d76 stock and found that 9 minutes gives me good results on the negatives. I don’t remember how I found that time because the massive dev chart wasn’t too helpful when I was looking for development times. I guess I went with a number and 9 minutes won! I haven’t tried 1:100 or 1:50 standing development with Rodinal but I imagine it would work well too!

The Final 17 rolls

On August 31, 2022, I took the remaining meters of my dear friend the Polypan F 50 and loaded them into seventeen 35mm canisters, and with that finished a project that lasted me 9 years!

This then left me with a question: Will I continue bulk loading 35mm film? My current answer is no, I feel that I had a great amount of joy with the Polypan F 50 but it’s time to move on and with the way I shoot film. I can afford to get a good amount of rolls online or in stores that lasts me a good amount of time even with the prices of film going up and up, so I shall shoot like that for a while. It’s been a positive experience though.

A Selection of Frames Shot with Polypan F 50


In conclusion, I really like this film and I have created some great memories with it!

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About The Author

By belola_goth
Freelance event and news photographer! Enjoys shooting b/w, c41 and e6 35mm and 120! Develops b/w, c41 and e6 at home. Use a dslr for film scanning. Acts as a lab technican and film digititizer for a friend.
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Comments

Steve Abbott on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 12/10/2022

If you want some more, there's a guy in the UK selling it on ebay.co.uk. I bought some from him two or three years ago, and it was presumably reasonably well stored, as it turned out fine. I get the impression that there's not much left however, and of course it's older than when I purchased. I don't shoot it often, as I prefer a higher speed, but mine's in the freezer, so good to go at any time. I mostly shoot Kodax Double-X which is very economical when you buy a 400 feet movie roll - will last me many years, and IMHO gives the most beautiful negs of any B/W film; a number of suppliers (e.g cinestill) sell individual rolls, so you can try before committing to a bulk roll - you'll love it!
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 12/10/2022

Thanks for the tip about the ebay person! I had my time with the film so I am good! I shot some double-x and while I like it I have to say that it doesn't feel like an everyday film for me with my current shooting style I can afford myself getting a couple of hp5 rolls and having film to shoot for a while.

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Hans Gustafsson on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 10/10/2022

I can see why you like the film, very nice contrast and tonality. And the images themselves are are great!
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 10/10/2022

Thanks!

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Digitaltruth Photo on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 10/10/2022

Sorry you didn't find what you need in the Massive Dev Chart, but we do have many times for Polypan F, including data for D-76 which would have provided a starting point. It would be great if you could submit this time to the chart so that we can publish it for other users. Enjoyed the article.
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 10/10/2022

I added my development times to the Massive Dev Chart, hopefully its helpful.

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Kodachromeguy on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 09/10/2022

These are very nice. You did an excellent job with this unusual film. It handled the white dress on the bride perfectly.
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 09/10/2022

Thanks!

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David Hill on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 08/10/2022

I’ve never heard of this film but gotta say those are beautiful prints. Great latitude and contrast and shadow detail …. Very very fine work.
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 08/10/2022

Thanks, it has been a good friend to have for many years and allowed me to find a more relaxed photo style!

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Arne Heeringa on My Last 17 Rolls of Bulk Rolled Polypan F 50 ISO Black & White 35mm Film – by Sina Farhat

Comment posted: 08/10/2022

I had a vulk roll too. Quite quirky. Works well with Rodinal and Tetenal Centabrom (a so called universal developer, but mostly used for paper).
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belola_goth replied:

Comment posted: 08/10/2022

Do you get more grainy negatives with Rodinal developer?

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