5 Frames with JCH Streetpan 400 and a Leica M4-P

For me, analog photography is the domain of black & white photography. Partly, this has practical reasons, partly this is a historical salute to the origins of photography in general and the old masters in particular. 

The Film: JCH Streetpan 400

The nice thing about analog black & white photography is that there are a lot of film types to choose from, each with their own characteristics. My preference usually goes out to low grain, rich contrast film. As such, I have tried Ilford Delta, HP5 and Ferrania amongst others. But this time I chose the JCH StreetPan 400 film.

StreetPan 400 has been developed by Bellamy Hunt, also known as the Japan Camera Hunter (JCH). It is a low grain, relatively high speed film that has a lot of character. It was supposedly born out of a surveillance film by Agfa and has been re-introduced to the market by JCH. Being a relatively fast film, it is ideal for photography on gloomy winter days. But, you may as well use it in brighter circumstances, as you will see below.

The Developer for JCH Streetpan 400

Not only various film types contribute to the character of the end result, just as much the developer used has a lot of influence on the end result. Some developers emphasise the grain of a film, others have a more sharp result and give more contrast.

This continuous search is part of the charm of black & white photography in my opinion. Having used a couple of developers like Ilfotec LC29 and and Tetenal Ultrafin Plus, I recently settled for Adox Rodinal. The reason for this is on the one hand economical: the shelf life of Rodinal is seemingly forever. Even after more than a year this one-shot developer is said to be still usable. When you do not shoot a lot of film, this is very practical. Moreover, the developer is a so-called acutance developer, which results in a higher contrast and less grain. This seemed great to me for JCH Streetpan 400.

The Camera

When I shoot analog, I use my Leica M4-P. The reasons why I purchased this camera have been described in detail on Pixels & Film. As the Leica M4-P does not have an internal light meter, I use an old Gossen Sixtino light meter with a selenium cell. This means I am not dependent on batteries and the light meter has proved to be very accurate. It is very small and portable and does not get in the way when shooting.

I used a 7Artisans 35mm f/2 lens on the camera, which is a ‘poor man’s Summicron’. In my opinion it is a very good lens though, both in terms of build quality as well as image quality.

The Location

Many times I go out to nearby Amsterdam to shoot on the street. A favourite neighbourhood of mine is Nieuwmarkt, which is the oldest area of Amsterdam and also home to the infamous Red Light District.

Late November 2023, I went to shoot with JCH Streetpan 400 at Nieuwmarkt again with the 5 frames below as the result.

All frames where developed in Rodinal, using a dilution of 1:25. Development time was 10,5 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius with 4 inversions each minute.

I scanned the film on an Epson V700 Photo scanner with Vuescan. Post processing in Lightroom, where I used a NEGSETS scanner profile to convert the negative to a positive image. For the remainder, minor adjustments in Lightroom using the Basic panel (highlights, shadows, black and whites) and nothing else.

I hope this article is reason for you to give JCH Streetpan 400 a try. For me, I quite like the results, especially when developed in Rodinal. Please share your thoughts and drop me a line!

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