Kentmere Pan 200 – A Walk Home… (A Quick Review)

Day to day I work as a secondary school physics teacher. It’s not the easiest job. It’s not the hardest job. But it’s sadly a job that keeps me indoors most of the summer months, even over lunchbreak. But, I have the advantage of my commute which I generally do by foot or by bike. A lovely 8 km that I can enjoy which ever way I choose.

One of the perks of my job is running the schools Duke of Edinburgh Award program. That’s how I get some extra outside into my inside job. One of the perks of that is, other than hanging out with some great people getting their first real taste of the outdoors, that I have to go reccy the routes we use. On company time. Generally with a camera.

I’d opted to take my Olympus DC 35 with me. A quick twiddle with a red filter due to the intense sunlight, and I loaded some new to me Kentmere Pan 200. Yes I know it has been around for a while. But why leave HP5 and K400 when you know what they will give you back?

I’m not certain what I think of the Pan 200 as of yet. Grain is lower, that’s certain. But, not all of it exposed, there was a lot of retouching of the negatives needed to remove spots. An issue I never have with K400 or HP5.

The red filter may not have been the best idea for the DC 35, I didn’t think about the light metering too much and I suspect everything was underexposed by a stop. Nothing Lr can’t fix I suppose.

I don’t hate the look. But I think a few more rolls with a camera which meters a bit better needs to happen before I can make my mind up. Another excuse for a walk home.

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