New Film: Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400


While photographic film has become a more niche product in the photographic world, new emulsions are hitting the market every year. Some from storage others made to order. JCH Street Pan 400 falls under made to order. A British expat living Japan built quite a following online acting as concierge for those looking for a particular cameras and lenses in Japan. Along the way Japan Camera Hunter evolved into an information website as well on all things analogue photography. Along the way Bellamy Hunt reached out to Agfa Geavert in Belgium to manufacture Street Pan 400 which is a resurrected traffic surveillance film.

What's so special, well for starters JCH 400 is almost a near infrared film, well very least red spectrum sensitive which makes it imperative you load and unload in subdued light so you don't fog the first three frames. Two that red spectrum sensitivity makes this film from friends' experiences using it back in the Summer too contrasty but from mid November to about mid February makes JCH 400 the go to black and white film for places like Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, NYC, London, Paris, Berlin etc. this time of year when light goes flat as a pancake and you are begging for some contrast.

I use HC110 Dilution B for processing and I get nice fine grained negatives. Oh yeah about the negatives, handle with care, the base is thinner compared to Rollei RPX 400,  Ilford HP5, even Fomapan 400, so be gentle. The other big bonus, the negatives dry flat for easy scanning and printing in an enlarger.

One thing, cost. JCH Street Pan 400 retails for about $15 CAD a roll, and it doesn't matter if order directly from Japan Camera Hunter, MACO Direct in Germany or purchasing locally at Downtown Camera. One hopes the more film is purchased, the cheaper it will get. I'm not going to go whole hog and buy a dozen rolls but I will buy a couple more to carry me over during the late part of fall and early part of winter when the light is dimmest.



Camera: Nikon FM2n, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.8 lens, 28 f2.8 lens.
Film: JCH Street Pan 400, HC110 B.

Books in the Box

Dial Up

Side of Bridgepoint_

Metal Surfer

Gloomy Toronto

The Rooster on a Grey Day_

Broadview House

Late Saturday Afternoon On Broadview

Crossing Busy Danforth

Don Valley Parkway Going Into the Curve

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