Film News: Announcing JCH StreetPan 400 film!

Today is my birthday, so what better present could I give to myself and to you too than some film news that is really awesome! Introducing to you my very own brand of film, JCH StreetPan 400!

I have been reporting on film news for a while now, and it often seems like the news is rather depressing. Discontinuations and so on make for some gloomy reading. And it got me thinking how great it would be if we could have some good news for a change.

Whilst I have been running this site I have come into contact with some amazing people, some of whom are deeply involved in the film manufacture business. So I decided that if anyone can make something happen it would be me.

About a year ago I started to make inquiries about what I could do and the options available. That was when I decided I wanted to start off with a 400 monochrome film as it the sort of film that I shoot the most and I was terribly upset when Neopan was axed. I wanted something bold, slightly grainy and with a strong contrast.

Now, I couldn’t have a completely new emulsion made, so I decided to go with an old discontinued surveillance film that was original made by AGFA, and have it put back into production. And thus JCH StreetPan was born! So this is a re-born film, not a re-spooled film that is still being sold. This is also not an ‘old stock’ film or a ‘pancake’ that was kicking around a ‘dusty warehouse’. This is a freshly produced emulsion with an expiry date of 2020. The film was no longer being produced and I had it put back into production. And for the record, this is not re-spooled Rollei Retro 400s.

The emulsion is coated onto a transparent polyester base providing excellent dimensional stability.

Thickness of the polyester base 100µm (0.10 mm).

Applications

· The very fine graininess and the high speed make this film an ideal for use in traffic infringement cameras in a wide range of weather conditions. Or if you are not a speed camera, street photography, in a wide range of weather conditions.

· The low fog level at high temperature processing makes the film suitable for high volume processing applications.

· Due to its sensitivity to red light, JCH StreetPan 400 is the optimum film for dawn, dusk and winter photography.

· Its speed and sensitometric characteristics make the film extremely suitable for low light and low sun angle photography (long shadow areas) and for wide latitude photographic exposure.

Characteristics

· The spectral sensitivity is extended in the near infrared range of the energy spectrum, colour sensitivity: panchromatic up to 750 nm. As a result, the film offers excellent penetration through haze, fog and other atmospheric conditions liable to affect the image quality. Due to the reduced scattering by the atmosphere, images are sharp and well edged.

· The near IR sensitivity and the strong response to red light allow for nocturne red flash photography as well as daylight photography.

· Although featuring high speed, the graininess of the emulsion is low thanks to the 2-layer emulsion architecture. The low granularity makes the film very scanner-friendly and the scans deliver noise-free images in the image highlights.

· The low fog level at standard processing temperature and at high temperature processing makes the film even more suitable for development in large and small processing machines.

· The image contrast can be controlled by the processing parameters.JCH StreetPan 400 can be processed as a low contrast film for good and average weather photography and as a medium contrast film for bad weather photography.

· Although high speed and near-IR sensitised, this film shows excellent storage stability before use and low latent image drift after exposure.

·JCH StreetPan 400 has a gelatine back coating to prevent scratches on the back of the film which could be picked-up by image scanners.

· Base substrate layers provide permanent anti-static properties to the film, at exposure and after processing.

Resolving Power

The resolving power is the resulting effect of granularity and sharpness of a film. Evaluation of resolution of the contact target results is heavily influenced by the local gradient of the sensitometric curve used when imaging the target on the film. The resolving power measurement is a scientific result of a lab test which neither shows the impact of the atmosphere, nor the ability of a film to generate higher resolving power in practical circumstances due to near IR or IR abilities.

Darkroom lighting

The film should be handled in complete darkness.

Exposure

The film sensitivity can vary with processing. JCH StreetPan 400 can be exposed as a 200 to 500 ASA/ISO film.

Development times:

R09 One Shot (Rodinal) 1 + 25 10:30

R09 One Shot (Rodinal) 1 + 50 22:00

R09 Spezial / Studional 1 + 15 8:30

R09 Spezial / Studionial 1 + 31 17:00

Rollei Supergrain 1 + 12 7:00

Rollei RLS (ISO 200/24°) 1 + 4 14:30 (24°)

Ilford Ilfosol 3 1 + 3 5:00

Illord ID-11 / Kodak D-76 1 +1 10:50

Ilford Perceptol 1 + 1 10:00

Kodak HC-110 B (1+31) 5:00

Kodak X-Tol 1 + 1 17:00

Tanol (ISO 200/24°) 1 + 1 + 100 19:30

Now to the real details. This film is not quite ready yet, but it has already cost me a simply stunning amount of money. And as I absolutely hate sites like kickstarter I have decided that the best thing I can do is offer this on pre-order so that you get your film when it comes out. This also helps me to pay for the film, because it is such a large amount of money. The film will be ready for shipping around May/June of 2016, so you don’t actually have all that long to wait.

As I am anticipating a very large volume of orders (actually I am really hoping for) so initially the film can only be purchased in 10 roll ‘bricks’. This helps keep things from getting messed up. If you buy more than 20 rolls you shall receive a free film case (your choice of colour). Each roll works out to be 975 yen. So a total of 9750 yen for a 10 roll pack. I hope to make it so that you can do smaller orders after the film is actually released and on the market.

975 Yen is about $8.75, £6, 7.70 Euro, $68 HKD, $11.45 AUD or $2,824 Zimbabwean Dollars.

So, 1 piece on the order comprises of 10 rolls, 2 pieces is 20 rolls and so on. Shipping is calculated automatically.

As these are pre-orders I am really counting on your support to see this become something much bigger, if the sales are strong enough I will be able to make further batches in larger amounts and the price of the film will come down.

Come and place your pre-order now at the JCH shop and show your support https://www.japancamerahunter.com/shop/jch-streetpan-400-film/

I want to say a huge thank you to Peter Barwick for the awesome packaging design www.peterbarwick.com And Vishal from CameraFilmPhoto for believing in me and convincing me to go through with this. And for taking the images in this post with the Beta rolls.

Thanks for all your support and lets keep shooting film!

JCH

Ps. Thanks for the comments and the massive amount of support. I am aware of the spelling mistake on the box. This is a 3d mockup, so the actual packaging will be correct. Also, I have mentioned but I will say again, the film is expensive, but if enough of you order it I will be able to make larger amounts and bring the price down. Thanks.

PPs. It seems that some people have got a real bee in their bonnet about me doing this. I am not try to ‘rip people off’ or hoodwink people in some way. I re-released this film because I was passionate about doing so. I am less passionate about it now that I have received very personal attacks on my character and my business.

I just wanted there to be another film option on the market, a film that I like to use. And I had hoped that people would be supportive of this, instead of trashing it and me.

Bringing a film to market is incredibly expensive. I am not a multinational with an established distribution route. I am one guy working out of my office. I don’t have any backers, or any financial support. I refuse to use kickstarter et al because I don’t feel they benefit the end result, they just add another fee. Some have mentioned that I should be selling this film at a loss, but that would be damaging for this film and my business. What would be the point if I didn’t have enough money to make any more?

As I have mentioned, I want this film to be cheaper and it will be if enough supporters help to pay for the initial startup costs by paying a little bit extra for this film. If this film can make it into regular production then the price will go down. That is my promise.

If you don’t want to buy this film that is fine. Each to their own. But to make comments and assumptions about my character and to disparage my name and my business just because you don’t like this film is unfair and hurtful.

Newly added, Some contact sheets by Vishal of CameraFilmPhoto