IlfordPan F Plus 50

Ilford Pan F Plus 50 is an ISO 50 black-and-white negative film made by Harman Technology in England, developed in standard black-and-white chemistry [1]. Ilford sells it on “extremely fine grain” and “outstanding resolution, sharpness and edge contrast”, for work where detail matters more than speed [1], and describes it as a high-contrast film [2]. It has been sold as Pan F since 1948 and as Pan F Plus since 1992 [5] [12].

Look and color

Pan F Plus turns colors into grays according to its own spectral sensitivity, not the eye’s:

• Blue renders lighter, skin and reds darker. Converting our test RAW files with the Pan F Plus curve instead of plain luminance made a sky 4.3 L* lighter, skin 6.1 L* darker and a pink shirt 2.8 L* darker. The result stays within 0.4 L* of HP5 Plus [18].
• Filters. Ilford refers to the filter maker’s factors. It warns that green and blue filters may need a little more exposure in late-afternoon or winter light, and that some automatic cameras underexpose by up to 1½ stops behind deep red and orange filters [1].
• Deep blacks, bright whites. Reviews describe “nice deep blacks and bright whites” [4] and “deep, inky shadows and bright, crisp whites”, with midtones that “seem to lean toward a darker mood” [5].

Tonality

• Curve. On the datasheet curve (Ilfotec HC 1+31, 4 min), base plus fog sits near 0.07. The toe is long: density only lifts from about 1.5 on the relative log exposure axis and stays below 0.35 until about 2.3. The gradient then climbs from about 0.55 above the toe to about 0.85 between densities of 1.2 and 1.6, and eases into a slight shoulder; the curve ends near a density of 1.9 (our reading of the graph) [1]. Shadows are compressed and the upper midtones steep.
• Contrast. Ilford calls it “high contrast” [2], and Parallax “high contrast and super sharp” [6]. In bright sun, Ted Smith got “solid blacks in some areas and solid whites in others”, and found the film better suited to balanced studio light [11].
• Not every source finds it harsh.
  • Dusty Grain sees “a wonderfully smooth rise in the density curve” and lighter tones than the “prominent black tones” of Ferrania P30 [7].
  • Analogue Wonderland finds “enough contrast to be interesting but not so much it overwhelms” [8].
  • Emulsive’s reviewer explains the gap: the film “has a reputation for high contrast”, but “can also have a very long scale depending on (as always) exposure and development” [10].
• Detail at both ends. Shoot It With Film found “so much detail in the whites” [4]; Parallax kept “detail in the highlights and shadows” [6].
• Latitude. Ilford gets its best results at EI 50 and good ones at EI 25 [1]. Exaframe finds it “not as forgiving to underexposure as something like HP5” [9].
• Latent image. Ilford recommends processing within 3 months of exposure [1]; Emulsive’s reviewer saw density drop noticeably after about that time [10].
• Long exposures: no correction from 1/10,000 to ½ s. Beyond that, Ilford’s graph follows adjusted time = metered time^1.33 [1].

Grain and sharpness

• Harman publishes neither an RMS value nor a resolving power for Pan F Plus, only “extremely fine grain” [1]. It cannot be ranked on paper against the films above.
• Reviews: “very little” grain [4], “minimal to non-existent” [7], “some of the finest grain on the market” [5].
• Sharpness: Blue Moon Camera notes “high acutance, or edge sharpness” [5]; Ted Smith found his negatives “like little sheets of glass” [11]; with Rodinal, Dusty Grain got “an extremely high impression of sharpness” [7].
• Halation: the datasheet lists an anti-halation backing for 120 and sheet film, not for 35 mm [1]. None of the reviews we read mentions halation.

Spectral sensitivity

Ilford’s wedge spectrogram, made under 2850 K tungsten light, shows two small peaks in the blue near 440 and 470 nm, a dip near 500 nm, a plateau rising to a maximum near 590 nm and a sharp cut-off that ends near 649 nm, a little before HP5 Plus (about 658 nm) [1] [17]. Tungsten light is much richer in red than in blue; once that is corrected, blue skies render lighter and skin darker than in a luminance conversion, almost exactly as with HP5 Plus [18].

Names, status and history

• 1948 and 1992. Pan F was introduced in 1948 and became Pan F Plus in 1992 [5] [12].
• Sheet film in 2026. Since May 7, 2026, Harman sells Pan F Plus in 4×5 and 8×10 inch sheets, in packs of 25. Ilford presents it as the first time the film is offered in sheet sizes [3].
• Rolls. On September 29, 2026, Ilford’s product page listed Pan F Plus in 35 mm and 120 [2]. The datasheet details 36-exposure cassettes, 30.5 m bulk lengths and 120 rolls [1].
• Datasheet. The current datasheet has no printed date, only the code B26; Ilford calls it the 2026 edition [1] [2].