Derev Pan 400 - A fine-grained, high speed film with great tonality

It's great to have so many 35mm film stocks to choose from these days.  If you are not aware, The Film Photography Project Store started offering some new b&w films very recently.  In mid-March, Mike Raso released three new films, all fresh from Ukraine, that were originally produced for scientific and aerial survey work.  The new films are Derev Pan 100, Derev Pan 200, and Derev Pan 400.  Much to my liking, they are in 36 exposure rolls. The naming of the film, according to Mike, is for the forests of Ukraine, the film's country of origin. All of the films are on a thin Mylar base, and all are fine-grained, with each film having different characteristics.   I have so far only tried the Derev Pan 400, which I am reviewing here.

photo courtesy of the FPP

Roll one -- Started in January when I  put the cassette into my Canon T60  on a snowy day. I finished it a few weeks later in downtown Ann Arbor, fittingly, while I was there to watch the Garry Winogrand documentary at the Michigan Theater, All Things Are Photographable.  It was definitely a fine movie, and worth seeing if it arrives in your area or is on Netflix.
I developed the roll in D-76, diluted 1:1 for 10.5 minutes at 20°C. 

Roll 2  was loaded into my Leica R4 SLR while at  Lake Lure, NC, and finished also in Ann Arbor.  Development was in straight D-76 for 8 minutes at 20°C.

First thing -- Mike advises that because the film is on a thin polyester (Mylar) base, light piping is possible.  On roll 1 it wasn't noticeable because I loaded indoors in subdued light.   Roll 2 was loaded outdoors, and the first 4 frames were impacted by light piping.  It's not like this is only going to happen with this film, but any Mylar-base film will have similar characteristics regarding light piping. So, when Mike says to keep the cassettes in black film cans and load in subdued light, you should!   The film loads fine in my Jobo reels, but it does take some care to get it started.

Second thing -- I love the films that lie absolutely flat in the scanner holder, and the Derev Pan 400 (and I assume the others, as well) lies flat and is easy to scan. 

Third thing -- Thin Mylar-base films are notoriously hard to place in Printfile negative sheets.  Make sure you wear a rubber glove or white cotton glove so that you can gradually work the negative strip into the plastic protective sheet. 

Fourth thing -- I love the tonality and fine grain of this film.  I was more pleased with the results with straight D-76 at 8 minutes than the divided D-76 at 10.5.  I feel that the divided time might be closer to 12 minutes, but have yet to test it at that time. 

Photos! All negatives were scanned in my Epson perfection V700 scanner.

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I am glad that the FPP is supplying this film in 36 exposure rolls!  I can burn through a roll pretty quickly, and even though I do my own processing, it saves me time to develop fewer rolls.  I advise you to always load in subdued light indoors, if possible.  The fine-grain is excellent, and I hope to do some print making in the darkroom once I am moved to a new place.  For now, the scanning negatives works fine.  Give this film a try!!