Yerba Buena Gardens Area (Japan Camera Hunter Pan 400)

With my beloved Kodak Plus-X 125 gone forever, I have been sampling monochrome films. Japan Camera Hunter Pan 400 is a fast, “true” black and white (by which I mean it can be developed in chemistry for monochrome film) film with deep shadows and good contrast.

I’m assembling a collection of both bright and dark buildings and details to show off this film’s “look.”

Monochrome image of reflections on a matte metal tiled surface — Deep blacks with nuance.

Monochrome image of a rounded, historic-looking building with overhanging cornices and rows of arched windows with one row of smaller, rectilinear windows. Wires cross the image horizontally. — The film has pleasant midtones, and the shadows preserve detail. There is less detail in the highlights than Ilford film.

Entrance to SF's Jewish Contemporary Museum
Monochrome image of a square glass door in a rectilinear frame surrounded by a bright, all white arch.

Monochrome image of a skyscraper corner; a screen looking like a segmented topographical map dominates the image, its right side reflecting hotly. — This film displays strong contrast, white-hot reflections, and deep shadows

A monochrome image of a building with metal screens with different types of perforations, plus a dark, reflective glass grid. — Nuanced dark areas are easily achieved, and detail is preserved well. This is a brighter image, and retaining detail in the brightest areas is also possible.

Monochrome image of a bright sky with a dark building covered in columns and framed windows — The brightly lid side of a dark gray building. Details render nicely.

I shot JCH on the same day I used Ilford XP2 in the same conditions with my twin lens reflex camera, and so had opportunities to compare the two head-to-head. In fact, I chose the end of one roll to shoot a different angle of the same building with similar exposure settings: look at the difference!

Two monochrome images of the same historic building with a complex facade of arched windows — JCH is on the left, Ilford XP2 is on the right. Exposures were similar. Both render detail finely: there are layers to the black tones in JCH. Ilford shows more detail in the mid and lighter tones.

JCH has deeper shadows, which still preserve shadow detail, but are more dramatic. The overall images are bolder (especially in smaller sizes or from afar) as a result. JCH is a superb option for dramatic and bold black and white images.