Ilford Pan F Plus 50 is the slowest film in Ilford’s black and white range — and the most exacting. At ISO 50, it demands good light, careful metering, and a willingness to work slowly. What it gives back is extraordinary: grain so fine it almost disappears, a tonal range of almost painful delicacy, and a quality of rendering that makes medium format negatives look like something carved rather than captured. This review covers a full roll shot on a Zenza Bronica ETRSi at St Mary’s Church, Silchester — one of Hampshire’s most quietly extraordinary places.
| Film at a Glance — Ilford Pan F Plus 50 | |
|---|---|
| Film | Ilford Pan F Plus 50 |
| ISO | 50 (box speed) |
| Format | 120 (medium format) |
| Camera | Zenza Bronica ETRSi |
| Lens | 75mm |
| Location | St Mary’s Church, Silchester, Hampshire |
| Filter | ND1000 (10 stops) |
| Technique | Long exposure — late afternoon light |
| Developer | Rodinal |
| Scanning | Digitised from negatives |
| Conditions | Late April, golden afternoon light |
Why Ilford Pan F Plus 50?
There are films you reach for because they are dependable — because they will not let you down when the light is awkward or the moment is fleeting. And then there are films you reach for because you want to make something truly fine. Pan F Plus 50 belongs emphatically to the second category.
Introduced in its current form in 1991, Pan F Plus has a lineage stretching back to the earliest days of precision black and white photography. At ISO 50, it is a film that insists on your full attention. You cannot wave it at a scene and hope for the best. You need good light — ideally bright, directional, late-in-the-day light — careful metering, and a tripod. In return, it produces negatives of a quality that can genuinely stop you in your tracks when you first hold them to the light.
For a location like St Mary’s Church at Silchester — ancient, layered, suffused with quiet history — it felt like the only honest choice. The fine grain would honour the texture of the stone. The tonal range would suit the soft, directional light of a late April afternoon. And the discipline the film demands would match the discipline the place seemed to ask of me. For an introduction to shooting black and white film, see my film photography guide.
Pan F Plus 50 is a film that insists on your full attention. But when you give it that — when the light is right and the exposure is considered — it produces negatives of a quality that can genuinely stop you in your tracks.
St Mary’s Church, Silchester — Hampshire’s Hidden Treasure
Silchester sits on the Hampshire-Berkshire border, unremarkable at first glance — a village of scattered farms and quiet lanes. But beneath the fields that surround it lies Calleva Atrebatum, one of the most complete Roman town plans in Britain, its walls still standing in places to full height after nearly two millennia. St Mary’s Church stands alone inside those walls, surrounded by open farmland, accessible only on foot across a field. There are no other buildings. On a clear afternoon in late April, with the hedgerows just breaking into green and rooks turning overhead, it is one of the most quietly affecting places I know.
The church itself is Norman at its core, with medieval additions that have left their marks in every weathered stone and leaning grave marker. The light in late afternoon falls across the south face at a low, raking angle that transforms ordinary stone into something almost luminous — every lichen patch, every crack, every course of flint rendered in vivid relief. It is the kind of light that makes a photographer slow down and pay attention, which is exactly what Pan F Plus demands.
If the idea of photographing ancient places resonates with you, my post on walking ancient ruins with film photography explores similar ground — and my guide to photographing British landscapes covers the broader approach I take to locations like this.
Zenza Bronica ETRSi — Precision for a Precise Film
The Bronica ETRSi produces 6×4.5cm negatives on 120 film — fifteen frames per roll. It is a camera that suits Pan F Plus exactly. Both reward a deliberate approach; both punish carelessness; both produce results that justify the patience they demand.
For long exposure work, the ETRSi’s mirror lock-up is invaluable — eliminating the vibration that would otherwise soften fine-grained negatives at slow shutter speeds. The 75mm lens, equivalent to roughly 45mm in 35mm terms, is a natural focal length for architectural and landscape work — close enough to be intimate, wide enough to place a building in context. At the apertures I was working with — f/11 to f/16 for maximum depth of field — it is a very good lens indeed.
The waist-level viewfinder encourages a different relationship with a subject than eye-level shooting. You stand back. You look down into the ground glass. The reversed image makes you think about left and right, about the weight of elements within the frame. At a place like Silchester, that slightly distanced, contemplative way of seeing felt entirely right. For a full breakdown of how the camera performs, see my Zenza Bronica ETRSi review, and for the lenses I use with it, my guide to Bronica ETR lenses.
ND1000 Filters and Long Exposure at Silchester
With Pan F Plus already at ISO 50, adding a 10-stop ND1000 filter pushes exposures into genuinely long territory even in the bright afternoon light of late April. In practice this meant exposures running to several minutes for some frames — long enough for any slight movement in the grass or foliage to blur softly, long enough for the quality of light to shift perceptibly between the start and end of an exposure.
This is where the discipline of medium format film photography becomes most apparent. You cannot review the frame immediately. You cannot adjust after the fact. You compose carefully at the waist-level finder, calculate the exposure — factoring in the ND filter and the reciprocity failure that Pan F Plus exhibits at longer exposures — lock the mirror up, attach the cable release, and wait. There is something almost meditative about that process when the location deserves it, and Silchester deserves it entirely. If you want to understand the broader world of long exposure and creative technique, my posts on ICM photography and motion blur photography cover the creative side in depth.
Reciprocity failure is worth understanding before you shoot Pan F Plus with an ND filter. At exposures beyond around two seconds, the film loses effective sensitivity and requires additional exposure time to compensate. The correction needed increases non-linearly — at five seconds indicated you might need eight or nine seconds actual; at thirty seconds indicated, considerably more. Ilford publishes reciprocity data for Pan F Plus, and consulting it before you go out will save you underexposed negatives.
With a 10-stop ND filter on an ISO 50 film in bright April light, each exposure becomes a considered act. You compose, calculate, lock up the mirror, and wait. At Silchester, that patience feels entirely earned.
Rodinal Development and Scanning the Negatives
Rodinal is my developer of choice across all my black and white work, and Pan F Plus responds to it particularly well at higher dilutions — around 1:50 or 1:100. At these dilutions, Rodinal’s characteristic acutance and edge sharpness complement Pan F’s ultra-fine emulsion beautifully, without introducing any unwanted coarseness. The result is negatives with exceptional clarity and a tonal range that scans with very little fuss.
The negatives from Silchester scanned cleanly on a clear base, inverting easily with good tonal separation throughout. The late afternoon light had produced a full tonal range in most frames — deep shadows in the north-facing walls, bright but textured highlights on the sunlit stone, and a full sweep of midtones in between. That is Pan F Plus doing what it does best: holding the full range of a scene with a finesse that faster films simply cannot match. For a practical guide to processing your own film, see my simple film development guide.
Silchester in Motion — The Full Set
Rather than selecting a handful of stills, I put together a short film of the images from that afternoon at St Mary’s. It gives a better sense of how Pan F Plus renders the stone, the light, and the particular stillness of that place than any single frame could manage on its own.
Pan F Plus 50 vs Other Black and White Films
| Film | How it compares to Pan F Plus 50 |
|---|---|
| Ilford FP4 Plus 125 | More flexible, easier to use in variable light, still fine-grained. A better all-rounder for everyday shooting. See my FP4 Plus review. |
| Ilford HP5 Plus 400 | Three stops faster, far more forgiving, better in low light and for handheld work. A different film entirely. See my HP5 Plus review. |
| Rollei Ortho 25 | Even slower, orthochromatic rather than panchromatic — renders reds and oranges very differently. Extremely fine grain but a specialist tool. See my Rollei Ortho 25 review. |
| Fomapan 100 | Similar speed range, lower cost, but coarser grain and a softer, more vintage tonal character. See my Fomapan review. |
What Works Well
- Finest grain of any Ilford black and white film
- Extraordinary tonal delicacy — exceptional for architectural detail
- Outstanding sharpness and acutance on medium format
- Renders stone, texture, and fine detail superbly
- Beautiful with Rodinal at high dilution for landscape acutance
- Scans cleanly with excellent tonal separation
Worth Knowing
- ISO 50 demands good light — struggles in overcast or low light
- Significant reciprocity failure beyond two seconds
- Very little exposure latitude — metering must be accurate
- Not a film for handheld shooting or variable conditions
- Requires more careful handling than faster stocks
What ISO is Ilford Pan F Plus 50?
Pan F Plus is rated at ISO 50 — the slowest film in Ilford’s standard black and white range. This makes it the most demanding in terms of light requirements, but it rewards that demand with the finest grain and most delicate tonal rendering of any Ilford emulsion. For comparison, FP4 Plus is rated at ISO 125 and HP5 Plus at ISO 400.
Can Ilford Pan F Plus 50 be pushed?
Technically yes, but it’s not what the film is made for. Pan F Plus can be pushed to ISO 100 with extended development, but the grain increases noticeably and the tonal delicacy that defines the film begins to disappear. If you need more speed, FP4 Plus at ISO 125 is a more natural next step — or HP5 Plus if you need genuine flexibility. My guide to pushing film covers the technique in detail.
Is Pan F Plus good for long exposure photography?
Yes, with careful planning. The ultra-fine grain holds up very well across extended exposures, and the film’s tonal range suits the kind of subjects — architecture, landscape, still water — that benefit from long exposure treatment. The key caveat is reciprocity failure: Pan F Plus loses effective sensitivity at exposures beyond around two seconds. Always consult Ilford’s published reciprocity data before shooting with an ND filter. For more on creative long exposure work, see my posts on ICM photography and motion blur photography.
What is the best developer for Ilford Pan F Plus 50?
Rodinal at high dilution — 1:50 or 1:100 — works very well and is my developer of choice across all my black and white work. It gives strong acutance and excellent edge sharpness without exaggerating grain. For the finest possible grain, Perceptol or Microphen are alternatives worth considering. For a practical introduction to home development, see my simple film development guide.
How does Pan F Plus compare to FP4 Plus?
Pan F Plus is slower, finer-grained, and more demanding of both light and metering accuracy. FP4 Plus at ISO 125 is a more practical everyday choice — still fine-grained and capable of beautiful results, but with enough speed to be useful in a wider range of conditions. Pan F Plus is the film you reach for when conditions are perfect and you want the finest result possible. See my full FP4 Plus review for a detailed comparison, or my guide to choosing the right film for a broader overview.
Is Ilford Pan F Plus available in medium format?
Yes — Pan F Plus is available in both 35mm and 120 format. On medium format, the ultra-fine grain and high resolution of the film are particularly well showcased. For more on the benefits of shooting larger negatives, see my guide to medium format photography and my overview of medium format film cameras.
Where can I buy Ilford Pan F Plus 50 in the UK?
Pan F Plus is available from most UK film stockists including Analogue Wonderland and direct from Ilford. It is less widely stocked than HP5 or FP4, so it’s worth ordering ahead. For a broader guide to sourcing film, see my guide to buying film in the UK and my guide to affordable black and white film in the UK.
This article is part of my Film Photography hub. For more black and white film reviews, see my guides to Ilford HP5 Plus, Ilford FP4 Plus, Rollei Ortho 25, Fomapan 100, 200 and 400, and my guide to types of 35mm black and white films.
