Kentmere Pan 400 Pushed to EI 1600

Not terribly long ago, I ventured out at night with my Nikon F loaded with Kentmere Pan 400 to do a little nighttime street photography.

A few months ago, I shot two rolls of CineStill BwXX at EI 400. But I did so not for the sake of pushing that film less than a full stop faster but instead because CineStill does not have any guidance on their CineStill BwXX Dev Times chart about developing that film with a 1+9 dilution of Ilford Ilfosol 3, the developer I have on hand, at its box speed of ASA 250. I suppose I could have developed using a 1+4 dilution, but for some reason I opted not to.

Curious about pushing a film stock a few stops faster, something that I had never tried before, I grabbed a roll of Kentmere Pan 400 out of the closet and shot it at EI 1600. I was pleasantly surprised with the results I got.

With only a handful of scan-time adjustments, I managed to get deep blacks, white highlights, and a respectable range of grey tones in between. Especially for nighttime shots around town, I’ve grown to like seeing film grain, and pushing Kentmere Pan 400 two stops certainly gave me that grittiness.