Kodak Technical Pan 2415
Confirming several months of rumours, Eastman Kodak has officially announced
that it is discontinuing production of its Technical Pan film, which is arguably
the finest commercial black-and-white film ever made for astrophotography.
Citing steadily declining demand for the fine-grain, red-sensitive,
high-contrast emulsion, the company acknowledged that its last production run of
Technical Pan film was "several years ago," and that the film will
remain available only until the existing inventory is depleted. Kodak also noted that the manufacturing equipment and several key
materials used in the production of Technical Pan emulsion were no longer
available, thus ruling out any likelihood of the film being returned to active
manufacture anytime in the foreseeable future.
Kodak introduced Technical Pan Film SO-115 film in 1977 as a green-sensitive
modification of its Solar Flare Patrol Film SO-392 available since the late
1960s (and also marketed as Photomicrography
Monochrome Film SO-410 during the '70s). Soon after, University of Denver
astronomer Edgar Everhart showed that Technical Pan's sensitivity for
long-exposure astrophotography could be dramatically increased by gas-hypersensitisation
(S&T: February 1981, page 100). Thus began a nearly 20-year love affair between amateur astrophotographers and gas-hypered Technical
Pan film. The rise of digital imaging in the late 1990s, fueled by red-sensitive
CCDs, led to rapidly declining sales of the film. Technical Pan film will still be missed, however, especially since there has
never been a competing emulsion that can be used as an astronomical substitute.
Nor has digital imaging yet advanced to the point where it can fully replace
wide-field, film-based astrophotography.
© Sky & Telescope 2004
Photographs taken on hypered Technical Pan 2415.
