My Journey Into Photography: Analogue Wonderland and Bergger Pancro 400

This weeks blog is in two parts. I will be sharing my views on Bergger Pancro 400, a black and white film I picked up from Analogue Wonderland, a little later in the blog. But first....

Analogue Wonderland, the film retailer here in the UK established by Paul McKay and his mum Mary, has recently celebrated it's 2nd birthday. I first learned of Analogue Wonderland in 2019 when I was looking for a reliable supply of film. I have a liking for Kodak ColorPlus 200 and there was a point in 2019 that saw supplies getting a bit thin when Kodak decided to finally put it on sale in North America. Our chums across the pond finally had the chance to see what all the fuss was about and promptly bought the worlds supply of it and bunged it in ther fridge. This was a little disconcerting as ColorPlus 200 is my favourite colour film due to it's cheap price and ability to forgive a stop or two of light either way.

So off to the internet I went and found Analogue Wonderland through a swift bit of googling. I was immediately impressed with the range of film on sale in 35mm, 120, large format sheet film and even a couple of now rare formats, 110 and 620 format. They even sold APS! Sadly, they too had sold out of Kodak ColorPlus 200. However, all was not lost! I spent a while checking out their black and white films and ended up buying 4 rolls of film and began my patronage of, what was at the time, a retailer still in its infancy.

Seeing a new business grow can be quite a roller coaster for any trade, but growing a film business in the age of the digital revolution is a massive gamble that most folk wouldn't even contemplate. Paul spent quite some time doing his research and, convinced there was a place in the market for a dedicated Film retailer, took a leap of faith. The last 2 years has seen Analogue Wondeland grow from a small home business to being an influential and much loved purveyor of Film supplies to the film photography community not just in the UK, but world wide.

Analogue Wonderland have since branched out into the world you tube and in collaboration with Marina from www.ifwefilm.com/, produced a three part video series aimed at informing folks who may be considering trying film photography for the first time how they can go about it. Marina has also been a regular contributor to Analogue Television, the weekly you tube show where Paul invites a guest from the world of film to talk about their craft and answer questions from the Analogue Community. If you know of anyone thinking of trying film photography, or maybe someone wanting to come back to film after many years away, you will be doing them a huge service by pointing them in the direction of Analogue Wonderland. You might even enjoy it yourself. Marina is very passionate about Film Photography and it shines in the series. You can check it out here
Analogue Wonderland Beginners Guide to Film

I first bought a couple of rolls of Bergger Pancro 400 from Analogue Wonderland back in August 2019. I had seen it talked about on the Negative Positives Podcast facebook group and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I was not disappointed. Bergger is a film manufacturer based in France that has one film. Bergger Pancro 400 in 35mm, 120 and Large Format sheet film. They also produce the chemicals needed to develop Bergger Pancro 400 at home and also the paper to print it on in your home darkroom.

My first 2 rolls of Bergger Pancro 400 were developed by my friends at Photo Hippo
in Burnley. I hadn't begun home developing at the time and I was rather pleased with how it performed. Bergger Pancro 400 is a dual emulsion film that has two layers, one of silver bromide and one of silver iodide, to give a rich tonality to your photographs. I decided recently that as I was now more confident at home developing I would give it a try. Bergger supply the right chemicals for the developing process, but you can use other developers. I used Kodak HC-110 dilution B and, rather than shoot it at box speed, I shot it at 320. I saw Bill Smith's results on the Negative Positives facebook page with his Bergger film and liked what I saw, so went the same route.

Sadly the weather here hasn't exactly been conducive to going outside with a lump of metal hanging around ones neck. Thunderstorms have been rolling across the UK, but a favourable gap in the weather on Thursday afternoon gave me a chance to do an evening of photography around the local trails. I had loaded a roll of Bergger Pancro 400 into my Nikon F801 a couple of days earlier and had done a few test shots in my garden to make a start. Once the clouds parted I headed out.

Bergger Pancro 400 is a great film for bright evenings, It's probably at it's best in late afternoon when the shadows begin to lengthen and just gets better as the evening draws on. Shooting it at 320 slightly over exposes the film and developing it as normal in HC-110 dilution B is as sweet as Bill described. The twin emulsion layers compliment each other and combine to give a plenty of detail and rich contrast. It's also a very forgiving film, Bergger Pancro 400 has enough latitude to forgive mistakes along the way. It retains details you might not see on the negative, but show up with some dodging and burning in the dark room or in the photo editor of your choice.

I have another roll of Bergger Pancro 400 in the fridge and hope to be getting out a bit more now lockdown has been eased. I have missed street photography during the pandemic, empty streets aren't really my thing, but a vibrant town centre can be full of compositions that Bergger would excell at. I just need to make sure my skills are up to it after 4 months and you can be sure i will share it with you in a future blog. You can buy Bergger Pancro 400 along with a wide range of film and film supplies at https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/

Here are a few images from my latest experience of Bergger Pancro 400 and my first experience for comparison. I hope you enjoy them.