I have recently bought a bulk roll of the new 35mm Foma Retropan 320 and a couple of the packets of special developer from the same manufacturer. The first trial was photographs around the house and garden to see if the suggested developing time was somewhere in the ball park. The insert with the developer suggested 4 to 5 minutes at 20°C rated at 320 but that seemed a bit low so I used 7 minutes at 20°C.
The negatives looked a bit flat, but I was expecting that from various comments around the web, and there was no edge markings, also commented on. The lack of edge markings was a bit of a nuisance as I use them to check the processing.
I scanned some of the negatives into the computer and opened them in PS CC. Flat they were (but that’s how I scan, anyway) and a considerable adjustment was required by levels and curves; smart sharpening a bit, too.
What was noticeable is the large amount of grain and the rather large amount of flare. It appears that the negative material has no, or little, anti-halation backing and that gives the photographs a distinctly old lens feel.
First impressions suggest that the stock would be good for nostalgic portraits/nudes but not for landscape work where the details are important.
Next is to try various other developers such as XTOL 1+1.