What is the difference between Kodak Tri-X Pan 400 and Tri-X 400?

Question

What's the difference between Kodak Tri-X 400 and Kodak Tri-X 400 Pan?

I can't seem to find the difference anywhere, are they simply the same just re-branded?

Answer

There is none, except the labelling. "Pan" is short for "panchromatic" which means that it can record visible light all the way from blue down to red. Amazing, isn't it? These days, it's the films that don't record the whole visible spectrum that get the special labels, like "ortho" (for "othochromatic" -- they don't record orangey yellows or reds, and can be worked with safely under fairly bright red darkroom lighting). There was even a time when ortho film was special new technology -- the earliest films only recorded blue light, which is why mid-nineteenth century landscapes have white skies.

I would expect that Pan X (or Panchromatic X), if it is still available, would still have "pan" in the name, since X isn't a recognizable brand name.

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