Adotex CMS 20 II Developing Problems and Tips

Frankly with a tripod there may be little point in striving for 20/25 when there is really no reason to bother. You might as well lower the EI to say 5/6

I agree. For 99.9% of my work, I use a tripod. To get maximum rez out of this stuff (I've only ever used it in 4x5), a tripod should be used, anyway...even if I were using it in roll film. The next time I venture out with this film (soon), I will be exposing it at EI 6, and trying a few other developers...

Did we ever get to the bottom of what actually caused OP's original issue? I've shot exactly one roll of CMS 20 II in my lifetime (135), and didn't get any issues like that. Just outrageous resolution and a bit more contrast than I wanted (my own developing issue). I stopped reading the thread when it turned into a dick measuring contest.

I updated the thread that includes CMS 20 II.

BHuij said:

Did we ever get to the bottom of what actually caused OP's original issue?

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Nope. Seems to have been random bad luck. Nothing definitive was determined anyway.

I've just shot a quarter of a roll of 35mm and developed in Caffenol CLCN. Much better results than the last time I tried high-dilution HC-110. I do kind of question the utility of this film in 35mm; getting the most out of it would require either a drum scan or a camera-scan with something hi-res like an A7rIV. And considering that the main draw of this film (for most people) is the resolution...if you've already got an A7rIV, why not just shoot with that?

Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's one frame. There's a little more shadow detail to be had, but it was a Q&D scan and I didn't play with settings at all. I did drop sharpening to 0 in LR, though. There's also more resolution to be had, but I didn't have time to re-level my stupid camera at a lower height.

cptrios said:

getting the most out of it would require either a drum scan or a camera-scan

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Or an enlarger with a long enough column to print/crop LARGE and a good enough lens to back it up.

Donald Qualls said:

Or an enlarger with a long enough column to print/crop LARGE and a good enough lens to back it up.

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LARGE being the key word here. I wanted to see how far I could push a 35mm frame of CMS 20 II in Adotech IV. I cranked my Beseler 45MXT up to maximum height and used my 50mm lens, so I was I think slightly larger than 16x20 in terms of print size. I still think the film had more detail on it that I was resolving on the paper. Whether that was because I needed to enlarge more, or my EL Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 lens just wasn't up to the task, I don't know.

BHuij said:

LARGE being the key word here. I wanted to see how far I could push a 35mm frame of CMS 20 II in Adotech IV. I cranked my Beseler 45MXT up to maximum height and used my 50mm lens, so I was I think slightly larger than 16x20 in terms of print size. I still think the film had more detail on it that I was resolving on the paper. Whether that was because I needed to enlarge more, or my EL Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 lens just wasn't up to the task, I don't know.

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I have lots of 16x24" prints I have made with the same setup. I use Tech Pan, and that's about as big as I want to go with prints you can walk up to and examine closely. A sheet of 20x24 paper is about the largest that I can get to fit on a 45MXT baseboard - I use tape to hold the paper down rather than an easel.