ADOX CHS without hardening fixer?

[Necator]

When putting together an order at Photoimpex yesterday, I got tempted and added some ADOX CHS (25, 50 and 100), all in 35mm. I have read both here and on Photoimpex.de that the emulsion is fragile, and that a hardening fixer is recommended. As I do not have a hardening fixer available, I would like to know what your experience is developing (or rather fixing) ADOX CHS with a normal fixer? I plan to develop in Rodinal, as it seems to be the recommended choice.

 

[darkosaric]

I use fomafix and ilford rapid fixer with those films: with gentle care - no problem. I don't know do this fixers have hardening.

 

[Snapper]

I've never used a hardening fixer with Adox. The Adox emulsion is very soft when wet, so be careful with it, be sure to give it a plain water pre-soak, and use water stop bath. Goes great with Rodinal. Enjoy.

 

[Sim2]

Hallo,
Please do not take this as "definitive experience" with using these films but like you I added a couple of 120 CHS 100 rolls with my last order. Big inverstment!
I have processed one of the films in ID11, pre-soak, water stop and standard hypam fix. Having read some threads about the film here I was expecting it to curl up tighter than a scotsmans wallet and have more spots than a teenager. Handle carfully when wet, but I got it out of a Paterson spiral with no effects. Apart from a slight "bend" compared to FP4 I found no issues - still early days!

Your experiences with this will be interesting.

Sim2.

 

[Rick A]

I've shot a good bit of CHS 25 art in 120 and use Pyrocat-HD that hardens the emulsion while it stains it. I havent had any problems with curl.

 

[hoshisato]

I never used a hardener with ADOX films, and haven't had any problems yet even after stand development in Rodinal 1:200 for a couple of hours which must have left the emulsion very soft.
--
http://monochrome.me.uk/blog/

 

[Necator]

Looks like I have nothing to worry about, as long as I am careful. I never use a stop bath anyway, but the pre-soak is new to me. How long should I let the film pre-soak?

 

[Ian Grant]

At one time I always used a hardener with the EFKE/Adox films, but in more recent years the films have been hardened slightly so now I use plain Hypam/Ilford rapid fixer with no problems.

Like rick I use Pyrocat HD which tends to harden the emulsion as well.

It doesn't need a pre-soak.

Ian

 

[mhanc]

I have had problems with the soft emulsion in the past when I sent about 10 rolls of CHS 100 out to a "pro" lab for processing which did not use a hardening fixer -- pinholes, scratches and bits emulsion coming off the base.

Now that I process this film myself I always strictly follow the directions using a water stop and a hardening fixer as well as being VERY careful with the wet film. I do not use a pre-soak. Never had any problems this way and the films comes out perfect. This has been my experience, however, I suspect you will be fine without the hardener as long as you are careful with the film.

 

[hoshisato]

With ADOX films I pre-soak for 5 minutes in tap water.
--
http://monochrome.me.uk/blog/

 

[masimix]

Look at this thread: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I started pre-wetting and added 10% to the time, works great!