ADOX CMS20 in *other* developers

I know Adotech is the number one choice for this film, but has anyone tried to juice it in any others like Technidol or even high dilution Rodinal?

I plan on getting the Adotech, but I have heard the shelf life is not so hot. I am hoping to use this film as a traning film to my TP stash.

I exposed CMS 20 at EI 8 and up but obtained little shadow detail in dilute Rodinal or PMK Pyro in my tests. I would try again at EI 3 for Rodinal 1:100 10m 68F and EI 4 for PMK Pyro 1:2:100 10m 68F but like to say I never actually did this.
However,the Adotech developer is fine, I obtained good pictorial results at EI 16. My guess is that it's probably a high phenidone developer as Technidol is said to be.
All my EI's are for sun/shade conditions.

Anyone else have experience with this? What is the shelf life of Adotech anyway?

You might try one of the many developers formulated for Kodak Technical Pan and similar films such as H&W Control and Perfection XR-1. They were formulated for high contrast microfilms used for pictorial purposes.

I'll try Technidol with this film sometime this week. If that's still too high contrast, I guess the Adotech developer would be the only choice.

cotdt said:

I'll try Technidol with this film sometime this week. If that's still too high contrast, I guess the Adotech developer would be the only choice.

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Not the only choice: There is also: FORMULARY TD-3 (Bill Troop's Document Film developer formula).

And, there are several other candidate developers if you mix your own.

Tom Hoskinson said:

Not the only choice: There is also: FORMULARY TD-3 (Bill Troop's Document Film developer formula).

And, there are several other candidate developers if you mix your own.

Click to expand...

yes TD-3 will be my next candidate. would you recommend i try EI 16 rather than EI 20 to start out with? I have the film and developers, just need to snap the pictures.

Shelve life of ADOTECH

In the ADOTECH instructions we provide a table how to dilute the developer for each film if the bottle is refilled with water after taking something out to mix the dilution every time.
This keeps the concentrate from oxidation. If you follow these instructions the shelve live of an opened bottle is up to one year.

Best regards,

Mirko

Instructions:

Once opened, Adox Adotech Developer will last only 6 weeks before oxidizing.
It is recommended to add an equal amount of water to developer that is removed from the bottle to preserve the developer activity.

With every following film being developed, the amount of developer concentrate used needs to be increased accordingly.

Example to make 250 ml of final working solution (small tank):
first film 10ml of concentrate plus 240 ml of water,
second film 12.5 ml plus 237.50 of water,
third film 16.5 ml plus 233.50 of water,
fourth film 25 ml plus 225 ml of water,
last film all of the remaining diluted concentrate plus 200 ml of water.

This will extend the developer life to 12 months.

I have some ADOX CMS20 film on hand, but have not tested it yet.

Suggest you shoot 3 frames (camera on tripod).
Same Subject, Same lighting.
1. EI 20
2. EI 10
3. EI 5

Develop, Check the highlights and shadows, pick the shot you like best, then interpolate to estimate the EI to use for your next test.

Tom Hoskinson said:

I have some ADOX CMS20 film on hand, but have not tested it yet.

Suggest you shoot 3 frames (camera on tripod).
Same Subject, Same lighting.
1. EI 20
2. EI 10
3. EI 5

Develop, Check the highlights and shadows, pick the shot you like best, then interpolate to estimate the EI to use for your next test.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'll try just that. BTW where in SoCal do you live?

cotdt said:

Thanks for the advice, I'll try just that. BTW where in SoCal do you live?

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I live in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) and I work in El Segundo (about 1 mile from LAX).

I just tried developing it in Technidol 9 min. 30 second agitations and the negatives came out absolutely gorgeous. the detail in this film is ridiculous. i can make massive enlargements, and the contrast was only slightly higher than normal B&W films. That was for EI 20. For normal contrast probably EI12 and a bit more development time would be perfect.

Oops I meant:

EI12 7 minutes in Technidol. Works perfect. Enjoy.
EI20 9 minutes in Technidol. A little more contrasty but still good tonal range.

My results with Technidol are so good that I will now try other low-contrast developers, like dilute Rodinal and Caffeinol LC.