Agfa Cinerex - tests and recommendation

[John Austin]

Dwane on here sent me a print that he did studio style to play with the lack of AH layer. Well he purposely lit up a marble that turned into a magnificent glowing white dot

Ooooh - This is what I hoped would happen, like the car previously referred to

My roll will come today! - That is providing A'Post's bullock cart does not get lost in the forest - I am not now using the Kodak Retina as yesterday's sharpness test showed the lens in not up to the job - This is a pity as using ortho' film in a 1930s camera feels right - I will now use it in one of my Nikon Fs with the 35mm lens, not a great lens, but adequately sharp for this project - Remembrance of my BW 16mm film work from 1972 I love "rough tonality", but I demand there be a sharp image at the core

Pix asap (as soon as printed as I don't like neg' scans from the piece of Cano-scan-poo to my left)

John

 

[Dennis S]

Exposed and developed my first roll @ 35 EI Developed 1-50 Rodinal 9 min @ 20 C. I used my usual way: Pre rinse then 30 secs agitation to begin and then 5 secs agitation every 30 secs. Slightly over developed. Next 1 will be 7.5 min with 1 min agitations. Not far off for the start. Will be adding a Yellow filter also. Very nice grain.

 

[John Austin]

Whooppee - it is here

However, I still grumped at Colin as it was the only parcel, I wanted four

Straight into the darkroom to open the parcel, done in the dark just to be safe - First I grabbed the treasure I was hoping for, something I avidly search for in every parcel from overseas, bits of foreign newspaper - Sadly the Missoula Independent has all the vivid writing and excitement of the Manjimup Bridgetown Times, even the supermarket adverts look the same, but they did in the Goteborgs Posten wrapped around a Sinar bed rail from Sweden months ago

In the gathering gloom I did a very rough and ready zone I test and three pics each at 25, 50 and 100asa developed in D76d - I used this as this is sitting there in deep tanks at the right temperature, each tank with its own little light flashing occasionally as the dev, stop and fix are kept at the right temperature 24 hours a day all year round - One of life's little darkroom luxuries

So far the film looks super-clean, but with a very sudden drop off below zone I into total clarity - The highlights, looked at wet, seemed to go on a nice long way with no sign of blocking or flaring - I will plot all this tomorrow after I have found the best dev' times for zone VIII and decided what to dev' it in - A densitometer being another of life's little darkroom luxuries

Anyway, I hope the next roll I order has more interesting newspaper, but in reality the days of parcels from USA being wrapped in the LA Free Times or the Village Voice are long gone

John

 

[Field]

John I'm sure I could try to include some more interesting paper next time...

dances_w_clouds, too much agitation. I'm agitating it at every 3 minutes, some would do it every 5 minutes (although for things that take like 18 minutes). Many people just give it a shake and leave it alone for 45 minutes. The trick is if you think you aren't quiet agitating it enough, you are probably doing it right. I had a lot of seriously overdeveloped photos when I first used Rodinal...

I'm going to point out the sad thing is I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get this film again. The medical world does not really use this stuff anymore; they use big sheet negatives but... It was by chance I got this you may say. I've been searching for more but I don't know if I'll ever be able to locate more of even different types. Sad...

 

[Dennis S]

The trick here with the water purity is to make sure there is enough agitation to get even development. I have tried with different film to use stand development with uneven results. With semi-stand (2x15 secs) it was noticeable (barely). Comparing the Rodinal to the Blazinal I have noticed slight differences. But that is a whole new ball game that shall not be taken on on this thread. Maybe my next purchase should be distilled water to eliminate some differences. But thanks again to you I can afford a few tests especially with Blazinal for just pennies a roll.
I also noted that Agfa film and Rodinal have been used together with great results for MANY yrs.

 

[Katie]

Shot at ISO 200, developed in ID11 (1+3ish) for 14 minutes - agitation first minute and then 6 inversions every minute after that.

This film dries VERY fast. I had no problem with using this film under a red safelight either ... Grain is VERY fine. I like it. Dark greens and bright highlights. It's lovely. Just a random sampling. (I killed my toaster today, by the way).

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

1+3ish?

 

[Katie]

1+3ish?

Well - technically, it was 100ML of dev and filled to 300ML with water (so what's that, like 1+2) but I followed a recipe of 1+3, but left my dev temp at 74F instead of 68-70F. Weaker mixture, hotter temp = a wash in my opinion. HAHA!

 

[zsas]

Looking great Katie! There is that glow that John (grumpy old man) is looking for!!

 

[Katie]

Yep, Andy, I shot that with it mind. It caught on fire and I threw it outside. Then I saw it gleaming in the sun and thought of "the glow" I should get from it. Also, the shot of the wet tree with my darkroom in the background looks pretty glow-y too (the first image). I'm impressed with the grain of this film big time!

 

[John Austin]

Testing times,

Logically, following this thread and noting the attempts to reduce contrast and seeing the initial D76d results I should have tried a two-bath compensating developer

Before being sensible, and using the excuse of spending three days making big prints for a big-for-me print order on the 10x8" DeVere, I decided to have fun and not be sensible

Wondering why the film was ortho' and thinking it might have been for making title negs I made up some ID13 lith developer and tried that - Here is what happened at 40 and 80asa in lith developer



Following screams of "disgusting, shoot him" from you all, this approach could be useful for some work, but the exposure will have to be accurate to a fifth of a stop - I will try it today at 50asa on real subjects and in another body at 32asa for D76d times - After that the two bath tests using D23 + Kodalk, which I am currently out of so that will have to wait

 

[Dennis S]

Revised developing. 8 min @ 20C Rodinal 1-50 5 sec agitation per minute . 35 EI I could really get to like this film. Excellent grain
A few more experiments and I think I will happy with the results. I added a bit of warm tone on my Flickr site that really stand out well.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Rich,
what scanner do you use?

Nikon LS-9000

 

[zsas]

Grumpy, excellent, you have opened my mind to other possibilities! Ty for doing something different. Look forward to you D76 trials and tribulations

Dances, loving this one of yours:

 

[vfalendysh]

Hello,
Finaly developed one more film. Exposure index = 50. This time did Fomadon R09 1:50, 20C (68F), 8 minutes, agitation for first 30 secodns and then 2-3 "turnarounds" avery minute (basically followed Field's experiments / recommendations). I love result. I do not see that much difference from a "normal" bw film (except black roses).

Now I'm torturing myself why I did not buy more rolls from Field when they were cheaper..

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Hello,
Finaly developed one more film. Exposure index = 50. This time did Fomadon R09 1:50, 20C (68F), 8 minutes, agitation for first 30 secodns and then 2-3 "turnarounds" avery minute (basically followed Field's experiments / recommendations). I love result. I do not see that much difference from a "normal" bw film (except black roses).

Now I'm torturing myself why I did not buy more rolls from Field when they were cheaper..

Nice. Good starting times for my next few rolls as I'll use Rodinal.

 

[zsas]

Vfalendysh - Those are looking great, the portrait has great tonality!

 

[zsas]

Today, like almost every day since this film has arrived, it was gray and rainy, so I bulked about 10 frames, and while running errands with the kids I saw this water tower, it was surrounded by a chain link fence so I tried to stick my camera’s lens through one of the links, which I didn’t do so well (see left part), but since this was a test, I am not really concerned sharing something with such obvious technical issues, with that said, the photo is gorgeous in my estimation, the water tower looks almost exactly like you see in reality because it was a sliver structure with that neat black grime on the bottom. I thought I would share this since it shows how great this film can be (if only I could have framed the photo better). Camera Olympus XA, ASA 50, processed Xtol 1:1 (not replenished) 17:45, agitated 4 times for 10 seconds initially and every minute thereafter:

ps dont mind that fuzz that somehow got on my $canner....

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Vfalendysh - Those are looking great, the portrait has great tonality!

Yes, love the portrait one!

 

[vfalendysh]

Thank you for comments next step - find correct delution / timing for stand development. Looking at my first "experient" I think I will try something like r09 1:200 / 60 minutes.

Have to add one thing.. Picture were Taken with my now-favorite Mamiya ZE. Those little cameras the same as entire E series mamiya lenses are very underestimated. They are pretty rare to find but go for close to nothing.. 50mm f2 is really sharp and makes amazing foggy bokeh on full open.

Victor

 

[M. Lointain]

From my experience, I think this film is close to an E.I. of 25. From the looks of the scans I have done I also think the film needs more development than normal. I haven't printed anything yet though. The first roll I shot was at 50 and it was not good... The second was at 25 and looks decent. No filters. I developed the two rolls I have shot so far in Edwal 10, 6m, 77º. I stuck another roll in a camera and will be exposing it at 12 just to see it. So far I think it is ok. I like the higher tones I am getting with it but the shadows are a bit of a mess... Very heavy.

 

[baachitraka]

What bulk loaders do you use for this film, I'm new in using bulk film.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Thank you for comments next step - find correct delution / timing for stand development. Looking at my first "experient" I think I will try something like r09 1:200 / 60 minutes.

Have to add one thing.. Picture were Taken with my now-favorite Mamiya ZE. Those little cameras the same as entire E series mamiya lenses are very underestimated. They are pretty rare to find but go for close to nothing.. 50mm f2 is really sharp and makes amazing foggy bokeh on full open.

Victor

Very nice. I have a Mamiya 500TL with the 50/2.0. Cannot remember now how I got it! The battery cover is missing so no metering but the shutter being fully manual is a great thing. I have an M42/C-Yadapter to use this lens on my Contax SLRs. A good one for sure.

EDIT: I see my 50 is a different series of the Mamiya SLR lenses....still a goodie though!

 

[Field]

What bulk loaders do you use for this film, I'm new in using bulk film.

I don't think it matters. I have a really old Alden (Watson)

Dead Link Removed

 

[baachitraka]

I have one from Lloyd which takes 100f of film. Given that I do not have very sophisticated darkroom, I have no any idea how to manage the rest of the film in-case this cinerex comes in 300f.