Best way to develop Adox CMS 20ii

[tomtomgps]

Hi,

I'm going on a hiking trip this weekend and I want to bring my last roll of CMS 20ii with me. I have noticed that sometimes when shooting at iso 12 and adotech iv I get muddiness in the highlights. Could POTA at ISO 6 be helpful ?

 

[GregY]

i can't say with pota, i've only developed CMS20 @6.....in Adox FX39

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

If it is the last roll, why try something new and face uncertainty?

 

[retina_restoration]

It’s very unlikely that POTA will give better results than Adotech.

 

[GregY]

....sorry I meant Adotech CMS lV

 

[250swb]

I say use Adotech IV, but I rate CMS20 II at 12 ISO and don't get muddy highlights. Could it be agitation, do you do the swirl technique Adox recommend with one very, very gentle swish on the minute?

 

[John Wiegerink]

i can't say with pota, i've only developed CMS20 @6.....in Adox FX39View attachment 403305

Greg,
I've been using FX-39II more and more and liking more and more with certain films. I haven't shot CMS20 for a while, but if I do I'd like to try it in FX-39II. Did you use a highly dilute mix to compensate for the higher contrast in your shot above? Any filters involve with the shot above?

 

[retina_restoration]

Greg,
I've been using FX-39II more and more and liking more and more with certain films. I haven't shot CMS20 for a while, but if I do I'd like to try it in FX-39II. Did you use a highly dilute mix to compensate for the higher contrast in your shot above? Any filters involve with the shot above?

Greg corrected his post to state that he used Adotech IV, not FX-39 II.

 

[GregY]

Greg,
I've been using FX-39II more and more and liking more and more with certain films. I haven't shot CMS20 for a while, but if I do I'd like to try it in FX-39II. Did you use a highly dilute mix to compensate for the higher contrast in your shot above? Any filters involve with the shot above?

John i used a yellow filter and mixed the Adotech according to instructions.

 

[John Wiegerink]

John i used a yellow filter and mixed the Adotech according to instructions.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Out of many developers I've tested with CMS 20, Adotech IV always came out on top. POTA wasn't too bad. I never tested it in FX-39II, though. I've got three bottles of the stuff, too!

 

[John Wiegerink]

Out of many developers I've tested with CMS 20, Adotech IV always came out on top. POTA wasn't too bad. I never tested it in FX-39II, though. I've got three bottles of the stuff, too!

I would imagine FX-39II would have to be pretty dilute and maybe semi-stand to control the contrast level of CMS20. I might just have to buy a few rolls and see for myself.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I would imagine FX-39II would have to be pretty dilute and maybe semi-stand to control the contrast level of CMS20. I might just have to buy a few rolls and see for myself.

I think it can only be found on ebay now... Can no longer mail order it from Fotoimpex, but if you are in Berlin, you can pick it up there...according to their website. B&H has it listed as no longer available. I have a few precious rolls, and one box of 4x5 left... I'll be using those for special occasions...

 

[John Wiegerink]

I think it can only be found on ebay now... Can no longer mail order it from Fotoimpex, but if you are in Berlin, you can pick it up there...according to their website. B&H has it listed as no longer available. I have a few precious rolls, and one box of 4x5 left... I'll be using those for special occasions...

Andy,
Thanks for that update. I didn't know it was getting that hard to come by. Wow, you have some in 4X5! I can't imagine how big you could go with 4X5. I wish I could get Adox HR-50 in 120, but I'm probably dreaming again. I really like HR-50 and it's pretty easy to work with.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andy,
Thanks for that update. I didn't know it was getting that hard to come by. Wow, you have some in 4X5! I can't imagine how big you could go with 4X5. I wish I could get Adox HR-50 in 120, but I'm probably dreaming again. I really like HR-50 and it's pretty easy to work with.

I really want to enlarge the 4x5, and that is one of the reasons why I reinstalled my enlarger in my darkroom. I want to see what it as well as the 35mm looks like at 16x20. As far as HR-50 goes, I've been waiting for 120. Not sure what is stopping Adox from doing this. They have the 120 system up and running now...

 

[250swb]

Whichever developer is used it's worth considering what Adox say regarding the intended outcome. That the temperature is only critical at the beginning of development because that is when most of the development of highlights happens, in the first minute, from then on it's about keeping the developer on the highlights exhausted to keep them 'clean', and to allow the shadows to catch up, hence very minimal agitation. So a very compensating developer may work, but that is what Adotech is all about. In my cupboard if I didn't have Adotech I'd try very dilute FX-39 and hoping for a compensating effect, or Rollei Supergrain which is a compensating developer.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I really want to enlarge the 4x5, and that is one of the reasons why I reinstalled my enlarger in my darkroom. I want to see what it as well as the 35mm looks like at 16x20. As far as HR-50 goes, I've been waiting for 120. Not sure what is stopping Adox from doing this. They have the 120 system up and running now...

Yes, I believe a 4X5 negative from CMS20 or even HR-50 would make a wall size print. Not that I want to go much past 16X20 or maybe 20X24 or 30.

Whichever developer is used it's worth considering what Adox say regarding the intended outcome. That the temperature is only critical at the beginning of development because that is when most of the development of highlights happens, in the first minute, from then on it's about keeping the developer on the highlights exhausted to keep them 'clean', and to allow the shadows to catch up, hence very minimal agitation. So a very compensating developer may work, but that is what Adotech is all about. In my cupboard if I didn't have Adotech I'd try very dilute FX-39 and hoping for a compensating effect, or Rollei Supergrain which is a compensating developer.

I would think that FX-39II would work fairly well with a film like CMS20, but you never know until you try it. I'm thinking a dilution rate of somewhere around 1+40 to 50 might work with very gentle agitation and a fairly long development time. I'm going to play with HR-50 and FX-39II a little more. It seems pretty good so far, but I still need to work on shadow detail, which is not a problem. My problem is trying to keep some detail in white, fluffy clouds.

 

[Alan Johnson]

I have been trying the King Film King Mono 50 as a near replacement for CMS 20 II, available from Fotoimpex or AliExpress. IMO it has finer grain than HR-50 but take note that the manufacturers code is imprinted in the middle of the width every 3-5 frames. It is likely the same as Film Photography Project FPP Eastman Kodak Hi Fi, 2374 .

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

I have been trying the King Film King Mono 50 as a near replacement for CMS 20 II, available from Fotoimpex or AliExpress. IMO it has finer grain HR-50 but take note that the manufacturers code is imprinted in the middle of the width every 3-5 frames. It is likely the same as Film Photography Project FPP Eastman Kodak Hi Fi, 2374 .

How does the grain of King Mono 50 compare to that of Kodak 50D?

 

[Alan Johnson]

How does the grain of King Mono 50 compare to that of Kodak 50D?

Pretty well it appears:

CD4-LC low contrast developer for scanning

Eterna RDS 4791 was a bit foggy for reasons unknown so I turned to Kodak. I found two Eastman films which from the MTF chart have a notably high resolution. 2234- available in cassettes in UK but not ? in US. 2369- available as Film Photography Project High-Con 2369 in cassettes. 2234 was tried...

www.photrio.com

 

[retina_restoration]

As far as HR-50 goes, I've been waiting for 120. Not sure what is stopping Adox from doing this. They have the 120 system up and running now...

Or do they? CHS 100 II in 120 format has been absent from the marketplace for months now (even at Fotoimpex, their “home” outlet), so it seems there’s something going on at Adox - probably more mechanical issues (they’ve been fighting problems with failing electronic components as well).
My impression is that Adox 120 format films are produced for a period, get shipped out and then they have to pause for a while to do repairs in the equipment. I don’t know this for a fact, but….

The April Adox blog post stated: “After overhauling the 120 film spooling machine for more than two years we are happy to announce that it is up and running again and CHS 100II is available again in 120 format.

Now we need the new slitter to run in order to cut more films.”

So there are likely mechanical issues that need to be resolved, which may explain why 120 rolls are currently unavailable.

 

[destroya]

Pretty well it appears:

CD4-LC low contrast developer for scanning

Eterna RDS 4791 was a bit foggy for reasons unknown so I turned to Kodak. I found two Eastman films which from the MTF chart have a notably high resolution. 2234- available in cassettes in UK but not ? in US. 2369- available as Film Photography Project High-Con 2369 in cassettes. 2234 was tried...

www.photrio.com

I have used cd4-LC to develop tech pan, copex rapid and cms 20ii. For me it worked better than any other developer I tried (pota, the caffenol varieties and the photo formula pre-mixed, td-3 I think it was). Guess I prefer metol developers as i get no streaking in the skies. I have not tried it in the dedicated developer though.

john

 

[tomtomgps]

Unfortunately, my Adox Adotech IV had expired . After fixing, my CMS 20ii negative came out completely transparent. On the positive side I developed Orto Mikrat Direct positive exposed at 0.375 iso in POTA and that worked really well!

 

[Ron789]

I wish I could get Adox HR-50 in 120, but I'm probably dreaming again. I really like HR-50 and it's pretty easy to work with.

Try Rollei Retro 80s. It's the same emulsion as HR-50 and available in 120. I love it, but in order to tame the contrast I pull it: expose at 50 and underdevelop.

 

[tomtomgps]

I found that retro 80s or rpx25 work really well at iso 50 1:100 rodinal for an hour.