marcmarc
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- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
- Messages
- 391
- Format
- Medium Format
...I'm completely blown away by Adox CHS 100 Art. I used Adox about five years ago (when it was only available as Efke) but didn't care for it much; it seemed as grainy as a 400 speed film and I also kept hearing horror stories about pin holes (due to acid stop baths I presume) and occasional occurrences of the emulsion sliding off the base. Although I never experienced these problems, why take chances? Fp4 and Plus-X I also didn't care for for less specific reasons. I settled on APX 100 in 120 and souped in Rodinal. Then as we all know, Agfa went under and my stash of APX100 eventually dried up. Once again I tried the Ilford and Kodak medium speed films and just didn't warm up to them. I stuck with Pan F+ and Delta 3200 as my main two films. However, I really like to have some medium speed films around on hand as sometimes the extra stop makes a difference. So I thought I'd give Adox another try. I chose Adox over Efke even though they are the same film for the plastic container you get with Adox.
I shot about 12 rolls at a recent parade with my RZ67 and developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 15 minutes. I rated the film at iso 50. Yesterday I made a handful of prints and was amazed at the results. Yes, the familiar light streaks were there along the edges but none leaked onto the images themselves. The film also didn't curl as much as I remember. The sharpness and tonality surpassed FP4 and Plus-X and yes even APX100. I've used Rodinal 1+100 with these films as well but something about the Adox film really sets it apart. Maybe I'm just better at exposure and developing then I was five years ago when I was a relative beginner photographer. Whatever the case I can now sleep easy at night knowing I have a medium speed film on hand that exceeds my expectations. I also picked up some 50 speed Adox that I plan to shoot next weekend.
The only issue that came up for me was this film seems much more sensitive to agitation then other films I've used. By that I mean on several of my shots that I printed I noticed in the sky areas the negs were a little more dense along the edges before thinning out in the center. I used the same gentle agitation as I do for Pan F+ (which works great) but maybe because Adox is a thinner film it requires less agitation? I'll try 30 seconds initial agitation along with one gentle inversion every minute to see if this corrects the issue.
I shot about 12 rolls at a recent parade with my RZ67 and developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 15 minutes. I rated the film at iso 50. Yesterday I made a handful of prints and was amazed at the results. Yes, the familiar light streaks were there along the edges but none leaked onto the images themselves. The film also didn't curl as much as I remember. The sharpness and tonality surpassed FP4 and Plus-X and yes even APX100. I've used Rodinal 1+100 with these films as well but something about the Adox film really sets it apart. Maybe I'm just better at exposure and developing then I was five years ago when I was a relative beginner photographer. Whatever the case I can now sleep easy at night knowing I have a medium speed film on hand that exceeds my expectations. I also picked up some 50 speed Adox that I plan to shoot next weekend.
The only issue that came up for me was this film seems much more sensitive to agitation then other films I've used. By that I mean on several of my shots that I printed I noticed in the sky areas the negs were a little more dense along the edges before thinning out in the center. I used the same gentle agitation as I do for Pan F+ (which works great) but maybe because Adox is a thinner film it requires less agitation? I'll try 30 seconds initial agitation along with one gentle inversion every minute to see if this corrects the issue.