Hello Mirko!
First, thanks for taking the time to do this.
Second, thanks to you and Adox for making such awesome B&W film and paper.
In the interview, you mentioned reversal:
Our films are for example optimized for reversal process, are offered in the largest off the shelf variety of sheet film sizes or in case of CMS 20 have the highest resolution of all halftone recording materials.
I love your CMS 20, it's the only B&W I shoot (unless it is too dark, then the last of the Neopan 1600). I've tried reversing CMS 20 a few times, never got it quite right. Has anyone at Adox (or elsewhere that you know of) found a good procedure to reverse it?
Thanks!
Dear Brian,
sorry for being so late. Too much to do in the last weeks.
Adox CMS 20 II as BW transparency:
German professional lab Photo Studio 13
www.photostudio13.de is offering reversal processing of the Adox CMS 20 II (besides several other BW films including Adox Silvermax).
AFAIK they also do international shipment.
I am using this film dveloped as BW slide in their process on a regular basis. It has a unique quality, especially concerning resolution, sharpness, fineness of grain and the overall "look" of this film as a transparency.
Dmax is good, Dmin is excellent.
The contrast is a bit higher compared to standard BW slide films.
Speed is in the ISO 20/14° - 25/15° range.
I've also tested this film as a BW slide in my standard detail rendition / resolution test (system resolution with Zeiss 2/50 ZF; f5,6; object contrast of 1:4 = two stops).
I've got 230 lp/mm in this test (!!).
You would need a FF sensor with 183 megapixels (without AA filter, with AA you need about 15% more) to get the same resolution under identical test conditions.
We've also tested the whole imaging chain: We've projected these shots and with the best 35mm projection lenses the 230 lp/mm were transferred onto the screen (!!).
So you here have by far the best picture quality available for big enlargements.
No other photographic medium can offer such outstanding quality.
We have projected CMS 20 II slides on a 5 meter width. And even at that huge enlargement you can go extremely near to the screen, you can "put your nose" on the screen and even then you can see the clearest, finest details.
It is absolutely breathtaking!
No scanner, not even the best drum scanners, is able to resolve the full detail this amazing film can capture.
But the best projection lenses (and APO enlarging lenses in the darkroom) can.
Nevertheless, so that you at least can get an impression what is possible with this film, here are two scans, but only at 4000ppi.
Have a little patience during download. Then click on the image.
Just two snapshots, handheld, with my old Nikon F90X and the AF-D Nikkor 1,8/50.
http://www.high-end-scans.de/img/bilder/web/Serger_OT_ACMS20II_28_4000ppi.jpg
http://www.high-end-scans.de/img/bilder/web/Serger_OT_ACMS20II_57_4000ppi.jpg
I hope this information is helpful for you.
Best regards,
Henning