Scala, Anyone?

Is 120 Scala still being made?

Hasn't been for some time. dr5, though, will reversal process a wide range of B&W films. www.dr5.com

Karl K said:

Is 120 Scala still being made?

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I have still 5 rolls 120 but have no idea how to process them (Europe).
Pity.

-M-

If you don't care about getting a positive image, I've heard rumors that Rodinal works very, very well with Scala.

I still have some 120 and some 4x5.

I've done dr5 with a few films and it is very nice, try it. Still have a few boxes of scala.

Anybody tried the foma positive film?

Stephanie Brim said:

If you don't care about getting a positive image, I've heard rumors that Rodinal works very, very well with Scala.

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Rodinal may well work. Rodinal Special, which is a completely different animal from Rodinal, definitely does work. I use it. It is also known as Studional.

I'm planning on doing some testing with FX39, as I still have about 20 rolls of Scala.

Scala is/was the best of a kind.
I still reversal process B&W neg. film. I heard that a good replacement is the FOMAPAN reversal, I have not tried it yet.

Scala in Rodinal

Stephanie Brim said:

If you don't care about getting a positive image, I've heard rumors that Rodinal works very, very well with Scala.

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Try Scala @ iso 200, Rodinal 1:25 8.5 min @ 65f (18c). A bit contrasty, but nice rich dark tones. Some examples: Dead Link Removed.

In London, the big problem was that one professional lab had the rights to process it. When they went under, another lab took it over and I'm not sure if they are still going. Don't think so. I believe Scala was a negative BW film that had been formulated specifically for a reversal process. I was asked a few years ago to test it with a normal BW reversal kit, (I think it was Tetenal), and it worked fine, so if these kits are still available, Scala can still be processed for tranny. Or, I'm sure the formulae are easy to find for the bleach and 2nd development. In normal developer, it was really good film, though I think it may be best to rate it at 100 ISO, though tests will determine it's true (negative) speed.

Karl,

It is not still made. Same as many other great films that have been discontinued the past 5-10 years. My pet peeves are the various tungsten-balanced films, pos. and neg., that are tragically now GONE, leaving us only with 64-speed tungsten transparency films from Kodak and Fuji. I miss 320T like nobody's business! It was my favorite film for abot 50% of my shooting at the time. 160T was nice. Portra 100T, Fuji NPL...rrrgh.

The good news is that there really wasn't anything *super* special about Scala anyhow. It was really nice, but you can get close to its look with films that are still available, if you put time into experimenting. It was just a regular black and white negative film, but one that was rather high in contrast, so that it could beautifully handle the loss of contrast that occurs when films are reversal processed. You can process any "true" black and white film as a transparency or as a neg. Even color transparencies are neg. films to start. It is the chemical process that flips them.

I would say to try FP4 or Plus-X as an alternative. Freestyle also advertises a certain film as a good replacement. I can't remember exactly what it was called...Foma 200, I think. Ilford's published reversal process has worked very well for me in the past. Photographer's Formulary also sells a kit, but it is very expensive compared to the Ilford method, and is labelled as being for T-Max films...whatever that means. I imagine it would at least do SOMETHING to other films as well. You can also ship the film to the DR5 lab, which is in Colorado, USA, if I remember properly.

Marc Leest said:

I have still 5 rolls 120 but have no idea how to process them (Europe).
Pity.

-M-

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http://www.processc22.co.uk

The will process any B&W film in the scala chemistry if you ask them to, so you can get slides from FP4

I've developed Scala last year as negative film, in Ilfosol S, with times and temps as if it were something like FP4+ or APX100 or thereabouts.

Here is a recipe derived from all of the available material on the internet along with some references:
http://www.kryptosinistographer.com/2008/03/technique-for-m.html

On a related note - why would someone want a B&W transparency as opposed to a neg, especially in the age of digital neg scanning?

I'm not playing devils advocate or being provocative, I honestly am trying to think of why to see if it would be a good idea for any of my projects.

That "Scala Look"

Colin Corneau said:

On a related note - why would someone want a B&W transparency as opposed to a neg, especially in the age of digital neg scanning?

I'm not playing devils advocate or being provocative, I honestly am trying to think of why to see if it would be a good idea for any of my projects.

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I've had Scala developed commercially as a positive transparency and have developed at home as a negative. It's very intangible, but the positives seem to provide a better "tone richness," for lack of a better word. This is especially true in the dark tones. Perhaps someone else could provide a technical description of the "Scala look." Even better, a Photoshop or Lightroom preset would be just dandy.

Colin Corneau said:

On a related note - why would someone want a B&W transparency as opposed to a neg, especially in the age of digital neg scanning?

I'm not playing devils advocate or being provocative, I honestly am trying to think of why to see if it would be a good idea for any of my projects.

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I have used Scala positives in my enlarger for making large format negatives to use in alternative processes such as Vandyke Brown and Cyanotype. Worked very well!
Lyn

..scala film is no longer being made. The last run was almost 4 years ago. There are films that work as well if not better than the scala film.

Scala does very well in Rodenal and D23.

dw

I once read a rumour that one of the final steps in the Scala process was a selenium-toning bath (hence the "tone richness"). Has anyone else heard this?

Hello everybody,
In Europe,the Original Agfa Scala is still available only by one dealer, but in big quantity! The exp.date ist 07/2008. There was an uninterrupted cool storage of the Scala since the production, the dealer decleared.
I guess in USA "digitaltruth" can supply you with the Scala, because they obtaining other sw-films from the same dealer.
AT "dr5" you will find technical details for a very good successor. Freestye has
this film in stock since several years.
Have a good time with b/w films!
Walter