Shooting Adox CHS 50 for the first time.

[Lucas13]

Hello

Just ordered some of this film to experiment with. Have been shooting mostly 400tx and 125px with a nikon F5 and F100. I usually have a yellow filter on and am looking to add some variety. Anybody got any tips on developers and times for this film? I got D-76, Tmax, and Xtol on hand. Any particular filters to complement this film? I really like the look of old photos with some grain dont really need crystal clear images.

 

[TSSPro]

well, you arent really going to get too much grain out of this film unless you enlarge the hell out of it. It is a nice old-style film, by that non-t grain. It prints well and sometimes a little different to get used to when you process it because of the short times, a little dilution change could help with that, but its a fun film over all. I thought that it reticulated easier than films using new technology, but that was mostly error on my part. Also, make sure that you use a hardening agent in your fixer. You dont want your emulsion to slide off (almost made that mistake once with this film, too.)

 

[Snapper]

I've used a lot of Adox CHS 25 and 100, but never 50, but I would recommend Rodinal 1+50 with both of those films. Make sure you give it a pre-soak though.

 

[Solarize]

I've used Rodinal and Xtol replenished. Both give really clean results. The thing is to nail your exposure or bracket, and be sure not to overdevelop. It's a bit finicky, but really nice if you hit on a good combo.

 

[Lucas13]

Thanks alot fellas. will give it a try and report back with what I get.

 

[michael stevens]

I love this film and found I got a bit more grain and contrast by shooting CHS 50 at 100 ISO and developing in XTOL 1:1 for 11.5 minutes with 3 inversions every 30 seconds.

 

[ntenny]

A lot of people like the Adox/Efke films better with a 1-stop push. I don't find it makes a *huge* difference as compared to box speed, but the additional contrast can be nice.

I believe CHS 50, like CHS 25, is "orthopanchromatic" rather than fully panchromatic, meaning it has a reduced sensitivity to red. Tonalities will sometimes not be what your eye expects if you're used to pan film, and it's probably a good idea to use a yellow filter routinely when shooting in sunlight.

It's a good film, although I'm not sure I really have very many reasons to use it rather than CHS 25. I've developed it in PC-TEA, which behaves more or less like Xtol 1+2, and been happy with the results; minimal grain of a basically pleasing character, and razor-sharp (or would be if I were better at critical focus).

-NT