Ultrafine Extreme 100 (ORWO UN54)

[JerryWo]

Bought a 100' roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100 (It's cheaper on e-bay than on the Ultrafine site!). First time loader - bought an Alden 74, loaded up some rolls and took them to NYC, where I accompanied my wife who was there at a convention.

I can say that this film, in DIAFINE, is superb. Here's an indoor shot at the NYC public library:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The outdoor shots, taken on both sunny and cloudy days are very very nice. The grain is fine, contrast excellent and most have printed very nicely with #2 1/2 and #3 filters.
I realize this is not a real technical evaluation - I'm still new to much of this.

I've done some test rolls using RODINAL around my house, but have not yet taken any shots "out in the wild".
The RODINAL shots look good, but I shall withhold comment until I play with them some more. In RODINAL, the EI looks to be around 80 (100 is still OK).
In DIAFINE, I shot at Box speed (100).

Camera: Scale focus Bessa-L
Lens - Color Skopar 35mm F2.5
Ultrafine Extreme 100
Diafine (3 + 3) at 74 degrees F
Printed on Ilford MGIV RC - Pearl
#2 1/2 filter
Dektol
Meopta Axomat with Componon-S

 

[bluesun267]

I got some of this film in ready loaded 35mm cassettes direct from Ultrafine a couple weeks ago--very nice film I agree, however I have compared it directly with Kentmere 100 (aka Ilford Pan 100 in some countries) and concluded they are the same film. Edge markings/numbers identical except "Ultrafine Extreme 100" instead of "Kentmere 100". Orwo UN54 is only made in motion picture form, and would not have frame numbers 1, 1a, 2, 2a etc. like still film. It would have the Kodak 'keycode' numbers w/ bar code every 10 frames or so (for telecine time code). Looks like Ultrafine is bulk-rolling this themselves, as the rolls I got never start exactly at 0 nor end at 36 or 37. Sometimes they start at, for example, 17 then end at 42, followed by a couple blank frames, then 0 or 1, etc. It's lovely, rich film and is an excellent alternative to FP4+, though slightly more grain.

 

[Paul Howell]

Good to know, I have 10 rolls that I plan to shoot over the next couple of weeks. Had been under the impression that Ilford did not rebrand film.

 

[JerryWo]

Thanks bluesun267 - I was gonna develop some UN54 (which I've recently purchased) and the Ultrafine in a side-by-side comparison. I haven't been able to get to it as my darkroom (aka the hall bathroom) is pressed into full time duty while I renovate our master bathroom. Knowing this (the Ultrafine) is Ilford Pan will help me with some development starting times.
Cheers
Jerry

 

[Dennis S]

Yes I would like to know also. It is even cheaper than the ORWO NA site