Ever since Agfa put the dagger in the heart of APX 100 in rollfilm and
4x5, I've been looking for something to replace it with limited success.
The Rollei Retro claimed to be the "same film" but wasn't. It seemed to
be slit and spooled APX 100 on the 35mm base. It was also very curly
when dried.
Other films - like Plus-X (of which I have a bit left), FP4, and T-Max 100,
Fuji Acros ... - have their virtues, but they're just not APX 100, at least
not to my eye.
Now that my stash of frozen APX 100 rollfilm is getting low, I decided to
keep trying a few new things. So ... today, I exposed a roll of Rollei RPX 100
in an Graflex Baby Speed with an RH8 6x9 back on it. I treated the film
as if it were APX 100, exposing at ASA 50 and developing (in DK-50 1:1) for
the Afga time.
I know this film is NOT APX 100 but it seems to be promising. I've not
yet printed anything, but a close look at the grain appears to be similar,
there is no film curl of note, and the contrast is about what I expected.
I did notice two things right out of the box (so to speak). First, RPX 100
seems to live on a thicker base than the old APX 100 did. And, at least
at first look, the film base plus fog seems higher than did APX 100 (but
I have not stuck it in a densitometer to check). This really surprised me
because one of the reasons DK-50 is still a good choice is its relatively
lower FB+F than other developers for a particular film.
I shall report back when I have produced real pictures.
--
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Tim Daneliuk tundra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/
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