AGFA APX 100 - What are your favorite combinations?

Please include developer, dilution, time, temperature, agitation method, exposure index, and any comments.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 04, 2001

Answers

Developer......Tetenal Ultrafin Plus Dilution.......600ml per bottle Time...........12 min. Temperature....20 C. Agitation......Rotary lab TRY IT!!!

-- Dimitris Louris (dlouris@x-treme.gr), April 04, 2001.

Finally I’m able to add my two bits worth. I use a lot of Rodinal @ 1+100. I got an initial starting time for that developer and several different films from a 10 year old Agfa data sheet. The interesting thing about the times is that they are all 15 minutes or 20 minutes...for every film...what makes the system work is the ISO you shoot the film at...is this the “real ISO” for the film using that particular developer? APX 100 & Rodinal Agfa APX 100 @ 100 in 68 degree Rodinal @ 1+100 for 20 minutes. 10 -15 gentle complete inversions in the first 30 seconds, then 1 inversion every 30 seconds for the remaining time. I process using plastic Paterson tanks. I meter out the Rodinal in a syringe 3mls. of Rodinal to 300 MLS. of 68 degree water. The resulting negs print wonderfully in my diffusion enlarger. When I was using a condenser enlarger I was rating the film at ISO 80. Using the syringe is important...there is very little difference between 3mls and 4 MLS when you use a beaker to measure...yet the difference between the two solutions produce drastic differences. I use 68 degrees so that I can achieve maximum compensating effect with the developer. And the single inversion every 30 seconds is important because my highlights blow out if I over agitate. When I process my APX100 as I’’ve described it sings for me. The tone is wonderful. And the grain is very smooth. Sharp you may ask? It’’s sharp as a serpents tooth. This combination works equally well in 35 mm or in 120 (although with the 120 it’s 5mls of Rodinal to 500 MLS of water for each roll of film). Ed...please feel free to amend this as you see fit...jim

-- Jim (p645n@hotmail.com), April 04, 2001.

APX 100 in Agfa 8, 8-9½ minutes, depending on the contrast you desire, at 20 C (68 F). Agitate the first 30 secs and after that two inversions every half minute. Agfa 8 is a glycin developer intended for portraits, and it gives superb mid-tones and a very sharp result. The grain is similar to what you get with Rodinal.

The recipe is very simple:

Warm Water (125 F or 52 C) - 750.0 ml Sodium Sulfite, desiccated - 12.5 grams Glycin - 2.0 grams Potassium Carbonate - 25.0 grams Add cold water to make - 1.0 liter

APX 100 in Agfa 14, try 9 minutes at 20 C (68 F). Same agitation as above.

Agfa 14 will give you very fine grain, but is not as sharp as Agfa 8 and Rodinal.

Fine grain film developer Agfa 14

Warm Water (125 F or 52 C) - 750.0 ml Elon - 4.5 grams Sodium Sulfite, desiccated - 85.0 grams Sodium Carbonate, monohydrated - 1.2 grams Potassium Bromide - 0.5 grams Add cold water to make - 1.0 liter

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), April 04, 2001.

Rodinol 1:50, ei 80, 13 min 68 degrees. Continous agitation first minute, 5 second every 30 second thereafter. Cold light head.

-- Bruce Appel (appelgate@aol.com), April 04, 2001.

It would be very helpful if everyone would include their exposure index. If it is not included, we must assume you are exposing the film at the manufacturer's recommended speed.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 04, 2001.

not neccesarily a favourite (haven't used enough of it), but a good starting place for this developer (LC29) if you use it... APX-100 35mm, EI 100, Ilford LC29 developer, Dilution 1:29, 20C, 10mins, agitation continuous 1st 30sec then 3 inversions every 1 min

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), April 05, 2001.

Everything I have received so far is up at: http ://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Times/APX100/apx100.html

I would appreciate it if those of you who have contributed would proof your entries for accuracy. After a few hours of this stuff, my head starts to swim and they all look the same.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 05, 2001.

I get very nice results with APX 100 in good old Kodak D-76 1:1 (even my Minox negatives yield sharp, nearly grainless 5x7s) with nice, even, medium-density negatives that are a joy to print on our good old Omega D-3v condenser.

However, I definitely use less developing time than Agfa recommends, and less agitation than nearly anyone recommends:

9 minutes at 68 degrees, with gentle agitation at 1-minute intervals.

Then a plain water rinse (in the dark, I open the tank and dip the reel in a graduate of water a couple of times), a couple of minutes in the fixer (still in the dark, take the film off the reel and immerse it in a big tray - wait about a minute to turn on the light), a short vigous wash (in a big tray with cold tapwater coming in quickly through a rubber tube, including some manual swishing around to make sure it's even), a quick dip in very dilute PhotoFlo, and hang up with an "easy clip" on the bottom to weight it.

-- Michael Goldfarb (mgoldfar@mobius-inc.com), April 06, 2001.

Patric: That Agfa 8 is an obscure little formula. It's the only glycin-only film developer I've ever seen. I looked through a half- dozen different formularies before I finally found it in Jacobson & Jacobson's "Developing". Even an old formulary from the 40's didn't have it. Have you tried it with any other films?

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 10, 2001.

I'm curious about Agfa 8 as well. Ed, Hubl paste, which is a highly concentrated suspension reputed to have superb keeping propoerties is another glycin only developer - start with 500 ml of hot water (130F), add 165 gms of sulphite, 135 gms of glycin and gradually add 625 gms of pottasium carbonate and add water to make a litre. Suggested recommendations for modern films is 1:35. Anchell and Troop suggest that with all pure glycin developers, a speed loss of about one stop can be expected - I was wondering if Patric had noticed this with the Agfa 8 formulation? Cheers, DJ.

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), April 11, 2001.

Here's another:

Glycin Negative Developer Development time is approximately 15-25 minutes at 18.5° C (65° F).

Water 750 ml Sodium Sulfite (A) 3.0 grams Glycin (Athenon) 3.0 grams Sodium Carbonate (M) 7.2 grams Water to make 1.0 liter

Glycin for everyone!

Nope, I havent used it.

-- Wayne (wsteffen@skypoint.com), May 05, 2001.

Now that I've posted it I see some suspicious things, chief among them being the processing temp. I thought glycin is inactive below 65, so thats really walking the line

BTW, it sure would be nice to be able to know the capacity of some of these old formulae without doing boring tests, but I suppose thats wishful thinking

-- Wayne (wsteffen@skypoint.com), May 05, 2001.

For my 35 mm APX 100 (shot at E.I. 100), I use ID-11 1:1 for 12-1/2 minutes at 68 degrees. I use 400 ml total (200 ml ID-11 and 200 ml water) in a 16-ounce tank. I gently agitate for the first 30 seconds (banging the tank several times to loosen air bubbles), then four gentle inversions every minute after that. I keep it at 68 degrees, but sometimes it's 69 or maybe even 70 degrees at the end. I use a water rinse and Photoformulary T4 alkaline fixer for about four minutes. I'm amazed at the end result with this film. No matter what film I try to compare it to, this combination of developer and film still gives me the sharpest-appearing images. It's a wonderful film and developer combination. I haven't used the 120 format enough to comment because this same amount of development time yields negatives that are overdeveloped, so I'll need to test. So I stick with 35 mm since I've got the time down right.

-- Mrs. Paula Swaim (pauswa@earthlink.net), May 27, 2001.