I just ran a couple of sample rolls of the new Fuji Acros film through my Leica, and in my opinion digital has been staved off for at least another....week ;-) Finer grained that Tmax 100, yet it seems to have the tonal scale and forgiveness of my old stand-by, TriX. What wowed me was an informal portrait I shot in my living room. With the 35 F2 Asph I photographed my wife and our baby. In the background was the stereo and CD rack. With a 20 power loupe, the titles of the CD, plus the fine print (Arista, MCA, etc are easily readable. To enlarge the neg so these would be readable in a print would require at least a 20X24 enlargement. I'm IMPRESSED!! If I can figure out how to post images on this site (I'm pretty much computer illiterate) I'll do so in the next while.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001

Answers

Bob, Comment about developing the film. Did you do it yrself, or send it to a lab?

-- patrick C. Garner (pg@patrickgarner.com), August 06, 2001.

Processed in Tmax dev 1:4 for 6 minutes (30 sec over their suggested time). 30 secs agitation, followed by 5 secs agitation every 30 seconds thereafter. (this builds a faily dense neg, but I've alway believed in the adage that with a longer exp time I can print a dense neg, whereas if the neg is thin - it just ain't there). My first impressions are that it is the first fine grain film I've found that may be worthy of being used along with Tri X. Incredibly fine grain and extreme sharpness, without the 'finicky' personality of most T-grain films. Oh...and to answer your question, yes, I processed it myself.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001.

How would you compare it to another direct competitor, Ilford Delta 100?

-- Tim Nelson (timothy.nelson@yale.edu), August 06, 2001.

Tim, in my mind there is no comparison. In a recent American Photo mini test they said that they were amazed at the quality of this film, as am I. It has grain and sharpness characteristics comparable to Tech Pan (ISO 25), but with the ease of handling of a conventional film (Tech Pan is a pain to process), plus a 2 stop increase in film speed. They say (and from my preliminary tests, I'll back them up) that you get between medium and large format quality out of 35mm, but without all the pain of films like Tech Pan or Agfa 25 (high contrast, low film speeds, incredibly narrow latitude).

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001.

How did you rate it? I've heard estimates of effective speeds around 50, but was hoping to wring a true 100 out of it.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), August 06, 2001.

Acros is pretty spiffy film. To my eyes it has quite a bit more acutance than TMX although it doesn't seem to be any grainier. The only flaw I've found is slow speed.

I get EI 50 in D-76H 1:1, and EI 64 in D-76H 1:3, Ilfosol-S 1:14 and Rodinal 1:100. Frankly I don't see that one of those developers is better than another; results are all very good. Unfortunately I don't think EI 100 is going to happen without some degree of underexposure.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 06, 2001.

Another temptation, just when I bought a year's worth supply of 35 mm.TMX100, thanks Bob.

Which grain focuser do you use for this film, if any?

I have been pleasantly surprised by the tonality and ( relatively small) grain of TMX 100, with Rodinal 1:85 @ 75F. And way sharper than I ever expected- 14x14 prints look just fine. As a long time large format shooter and a born again Oh-so-critical LeicaM neurotic I am very impressed with this new- for- me combo. I'll try and control my O.C.D for now and continue to enjoy your communications. Regards,

Hans B.

-- Hans Berkhout (berkhout@cadvision.com), August 06, 2001.

OK, my interest is piqued. John, have you tried XTOL 1:1 (or any other dilution)? I am still a huge fan of Delta 400. For fine grain, Delta 100 (or Tech Pan when I go off the deep end). But if Acros is not tempermental in XTOL, I'd give it a shot. I'd love to see what the 35mm Summicron ASPH could do with a film like this. I'm just not up the the task of figuring another B&W film out right now, that's why I'd appreciate your guidance, as I know you've been right several times inthe past (your Delta 3200 recipes were spot-on, as they say). I will say that it is great that Fuji developed a new B&W product in this day and age, especially if its a significant improvement to the market.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), August 06, 2001.

I find I get a true 100 ISO (but with 30 sec added dev time - my usual anyway) with Tmax dev. This is a high activity developer and will give a little higher speed with a slight increase in grain. Tmax has been my favorite dev for about 10 years now and I'm very conversant with its characteristics. In this dev I noticed a marked improvement over Tmax 100 (in Tmax dev) and swoon ;-) at the thought of using a finer grain developer. To whom asked, I use an Omega Micro Critical Grain Focuser, now made by I think, Peak. They have 3 different versions and I use the most expensive, which doesn't give any better focusing ability at the centre of the print, but can be used off axis to about 40 degrees, allowing one to check edge sharpness on large prints.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001.

> just when I bought a year's worth supply of 35 mm. TMX100

not to worry. I still feel TMX is the better film. same speed, and I believe TMX is slightly finer grained that Acros 100, even though Acros is spec'd slightly better. all results compiled from Xtol (stock) which is a heavenly combination with TMX. no failures in the last three months with Xtol. I found the two films almost identical, except for the obnoxious curling of the Acros base in 120.

-- daniel taylor (lightsmythe@agalis.net), August 06, 2001.

Where I can I buy the new Acros film from Fuji? I can't seem to locate it. Thanks!

-- David Page (pagedt@attglobal.net), August 06, 2001.

No, I haven't tried Acros with Xtol; one case of the dreaded Xtol failure 12 hours after it had developed another film fine put me off it.

I did, however, take a few shots on Acros with the 35 ASPH Summicron; the sharpness was very, very good. One shot included a 23-foot sailboat (a Flicka of ferrocement, of all things) that filled about one-fourth of the frame. With 30X magnification not only could I clearly see details of the turnbuckles, I swear I could see _threads_.

Here's what I have, all rotary agitation, 1' prerinse:

D-76H 1:1 7'/75F EI 50

D-76H 1:3 10'/75F EI 64

Rodinal 1:100 8'15"/75F EI 64

Ilfosol-S 1:14 6'10"/75F EI 64

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 07, 2001.

I too have been dying to try this film. But I just can't come across it!

I first learnt of it at the PMA show earlier this year. I have patiently been waiting for it ever since.

B&H has been listing it on their web site for the last month but when ever I check it is always out of stock. And B&H won't take back orders. Cameraworld do not have it. And Adorama lists it but don't. Calumet does not have it on their web site.

So where do y'all get this stuff??? Share them connections!

-- Mike Foster (mike567@acgecorp.com), August 07, 2001.

I just tried Acros in the past week, too. I second everything Bob said.

RE: processing ease. I use Ilford DDX. Fuji doesn't list processing times for DDX, so I took their time for ID-11, looked through my Ilford reference for another film that processed for the same time in ID-11 (turned out to be HP5) and took the time for HP5 in DDX as my Acros time (I figured if both films could process together in ID-11 they could both process together in DDX). Even with this half-assed approach the Acros gave me the finest grain I've yet seen in any B&W film and much better highlight tonality than I've seen from any Delta/Tmax film.

I shot it at 50, 100. and 200. All the negs looked useable. My scanner prefers shots at about ISO 160 because it hates dense highlights and can suck out almost any shadow detail available (Nikon Coolscan LS- 1000). For traditional printers I think this is still at least a true ISO 100 film.

So I'd say Fuji's claims for finest grain, improved tonal rendition, and wider exposure and processing latitude are all justified.

This is the real deal, folks.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), August 07, 2001.

Ooops - forgot two points.

1. Acros has the same obnoxious purple dye, that seems to take forever to wash out, as in Tmax films. I've noticed the Ilford Delta films don't seem to have this dye.

2. Fuji lists the resolution as 200 lpm for high contrast subjects but this drops to 60 lpm for low contrast - and I did notice that some parts of some images seemed to lack a bit for edge sharpness.

But given all the factors in the image chain, I can't absolutely pin this on the Acros (lens, aperture, shutter speed, focusing, scanner resolution, film flatness in scanner, etc.). Especially given Bob's experience with the CDs.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), August 07, 2001.

Acros has been available for about a month now in medium format, but is just slated to be introduced in 35mm in early to mid August, depending on where you live. One of the perks of being in the photo industry is that I usually see films about a month before they are introduced. I was given a few rolls by my Fuji rep and was even offered $20.00/roll by one of my customers who had read the American Photo review.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.