I just bought some rolls of Neopan Acros in 120mm. I couldn't find much information about the development times in Xtol or ID-11 1:3 or 1:4. I know it's a high contrast film that's why I want to use a highly diluted developer. I know it's true speed is 50-64; how do you recommend rating this film when developed in Xtol? Any suggestions regarding this film will be much appreciated.

Regards Xosni

-- Xosni (xosni@gega.net), November 05, 2001

Answers

I've been using Acros in a catechol based developer of my own making. So, while my times will not be directly useful to you, I can say that I find the development time for Acros to be slightly less than that for TMX: 10'-0" for Acros and 10'-30" for TMX. I use 35mm in a SS tank, inversion agitation for 60" to start, then 10"/min thereafter. For sheet film I use 10% longer times when processing in trays with the same agitation times. I use a coldlight enlarger head and process to print on a #3 paper with 35mm, and #2-2.5 with 4x5.

I'd put the speed at EI 64. I do not find Acros particularly contrasty--certainly no more that any other 100 speed film. It does respond very nicely to dilute developers, however. In general, I find Acros' properties much like TMX, with the enhanced highlight separation of Delta 100. Contrary to Fuji's claim, however, I do not find it finer grained than TMX, nor is it sharper; by a slight margin, I give the nod in both parameters to TMX. TMX has a sharper grain pattern.

As for processing, Acros seems to be more tolerant of processing variations than TMX. It's more like Delta 100 in that respect. As for developer choice, I would suggest a high acutance developer. Acros, like TMX, can look diffused in solvent developers. I'd guess a good fit would be Rodinal at 1:50 to 1:100. In fact, of the commercial developers, I think that would be the very best choice. You might also try PMK or DiXactol; those should also work well with Acros. D76/ID-11 at 1:3 might do well, too. Also, FG7 should be a good choice, without sodium sulfite.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), November 06, 2001.