Replacement for Agfapan APX 25

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It's been more than a year since Agfapan 25 was discontinued. I didn't think that I was going to miss it, as Technical Pan is both sharper and virtually grainless, but there have been many situations where I simply can't adequately control it's contrast, even though I have tried Technidol, POTA, and Diafine; (I have not tried PKM). Frankly I haven't found a good replacement for APX25. There are some films with better sharpness, but more grain (such as TMax100), and some with fine grain but less sharpmess (XP-2s). Unfortunately, Pan F just barely misses on both counts. I wonder if others have the same problems, and what they have done to fill the void. Thank you.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@comcast.net), March 24, 2002

Answers

I've been using Acros a lot lately. Depending on the developer you choose, it can produce great tonality with grain as fine as anything on the market. I'm not sure Acros' grain is any finer than TMX, but then I always thought TMX had finer grain than Agfa 25. I think it depends a lot on the developer you choose.

I've been experimenting with FG-7 and adding sodium ascorbate. From my preliminary tests, it looks like a great combination. Exceedingly sharp and fine grained.

I use 1/2 oz. of FG-7 to 14 oz. H20 and I add 1/4 tsp. of sodium ascorbate (not l-ascorbic acid!). Develop FP4+ for 7 min @ 70 degrees in a rotary (constant agitation) processor. If you use tanks and intermittet agitation, try increasing the development time by 20- 25%. Acros and TMX should need about the same development time.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), March 24, 2002.


TMX can easily be as fine grained as APX25 (I think Agfapan 25 is an older product, and Agfa 25 is a developer) but with VERY different image quality. Disregarding the granularity, I think Pan F Plus or Plus-X is a good candidate for the replacement. Grain and sharpness can be made up for by upsizing the format and/or using ascorbic acid version of D-76 as I call D-76Ad (formula found in my old postings here or on my home page). With D-76Ad, I can blow up 35mm HP5+ to 11x14 and have to get my eyes 6" from the print to barely see the grain, with proportionate sharpness.

TMX can be very good, but I suggest using a dilute developer. I can't see grain on 11x14 made from 35mm TMX processed in accutance version of my formula. I get excellent sharpness, but the way highlight and shadow come out is quite a bit different from that of APX25.

But I don't really care about grain. I usually shoot 6x6 or 6x4.5 and blow up to 10x10 or 11x14. I already decided not to look for a replacement for APX25, which I never used in 35mm anyway.

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), March 24, 2002.


Try Efke 25. Like Agfa 25, it has the look of a traditional European film. http://www.fotoimpex.de/Home/films/films.html

It may be hard to find in the U.S., but Fotoimpex ships worldwide and is very reliable.

-- Jon Porter (kodiakalaska@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.


The only comparable film is Efke 25 -- good old Adox 14 -- in terms of tonal rendition, acutance and contrast handling. In terms of contrast Efke 25 is even superior to Agfapan 25, especially when developed in Rodinal or Calbe R09. TMax 100 has an absolutely substandard tonal rendition and low acutance.

-- Volker Schier (Volker.Schier@fen-net.de), March 25, 2002.

Off course you can also try Gigabit film. This is rebadged Agfa Copex microfilm which is sold together with a small bottle of special developer (which has the distinc smell of colour developer). It is in every respect superior to TechPan, but off course one has to know the limitations: No high contrast film can compete to "standard" material in terms of tonality. Fotoimpex carries this film too.

-- Volker Schier (Volker.Schier@fen-net.de), March 25, 2002.


Bill;

Check out Delta 100 souped in Ilfosol-s. Gets pretty close to Tech Pan and superior to T-max 100.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), March 25, 2002.


I like the Tech Pan developed in Divided D76. You can gewt kits from Photo Formulary or mix it up yourself like I do. If you need the recipe, I have PDF's I can send. Cheers

-- Scott Walton (walton@ll.mit.edu), March 25, 2002.

Efke 25 and 50 films are great fine grained films with high sharpness. Efke 100 has larger grain than most modern 100 Asa films, but has a nice tonality and very forgiving. It's also sold as a 200 film under other brand names like Jessop and Bergger.

-- Patric (jenspatricdahlen@hotmail.com), April 04, 2002.

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