I'm trying Fuji Neopan 100 Acros for the first time, and am wondering what differences I could expect between Developing in Rodinal 1/50 0n 120 film vs. Xtol (which I've never used, but purchased on the suggestion of the salesman at the local camera store).

I will be using the times posted on the massive development chart as a starting point, but I have promised a friend I would photograph his children, and my local store finally ran out of APX 25, and now I'm at a loss.

I am fairly new to the art of b&w photography, and any and all advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks to all.

-- Tim Hardin (timhardin@hotmail.com), May 28, 2002

Answers

I'm not able to answer the specific film/developer question you ask, never having tried Neopan 100. But I would like to comment on your looking for an alternative to the late, lamented APX 25: Why not give Ilford's Pan F+ a try? I'm very pleased with Pan F+ developed in Rodinal. 11"X14" enlargements from 35mm negatives look wonderfully sharp and detailed IMO. The accutance effect of this combination is most pleasing. If you would like to see some examples, see: http://www.web-graphics.com/steinerphoto

-- Ollie Steiner (violindevil@yahoo.com), May 28, 2002.

Although I can't answer your specific questions, be aware that Acros is a rather "hot" film; that is, through most of the usable range the curve shape is straight but then it bends _upwards_ at the high end. This can make some bright highlights that print as blank white without quite a bit of burning when you print them. I've not yet found a developer that changes the curve shape.

Also...beware that the "real" speed of Acros is usually found to be around EI 50-64.

As an EI 64 film with lots of "zip" it's good stuff if that's what you want.

-- John Hicks (jhicks31@bellsouth.net), May 29, 2002.

Why not combine them? In the "Appreciating Rodinal" discussion on the Unblinking Eye webpage, Sam Elkind talks about a blend of the two generating a nice midpoint between the grainlessness of Xtol and the sharpness of Rodinal. I just tried it on Acros -- 15 min. @ 20 degrees C -- and the negatives loook extremely sharp but not as "brittle" as T-Max. Probably 10-15% less time would have been better. My enlarger is in limbo at the moment, so I haven't printed them, but the negatives look very promising.

-- Ben Crabtree (bcrabtree@mn.rr.com), May 30, 2002.

I am a big fan of that film. I get great results at IE 64 and developped 4' in Ilfotec HC 1:31 at 20°C. I have since switched to Diafine, where I get IE 160 from the film with no noticeable degradation in quality and better acutance. BTW, Diafine is great to control wild highlights :)

-- Stéphane Bosman (stephane_bosman@yahoo.co.uk), June 02, 2002.