Agfa Cinerex - tests and recommendation

[eurekaiv]

It's going to be ages before I get around to trying out mine but it's on my list of projects. In the meantime, I'll be following this thread closely to see how it's going. Looking forward to seeing everyone's results!

[zsas]

My 2nd roll's negs as you saw two threads up are way too thin....hummm

Shot at 25 dev Xtol 1:1 for 8 mins. Think I went the wrong way

Should have gone 25 ISO and maybe 13.5 or so ???

The initial roll at 50 for 1:1 Xtol for 13.5 mins were pretty thin too but the blown highlights made me think shoot slower but cut the dev. Anyone getting thicker negs?

[Field]

If you shoot slower you need less development, but as I found out not as less as you think.

EI50 at 7 minutes, and tonight I'm going to do EI25 at 6.5 because 5.5 wasn't even close to enough.

[Field]

Don't forget dilluting developer can widen the spectrum of time if you find that you are inbetween half minute intervals.

[Mark Crabtree]

My 2nd roll's negs as you saw two threads up are way too thin....hummm

Shot at 25 dev Xtol 1:1 for 8 mins. Think I went the wrong way

Should have gone 25 ISO and maybe 13.5 or so ???

The initial roll at 50 for 1:1 Xtol for 13.5 mins were pretty thin too but the blown highlights made me think shoot slower but cut the dev. Anyone getting thicker negs?

I was hoping they weren't as thin as they look in the picture. You don't mention the temperature. 13.5 to 8' is an awfully big cut (20 percent makes a pretty noticeable difference), but it sure seems like that 8 minutes should be plenty long. Could something else have gone wrong?

My negs are coming out very nice in replenished Xtol. I'm down to about a Plus-X sort of time (maybe a bit less). EI 25 seems good, but none to much; I'm tending to like even a bit more now. I've been shooting very contrasty scenes since that is what I've had on my bicycle rides.

This seems like a pretty normal orthochromatic film; nothing really weird. I did a straight comparison with a nearby scene I'd shot a couple weeks ago on panchromatic film and the difference is not dramatic. I'm enjoying a chance to get a feel for the ortho look since I've been researching some old photos that I suspect were ortho.

Filters seem to work out fine using the factors for old ortho Verichrome film. A #12 gets 2.5X and the look is very nice. A #15 needs a 5X factor, which is getting impractical for handheld use.

Also worth noting is that the film doesn't seem to have much of an antihalation layer. There is a bit of dyed color to the unprocessed film which may be for that purpose. Strong specular highlights tend to flare out just a bit, but really nothing outrageous. I'm not sure if light piping is an issue, but I've been careful to load in subdued light and am carrying my rolls in black film containers.

[Field]

Hm my EI25 still get some blow out around the white spots. I wonder how to tame that?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6222653...7629947149265/

I'm not quiet sure if I can do better or not? Well with Tmax developer.... I'll have to try Rodinal now. The Xtol seems better than Tmax.

[Mark Crabtree]

Hm my EI25 still get some blow out around the white spots. I wonder how to tame that?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6222653...7629947149265/

I'm not quiet sure if I can do better or not? Well with Tmax developer.... I'll have to try Rodinal now. The Xtol seems better than Tmax.

As I'm sure you know, develpment controls the highlights, so you need to develop for a shorter time. Unfortunately, that may also mean you need a bit more exposure. My impression so far is that this film does not have excessive highlight contrast, so developer choice should not be fussy. It seems like it retains some highlight separation pretty far up the scale, but with a gentle shoulder.

Here is a snapshot of a bright red Chevy in contrasty light I took on my bicycle ride yesterday evening. It shows some of this film's characteristics (including some halation around the brightest reflections). 1/125 second at 5.6, which is becoming my standard exposure for this film in this type of light.

[Field]

I've only been taking pictures in contrasty light. My next roll I'll try 6.75 minutes. Which is what EI50 works at but...

I'm trying an orange filter to see what happens. Yellow was on the entire other set. It helps pull the clouds a little, and maybe a little more development will get them in better without having to underexpose to see them.

[zsas]

Shot another ten frames today at 100 ISO, Xtol 1:1 for 17.5 mins at 20C. They are looking much better. I also changed cameras, went from a Okympus XA to a Yashica Linx, the film is looking better. This time I just popped open the tank durring agitations to see how the developing was going (in red safe lights). At 17 they looked baked nicely. Shot indoors and they were mostly underexposed, but did manage to get one that wasnt too bad, will post a scan hope in the next few days. Nice results Mark!!! Field your Flickr has some winners on there too. I think the film will be tough to tame at times but that makes sense (not much of an AH layer)...

[Field]

Yeah well the results when good, are great, so I'm going to work with it for a long time.