"Best" developer for Fuji Acros

[ssloansjca]

I bought a boatload of this film in 35mm. Here's what I value in the kind of photos I shoot (moving trains):

1. Long Tonal Scale
2. Speed (in this case ISO 100) since I shoot moving subjects
3. Sharpness
4. Fine Grain
5. Economy

Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. I have been considering Rodinal. My normal dilution being 1:25.

Here is my work flow:

I keep a couple of gallons of water at the same temp as my developer. There is no possible temp variation from the moment the film is wet until the film is hardened.

1: Pre-soak
2: Develop
3: Post-Soak
4: 1 minute in stop bath (28% glacial acetic acid diluted 1:32)
5: Fix four minutes or twice the time to clear the film in Rapid-Fix w/hardner, whichever is longer.
6: 1-2 running water rinse.
7: One min in Perma Wash
8: 5 min running water rinse.

Your suggestions are greatly appreciated:

~Steve Sloan

[pentaxuser]

As a dev/film combo I'd have thought that Acros and Rodinal would be fine but even in the light conditions of your location and depending on train speeds, camera to subject distance and angle, I'd have thought that ISO100 is maybe taking a risk unless you pan as you shoot.

pentaxuser

[yeknom02]

For a long tonal scale, I'd recommend stand developing in Rodinal. I find that it's fantastic with Acros. I usually dilute 1+100, agitate for one minute, and let it stand for an hour, maybe with one or two inversions at the thirty-minute mark. It's especially good for taming the contrast of a very sunny day.

Here is my favorite example of this technique from my own work.

Unless I'm mistaken, it should give you everything you're looking for, especially economy. Of course, I've only been shooting for two years, so if I'm mistaken with any of my information, I welcome more experienced photographers to correct me.

[olleorama]

rate at 160, dev 5+5 in diafine.

[RidingWaves]

Replenished Xtol.

[Rob Archer]

I've had good results with Rodinal at 1:50. The best I've had with this film, however is ID11 at 1:1. I generally downrate the film to 80 for sightly better shadow detail, but I accept that you probably wouldn't want to do this for moving train pictures! It's an unusual choice of film for such a subject if I may say so.

Rob

[photophil]

I got very good results in SPUR SD2525 but then you only have effective ISO80. So mybe thats to slow for you.

PHILIP

[Tom Kershaw]

I've processed very little Fuji Acros but remember DD-X worked well.

Tom

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I'm keeping an eye on this thread. I shot my first roll of 120 Acros and soup it in Xtol this weekend. My first impression is that it's amazing stuff. Haven't see a film base so clear since I used T-Max 20 years ago. Shooting it at the rated ASA and souped in Xtol yields fantastic shadow detail. The other developers I use are HC-110 and Pyro PMK. My usual film is Arista EDU Ultra. I love the film souped HC-110, but it goes into reciprocity failure too fast. I plan to take a trip to Cambodia and do some interior shots. I think Fuji Acros would be an ideal film for long exposures with a tripod. I'm still in the testing phase. My intention is to print with the negs. I hope my negs print easily. But so far, I'm impressed.

[BetterSense]

Here is my favorite example of this technique from my own work.

This looks like it was shot in the sun; do you remember what your actual exposure was (f-stop and shutter speed)?