ORWO N75 Plus 400 35mm Film Test

[ic-racer]

I got some ORWO N75 Plus 400 film yesterday. There are some threads on this film out there. I will mention that it is an inexpensive 35mm negative movie film with rotary process and still photography characteristics unknown to myself.

The first test shown here is a test of film speed. This is a test relative to fresh Tri-X. Both films were exposed with a Wejex Daylight sensitometer and processed together about 30 minutes after exposure. Processed in Jobo CPP2 6 min at 24C in T-max developer one-shot. Films read with a calibrated Tobias TCX transmission densitometer.

The speed of each film was determined and Tri-X was defined as "400" to see where the ORWO falls relative to that. A 'minimum gradient' film speed test was done, rather than a '0.1 fixed value' test to avoid having to create a series of curves for each film.

The results are in the following graph.

The ORWO is a fast film but it is just slightly slower than Tri-X. In terms of error of this method, I'm using a standard deviation of 0.3 DIN units per the paper by Nelson on W-Speed.

So that gives Tri-X a range of 27.3 to 26.7 DIN and ORWO a range of 26.7 to 26.1, so they almost overlap.

I'll say they are very close. Based on this I'll meter them the same.

This was not a development test pre say, but I can see that the ORWO does not respond as well as Tri-X to Tmax developer. I'll probably use a time that is 25% greater than my time for Tri-X.


SPECS: ORWO emulsion number N62-1, Roll 1711 25d, Box speed 400 daylight, 250 Tung.

[Trask]

Thanks for performing these tests. I look forward to seeing some images from this film.

[gorbas]

Well done IC-racer!! Thank you! You are right! ORWO needs more developing time. It's Dmax is only 1.3. Even more than 25%. I'm looking forward to try slower ORWO film. I hope very soon.

[ic-racer]

I interpret fog level as an indicator of how long film as been sitting around before I buy it. My Tri-x (100ft) came from a refrigerator at a local dealer a few weeks ago and the ORWO came in the mail the day before the test. Results are as follows:

Film base plus fog:
Tri-x = 0.33
ORWO = 0.41

[gorbas]

Just to be fair, ic-racer, Kodak is Kodak and TRI-X is one of the best films ever made. Under no circumstances I can't except those two films to be direct competitors. I haven't use fresh ORWO in more than 18 years and I'm looking forward to try their new emulsions.

[ic-racer]

Just to be fair, ic-racer, Kodak is Kodak and TRI-X is one of the best films ever made. Under no circumstances I can't except those two films to be direct competitors. I haven't use fresh ORWO in more than 18 years and I'm looking forward to try their new emulsions.

Although that Tri-X was fried a little (gamma was around 0.9) that ORWO looks like it has a straighter curve. I'm keeping an open mind. All I know is that ORWO wants to be your 35mm film supplier and Kodak, well I don't know that they want...

[ic-racer]

Here is a curve for OWRO N75 processed a little longer to more closely match the slope of the Tri-X. In this case the films were processed individually, but the other conditions were held reasonably constant.

The two film curves look very similar. Speed is very close.

[cmacd123]

Great to see some data, (especially since I have a roll of the stuff on order.) how is the grain?

[ic-racer]

Great to see some data, (especially since I have a roll of the stuff on order.) how is the grain?

At 6 minutes the grain is very similar on both test strips. With 8 min on the ORWO the grain is slightly more pronounced than the TriX at 6 minutes.

[gorbas]

Hi Guys,
I did my first film run with new ORWO UN-54 developed in Agfa Rodinal 1:50.

Also, there are few more pictures on my Flickr