Exposing and Processing Fuji Acros

[remi_lemarchand]

I just got a roll of the new Fuji Acros B&W film, and I have been told to expose at 50 ISO and process normally (i.e 8 minutes at 20C/68F in Xtol stock).

 

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I searched in the forum and on the Massive Dev Chart but there isn't much about this film yet...

 

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Comments/suggestions???

[marcel_perez_calisto]

Hello. I have tried a number of combinations and what works perfecly

for me is the following: asa 32, 2 1/2 min water pre-soak, develop in

pmk double strngth (for one roll of 120 film: 12 ml solution A, 24 ml

sol. B, 600 ml water) agitate first 30 sec continuously and then two

full inversions every 30 sec, and fix in alkaline fixer (2 1/2 grams

sodium metaborate, 160 ml amonium thiosulfate 60%, 540 ml water. No

sulfite to maximize stain, but use as "one shot fixer"). Stunning

results! Very, very cool film.

Hope this helps.

[marcel_perez_calisto]

Sorry, forgot to put time of dev: 6 1/2 min at 70F. Wash for 20 min,

no hypo clear.

[john_hicks]

I'm getting EI 50 for D-76H 1:1 and EI 64 for D-76H 1:3, developed to "normal" contrast. Probably diluted Xtol, Ilford Microphen or DD-X would bring it closer to EI 100, if that's important.

[ted_kaufman]

Where are you guys getting Acros film? I've tried B&H and Adorama

twice a week for over a month and they haven't had it.

[marcel_perez_calisto]

Last time i checked, Calumet had plenty of Acros 120 film. No idea

about 35mm.

[ted_kaufman]

Well, I finally found some Acros 35mm at B&H ... but they are out of

it already! I got the last 4 rolls (7/13/01) till they get another

shipment.

 

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My first impressions are very favorable. It's sharp and it's very

fine grained. But I do not feel it exceeds TMX in either measure;

they appear dead even to me in terms of acutance and grain. Also,

I've become a rabid fan of TMX because of its magnificent gray scale;

it's the best film I've ever used for values from, say, Zone 4 to 6.

TMX seems to separate those values better than anything else. Acros

does this extremely well, too, but I think TMX is *slightly*

superior. They actually look a lot alike. However, Acros scale

extends beautifully into the higher values, suggesting the beautiful

highlight separation of Delta 100, and here is beats TMX. It also

seems to hold detail in the deepest values better than either TMX or

Delta 100. On that note, none of these films handles much below Zone

3 very well. I far prefer to place key dark (-2 or below) values up

the scale and print down, unlike, say, HP5+, which has considerably

more latitude.

 

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Acutance wise, of the three, Delta 100 has a slightly crisper look

than either Acros or TMX, which share a very similar signature.

However, in actuality, under a loupe Delta's resolution of fine

detail does not quite equal the other two.

 

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On balance, Acros is a beautiful film. I found it interesting that

in so many ways it seems to split the difference between Delta 100

and TMX. One thing for certain, it's a formidable contender in the

ISO 100 category. I wonder if there is an Acros 400 in the works?

 

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I saved mention of processing and IE for last since I develop my film

in a developer of my own formulation. The formula I used contains

phenidone, which is said to offer increased speed with some

emulsions. I was, however, concerned about EI since I had read

accounts of EI's ranging from 32 to 64 for Acros, with a thin

concensus in the area of 50. Nonetheless, I set my spot meter at 80,

which is what I use for both TMX and Delta 100, and, since I was

using 35mm, bracketed in 1/2 stops. I shot with two cameras--one

loaded with TMX and the other with Acros--so that I could compare

them as objectively as possible. With each, I tried to shoot the

same images, in the same light, using the same exposure bracket.

This changed, however, when my shooting went on into evening. As my

exposures exceeded 2 sec, I began to compensate for TMX (which as you

all know, requires much less compensation than most films). I have

TMX's reciprocity table taped to my spotmeter, but I didn't have

times for Acros. So, rather than guess, I decided to see what would

happen with no compensation. I shot some exposures on Acros at 8

seconds (in rather soft light) and I'd be hard pressed to say those

exposures needed anything more than another 1/4 stop. Pretty

impressive. Of course TMX only needed a 1/2 stop. Neither film

seemed to gain significant contrast with the 8 sec. exposure.

 

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Anyway, to my surprise--delight!--I found Acros' EI the equal of

TMX. For now I'll call it EI 80. I was hoping Acros would not turn

out to be a film I loved with an EI of 32!

 

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I had to guess the processing time for Acros, and thus chose a time

of 11 minutes at 70F--exactly between my times for Delta 100 (10 min)

and TMX (12 min). It turned out to be a good guess, since the

density of Acros nearly perfectly matched that of the TMX roll. Both

films printed, on average, with a #3 setting on my VC Aristo cold

light. I found it interesting that, even in terms of processing,

Acros seemed to split the difference between TMX and Delta 100.

 

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To those trying Acros for the first time, I suggest a time of 11 min

@ 70F using D-76 1:1. D-76 1:1 generally yields times pretty close

to my developer.

 

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I think you'll find as I did, this is a very fine film, and one I

intend to use a lot more. Now, if only Fuji offered Acros in 4x5

quickloads! Are you watching this board Fuji-san...?

[michael_feldman1]

FujiFilm does make Acros 100 4x5 quickloads, but they are not

imported by FujiFilm USA. I believe that Badger Graphic has them, but

don't expect them to be priced like TMAX or Delta quickloads.

[ted_kaufman]

Thanks, Michael. I don't get Fuji. Why in the world don't they have

a US distributer for their LF and enlarging lenses or pro b&w

products?