Flickr: Tony DeFilippo's Photostream

Pentax 6x7, Contact Sheet #3

Fuji Neopan Acros 100
Rodinal 1:50, 14m @19degC

I couldn't resist the sub-$20 pro-pack of acros in 120 the other day when I made my big 4x5 and 120 film order and this roll immediately on the heels of my Tmax 100 roll was meant to give me some comparison between the two films. Never having used Acros before I wasn't sure what developer to use so I'll probably try Xtol, HC-110 and maybe Tmax on the next 3 rolls to complement the Rodinal here, then I might try Rodinal stand using EI 50.

Initial reactions: much clearer film base than TMax 100, and lacking the purplish tint, the apparent sharpness was greater just looking at the negatives and I'd say this was backed up once they were scanned and applied with a similar amount of unsharp mask as the TMax 100. They are really close, and I wonder if the difference isn't the Rodinal rather than the emulsion.

If you look at the last 6x7 Contact Sheet #2 and the last two frames of the cloudy sky on the water you can compare almost one to one to the second two frames on the Acros 100 roll. They were all shot within 10 min or so of eachother. Again this isn't a scientificly controlled enough test to be sure but I used the same exposure for all four of these frames and the Acros 100 rendered the clouds as brighter than the Tmax 100...but just a bit, playing with it in LR I was able to make the two match eachother pretty easy and to be honest it could be more developer than anything else.

The final observation which is imperceptible at the contact sheet magnification is the grain characterization, Tmax to me is smoother and more even, additionally what I call the midtones seems to have a broader range whereas the tipoff between dark and light on Acros seems to be more distinct.

I'm going to be out of town for the rest of the week but when I get back I'll post some 100% enlargement comparisons especially from those cloud and water pictures. ENJOY!

*The 10th, missing frame is a +1 exposure of the tree in the bottom row

Uploaded on Jan 31, 2012

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