Experiences on ADOX CHS ii speeds (4x5)?

[m00dawg]

First of all, I love the new CHS ii! Really beautiful film! I process it in XTOL Replenishment in a rotary and have settled on 9:30 at 20C for developing time. This seems to provide good density for the highlights, but I think I may be loosing detail by rating it at 100 (box speed).

Curious what others experiences have been with CHS ii to this point, with particular interest in the film speeds? I may try rating it at 50 next time I go out and about just to see what comes of it.

[richydicky]

I have exposed a few sheets a little while ago and looking back at my notes see that I developed in D76 and HC110 and found a lack of shadow detail at box speed in both instances. I have been working on a project so hope to try again soon but really don't want to be wasting a lot of time experimenting. I used the recommended times for each developer.

[m00dawg]

Here is one shot I took with CHS II (at box speed). This was a negative scan though I do hope to print it in the darkroom soon:

194559

I've printed CHS II in the darkroom before with lovely results so I expect similar here, though I will say my latest shots also show a some lack of shadow detail. The highlights seem properly developed which makes me wonder if it's a case of pulling the film (versus shooting at box).

In metering the scenes, I recall the important parts of the scene fit within the dynamic range I was expecting. *shrug* CHS II has a nice character so I don't want to kill all the contrast by pulling necessarily.

One thing I will say, my CHS sheets came out prestine from my JOBO tank. My HP5's, for reason I have yet to figure out, show tons of scratches on the non-emulsion side. Some deep enough they are appearing in scans (and look like I might see them in the darkroom too). Kinda weird.