Developing Fuji Acros in Nikkor Steel Tank

[minesix66]

I will be developing Fuji Acros 100 rated at 100 in acufine powder developer. I can't find any times or temps. Anyone have any info? It will be hand developed in a Nikkor steel tank.

[Ari]

The Massive Development Chart http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php has nothing for that combination.
Do your own tests and contribute information once you have something satisfactory.

[Greg Blank]

Acros is an older type emulsion so its going to be similar but not exactly the same as Plus X, FP4 and all the other 100 speed films that are not T grain or Core shell technologies. For general starting points any of these older films can be a close enough starting point. If you are needing exact, YOU need to test the film first. Even if that means buying some more film and doing the speed test post facto. According to the MDC Acufine seems to increase speed, which is not usually all that desirable...but sometimes required. Here is another reference:

http://www.bkaphoto.com/pdfs/acufine.pdf

[Sal Santamaura]

Acros is an older type emulsion so its going to be similar but not exactly the same as Plus X, FP4 and all the other 100 speed films that are not T grain or Core shell technologies...Having used Acros and found it very similar in grain as well as resolution/acutance to TMX, your statement made me wonder.

Fuji's marketing drivel for photographic products simply refers to Acros' "Sigma Grain Technology" without defining what that is. A bit of search engine exercise leads one to this Fuji PDF for an x-ray film that does explain "sigma grain:"

http://www.wmi-t2.com/pdfs/fuji_spr_rx_bro.pdf

Page 2 shows that Fuji is using tabular grains similar to what Kodak employs in the TMAX line.

[Greg Blank]

That's for medical Xray film. Although I am not flat out saying you are wrong, Fuji Color negative materials for instance: in scanning are a a lot more prone to show grain structure than Kodak's T Grain emulsions.... Not that is the best criteria or only desire criteria. Why would Fuji not use that technology if they had it,...in all thier films? The Acros I scanned in 2005 for the VC article that was published, showed that the film responded like a much older film to a variety of developers, aside from that it was resolute like a 100 film should be.


Having used Acros and found it very similar in grain as well as resolution/acutance to TMX, your statement made me wonder.

Fuji's marketing drivel for photographic products simply refers to Acros' "Sigma Grain Technology" without defining what that is. A bit of search engine exercise leads one to this Fuji PDF for an x-ray film that does explain "sigma grain:"

http://www.wmi-t2.com/pdfs/fuji_spr_rx_bro.pdf

Page 2 shows that Fuji is using tabular grains similar to what Kodak employs in the TMAX line.

[Sal Santamaura]

...Why would Fuji not use that technology if they had it,...in all thier films?...For the same reason Kodak doesn't use it in Tri-x? :)

[Leigh]

Have you considered Diafine?

I use it with Acros (5 min + 5 min per the Diafine datasheet linked above) and it comes out fine.

A major advantage (to me) is that it works over a wide range of temperatures with no change in time or results. This is great for stainless steel tanks.

- Leigh

[Oren Grad]

That's for medical Xray film. Although I am not flat out saying you are wrong, Fuji Color negative materials for instance: in scanning are a a lot more prone to show grain structure than Kodak's T Grain emulsions.... Not that is the best criteria or only desire criteria. Why would Fuji not use that technology if they had it,...in all thier films? The Acros I scanned in 2005 for the VC article that was published, showed that the film responded like a much older film to a variety of developers, aside from that it was resolute like a 100 film should be.

Greg, this is incorrect. If you search the Fujifilm Japan site you can find several R&D papers with photomicrographs confirming that the "Sigma grain" or "Sigma crystal" technology referred to in so many of Fujifilm's photographic film datasheets over more than a decade now is in fact a tabular grain technology.

I can't find an Acros-specific reference at the moment, but for a couple of English-language examples, see:

Color neg http://www.fujifilm.com/products/motion_picture/technology/

Color transparency http://home.fujifilm.com/photokina2000/press/pdf/pb-072er.pdf

[Leigh]

Well, I just did a bunch of Acros in Diafine in a Nikor SS tank by accident.

I use both Acros and FP4+, and thought this bunch of filmholders held the latter. Oh well.

The time was 4 min + 4 min, which is shorter than the 5+5 Diafine spec for Acros.

The wet negs look great. I'll see how they look and scan when dry.

- Leigh

[minesix66]

Well I developed the Acros in acufine for 3.5 mins. I started pouring at 3 min 40 sec and the can didn't get completely full till the 3 min mark. I then dumped the tanks and stopped for 1 min using kodak stop. Then by accident I dumped the used acufine back into the tank thinking it was the fix. On top of this the lid fell off. I think I am putting this tank up for sale.

[ac12]

For loose fitting Nikkor tanks, we used to use masking tape to hold the covers on the tank. I still do that since I'm paranoid of the cover coming off when I invert the tank.
But if you still want to get rid of the tank, I might be interested :-)

[Leigh]

I just hold the tank closed with my hand... thumb on the top and fingers below.

- Leigh

[Ari]

Always tape up metal film tanks meant for inversion.
I use grey gaffer's tape and run a length of it all around where the lid and tank meet.