Fuji Acros

[macandal]

I'm in the market for Fuji Acros 100. I only see it being sold in amounts of 20. Is there a place where you can buy this in bulk? That means, that you can get a deal if you buy more than one box? Thanks.

[vinny]

Never heard of such a thing with sheet film. As with any film you love, buy it and stash it while you can.

[Richard Wasserman]

Why not just ask the the companies that sell it?

[Michael Gordon]

I'd suggest Ilford Delta 100. The qualities of the two are very similar, and unlike Fuji, Ilford has a clue. Fuji has a new habit of making emulsions disappear from the marketplace...

[Drew Wiley]

The two films have distinctly different spectral sensitivity, and in certain other respects are not analogous. Just have to shop it and live with the fact of packaging standardization.

[tgtaylor]

1*20=20
2*20=40
3*20=60...
n*20=(n-1)*20+20
Get it? Just pick an n that suits you.

Acros is a truly amazing film and refrigerated stores well. Buy all that you can afford for you won't regret it.

Thomas

[David R Munson]

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to start buying 4x5 Acros in quantity every month until I have a fairly massive stockpile. I like it enough I'm not going to take any chances with it.

[Renato Tonelli]

I usually shoot TriX320 but this Summer I shot 100 sheets of Neopan Acros (4x5) and I really appreciated the ability to do long exposures without thinking about reciprocity failure.
So I will do some stocking up as well as finances allow.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

[QUOTE=Drew Wiley;938954]The two films have distinctly different spectral sensitivity, and in certain other respects are not analogous. /QUOTE]

Briefly, what would that be?

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

I usually shoot TriX320 but this Summer I shot 100 sheets of Neopan Acros (4x5) and I really appreciated the ability to do long exposures without thinking about reciprocity failure.
So I will do some stocking up as well as finances allow.

Are you saying is has no reciprocity failure? could you give some examples.

[Sevo]

Are you saying is has no reciprocity failure?


NO not in scientific terms, but for all practical purposes. That is, no need for compensation down to 120s, +1/2 stop compensation down to 1000s, +1 stop down to 10,000s.

[macandal]

Well, because I'm still learning, I decided to go with this film:

Arista EDU Ultra B&W 100 ISO 4x5/50 sheets (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/190145-Arista-EDU-Ultra-BandW-100-ISO-4x5-50-sheets?)

I was going to go with the Adox film (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/126545-Adox-CHS-50-Art-4x5-50-sheets?cat_id=404) (which, if it has as good a reputation as the paper does, well then...), but decided to do all my screwing up with cheaper though still good film. Both of these films are still cheaper than Acros, but I don't know how they compare. I like the contrast that Acros gives me. We'll see if the Arista does something at least similar. Or, later on, if Adox does too. Eventually, unless these or any other kind of film becomes my favorite, I will get to the Acros.

Now, on to something else. It appears that one has a wider selection of B&W film than one does in color. The Freestyle website gives you a wide range of B&W films (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/c404-Black-and-White-Film-Sheet-Film-ULF-Ultra-Large-Format) but only a handful (really, just Kodak) of color (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/c1104-Color-Negative-Film-Sheet-Film-ULF-Ultra-Large-Format). Other websites are similar. Kodak appears to be the only choice for 4x5 color negative film. Are there others? Or just to simplify this question, what color negative film would you guys recommend?

Thanks all.

[marfa boomboom tx]

Well, because I'm still learning, I decided to go with this film:

-----. Eventually, unless these or any other kind of film becomes my favorite, I will get to the Acros.

Now, on to something else. It appears that one has a wider selection of B&W film than one does in color. --- Kodak appears to be the only choice for 4x5 color negative film. Are there others? Or just to simplify this question, what color negative film would you guys recommend?

Thanks all.

suggestion: badger (support the folks who will notice you) for the acros, at least.

color negatives: kodak
color chrome: fuji

B&W: toss up, but this is an end game, with no player strong enough to carry us all.

/marfa
\ -- where we still know how to do 3color assembly

[macandal]

suggestion: badger (support the folks who will notice you) for the acros, at least.Thanks, marfa. I'd forgotten about Badger. They price their Acros well.

So, is Kodak IT for color negative?

[Drew Wiley]

Kevin - you already picked up on the recip characteristic, which seems to be unique - for
all practical puposes you can take relatively long exposures without any correction. The curve is somewhat different from Delta 100, though not radically so. But in terms of sensitivity, ACROS is orthopan, not conventional pan, so it renders lots of scenes quite
different, esp foliage. It resembles a regular pan film with a yellow-green filter in place,
but in a more refined sense. Put a red filter on it, and the look is different than a typical
pan too (don't use anything stronger than a 25 red - the film has LESS extended red
sensitivity than most, but some). I love its look with mtn and settings - it just renders
light more natural than most other films. Some people also think it scans especially well, but I don't scan, so am not the best person for an opinion about that.

[Drew Wiley]

Color neg film question: In the US, it's mostly Kodak. Maybe a little Fuji color neg film is
still being imported, but it's a marginal selection. Kodak will be pricey but superb, with three
exceptional choices: Portra 160 (low contrast, low saturation, wide latitude), Portra 400
(more speed and a tad more punch), and Ektar (ASA100 - med contrast and latitude,
high saturation, with color resembling chrome film in certain respects). There are plenty of
black and white films on the market to choose from. You have to start printing them before
you get a good idea of the pros and cons.

[macandal]

Color neg film question: In the US, it's mostly Kodak...So, what else is there elsewhere (and also besides Fuji) and how does one get it?

Thanks Drew.

[Sevo]

So, what else is there elsewhere (and also besides Fuji) and how does one get it?


I don't think there is any LF colour negative film besides Portra 400, Ektar and Fuji 160NS left - Gevaert do still make a CN film for aerial use, and if some dealer ordered a large enough batch, would probably cut it in sheet sizes, so there is a last resort left, but colour film positively is a endangered species.

[Drew Wiley]

Just buy Kodak and keep them in business. We need them. I don't know what Fuji offers in
Japan, but it would probably cost more to ship it in than to buy Kodak film here. It's pretty
premature for a bunch of gloom and doom talk. Kodak film per se seems to be doing quite
well, and their corporate woes have already received enough attention. Nothing is going
to be solved by throwing in the towel, either at their end or ours. But the era of using a
camera like a machine gun might be ending, given the realistic cost of film today. Besides,
view cameras are really designed for careful snipers anyway.

[Kodachrome25]

I love Acros in 120, but man, it is more pricey than TMY in 4x5 and comes in inefficient 20 sheet boxes. If it were more like $1.50 a sheet and came in 50 sheet boxes, I might consider it for long exposure stuff.

I generally buy my sheet film in 1,000 sheet batches, $700+ over Delta 100 is a considerable chunk of change and 50 freaking boxes of film.

[Marc B.]

In the Bay Area, you could check-in with Samy's, every once in a while.
http://www.samys.com/c/Film/2/543.html?orAttribIDs=1283;&orAttribs=4x5;

[polyglot]

Acros has practically no reciprocity failure - needs only half a stop correction between 120s and 1000s, and 1 stop from 1000s to overnight. This means that for very long exposures, it's (perhaps much) faster than most 400 ISO film, the big exception being TMY2. TMY2 loses speed a bit more quickly than Acros, but Acros doesn't overtake it within sane (6 hour) exposure durations.

Acros also has quite poor red sensitivity, ending at 630nm. Most other films see a lot more red.

[ShawnHoke]

I have been buying Acros in both 120 and 4x5 almost every time I hit a camera store that has it here in NYC, so I've built up a good stash. It's by far my favorite B&W film for night work/long exposures.

Earlier in the thread someone mentioned a 100 speed Ilford film that could compare to Acros, but I've never seen anything that could compare for long exposures w/o worrying about reciprocity failure. Would love to have a back up for B&W long exposures, especially since I can't get Acros in 8x10.

[Roger Cole]

To my knowledge the closest thing in reciprocity characteristics would be TMX, which I think was the champion before Acros.

[ShawnHoke]

To my knowledge the closest thing in reciprocity characteristics would be TMX, which I think was the champion before Acros.

Good to know, Roger. Thank you.

[Professional]

Acros is my favorite B&W film in 120 and i bought 2 boxes for 4x5, and i did shoot first sheet of 4x5 ever in my life with Acros, 3 sheets only, one lost because i double exposed another sheet instead of it, but both exposed sheets came out fine regardless of the scratches i had on both, i will keep the rest sheets when i learn more with LF, so for that reason i bought some boxes of Arista Edu Ultra 100/400, i may add ISO200 too, but i will give that 100/400 a long time learn.

I have bought Iford FP4 and HP5 and TMY too, i think only TMY i bought in 100 sheets box, so i have something over 300 sheets of B&W to expose in the future.

I bought one Ektar box and i was going to buy more and Portra, but our local the only lab in my country told me they don't process color neg unless i brought minimum 15-20 sheets, so i stopped to buy more color neg sheets, and about slides, i have 2 Velvia 100F boxes and i did buy my 5th Velvia 50 boxes just after that Fuji discont.. about Velvia 50 in 4x5, so i have 100 sheets of Velvia 50, i can buy few more boxes that are last remain in stock, but i am scared i may not shoot more with slide even i love color and i do shoot landscapes a lot.

[EOTS]

Hi guys,

Fuji Acros 4x5 or 8x10 does not seem available in Europe ...
do you think that importing it from B&H via UPS Saver (Air-Mail) would cause noticable "radiation damage"?

Best,
Martin

[jennym]

Hi Martin,

I have not had any problem importing film to the UK from B&H or from Badger Graphic and would have no concerns about importing it.

Jenny

[EOTS]

Thanks Jenny! I guess it really starts to become more tragic not before >= 400 ISO, doesn't it?

BTW, has someone found the 8x10 somewhere?
Even B&H only seems to offer the 4x5 version...

Best,
Martin

[Leigh]

Various people have said that Acros 8x10 is available in Japan. I've not personally confirmed that.

It's not available from any source here in the US that I know of.

- Leigh

[Drew Wiley]

Acros has not been available here in 8x10 for a long time. I last purchased it from Badger,
and last time I talked to him, he didn't think he could get it at all. However, 4x5 seems to
be readily available quite a few places.

[Sal Santamaura]

...has someone found the 8x10 somewhere?...Dirk ships worldwide. I've selected the price in Euros for your convenience. :)


http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/product_info.php?currency=EUR&cPath=25&products_id=30

[EOTS]

Thanks Sal!

I've still not figured out which B&W film is right for me, but I'm happy that Acros can be at least imported...
Tried it in 35mm (in XTOL 1:3) and got good results...

Best,
Martin

[Roger Cole]

Dirk ships worldwide. I've selected the price in Euros for your convenience. :)


http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/product_info.php?currency=EUR&cPath=25&products_id=30

Yeah, for almost $10 a sheet, well over $10 per sheet when shipping is included, versus between $3 and $4 per sheet of FP4+ from B&H and much lower shipping. If I get into 8x10 I don't think I'll be paying those kinds of prices to import from Japan, though it's good it's available.

I just processed my first roll of 120 Acros and must agree it has a wonderful, smooth tonality. Really nice film. It's one of the oddities of Fuji pricing that it's among the least expensive films on the market in 120 while being one of the most expensive black and white films in 4x5. I don't consider the price prohibitive in 4x5 unlike 8x10, but it's still an oddity.

[Jim Andrada]

Yodobashi Camera and BIC Camera show 8 x 10 on their Japanese websites at 10800 Yen which works out to about $6.80 per sheet - plus sales tax of course. I think sales tax is still 5%. I may be back in Tokyo in mid-November and will see if I can get hold of some.

http://search.biccamera.com/pall/search/?s.q=acros&s.ie=shift-jis&x=0&y=0&s.an=

http://www.yodobashi.com/%E5%AF%8C%E5%A3%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%83%A0-FUJIFILM-NEOPAN100-ACROS-4X5-20%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E5%85%A5/pd/100000001000119682/

[RichardSperry]

Fuji pricing that it's among the least expensive films on the market in 120 while being one of the most expensive black and white films in 4x5.

Compare the thickness of the base material between the two.

[fireboy]

For the longest time it was very difficult to get Acros in 4x5 up here in Vancouver, BC. I had to go down to Glazer's in Seattle and they had 7 boxes (20 sheets/box) in stock. I bought them all. Stuck them in the freezer. I use Shanghai GP3 most of the time - it's really cheap, under a dollar/sheet. The Acros is being saved and used for the really long exposure work.

As someone above mentioned, they buy Acros whenever they can. I often do the same. It's wonderful in 120, and yes I find for bright regularly exposed scenes, it does look the same as Delta 100. However, I like to develop in rodinal, which is cheap and Acros friendly. I've found the Delta's don't come out as nice in Rodinal, and ilfotec is very pricey and goes bad quickly.

[Roger Cole]

Compare the thickness of the base material between the two.

I know the base is different. But is it different than other brands of sheet film? If not, the relative costs should be similar - i.e. Acros 120 on the same base as, say, FP4+ 120 costs less than FP4+, while Acros 4x5 on the same base as FP4+ 4x5 costs more than FP4+. Now I don't know that it's the same as other sheet films as I haven't used Acros in sheets. Is it on a different base from other brands of sheet film?

[Drew Wiley]

The only 8x10 Acros I still have on hand is on either a thinner or less stiff base than what
I am accustomed to with other films. It might be triacetate, like Fuji's color films of similar
vintage. This is very puzzling to me, because it doesn't behave even like their current 4x5 ACROS base. It's also slicker and quite prone to Newton rings. I suspect at some point in
time the changed it. But it isn't as thin as the roll film version. And it's ACROS - no doubt
about that whatsoever - came in the original sealed factory packaging, and otherwise
exposes and prints exactly like other ACROS sizes.

[David Schaller]

I also had Newton Rings when i have contact printed with 8x10 Acros. I am reluctant to use it for that reason, but for long exposures it can't be beat.
Dave