ADOX PAN 400 Coming! ?

[David Karp]

Many of you may already know this, but I just popped over to the ADOX website to check out some information on printing papers and stumbled across this announcement that they have ". . . managed to remanufacture a new APX while avoiding the weaknesses of the old emulsion. The emulsion is being made on genuine Agfa equipment and coated on Agfa´s former coating line now owned by a new company."

They claim improvements over APX 400, including enhanced sharpness, true 400 speed, and finer grain.

First coating 35mm films are to be released in July sold only by Fotoimpex, followed by the final release ADOX PAN 400 in 35mm and 120 in August.

And, drum roll . . . "Sheetfilms will follow shortly after that." Sheet film will be in 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10, with other sizes on request.

[Fred L]

If the 8x10 is packaged in 50 sheet boxes and comes in at about $3 per sheet, I'm in.

[Ash]

Thanks for the HU. Although I'm not shooting 8x10 right now, it got me to looking at available emulsions.

[Rui Morais de Sousa]

That's good news for sure, specialy taking in consideration that Fomapan sheet film only comes in ISO 100. If the price is consistent with their other products, I will surely order some! Thanks for the information.
By the way: I am very satisfied with Fotoimpex! Their service is really good!
Rui
AL-MOST-LY PHOTOGRAPHY
P.S.: I do hope that besides 5x7inches, they will also produce 13x18cm... The difference is minimal, but not compatible. I only have filmloaders in 13x18...

[Michael Graves]

The old Agfa APX was a very fine film, but prone to a soft emulsion. If they improve on that, I would definitely try it. If it is as good and less susceptible to scratching it could easily become my standard film.

[tbeaman]

Sounds like great news! There are zero options for inexpensive high speed stock. I wonder what kind of toe it'll have for pushing. From what I remember, APX 400 wasn't well known for it, but then they do say this new emulsion will be a true 400 speed. The original was considered to be closer to 200 ASA in reality, wasn't it?

Anyway, we'll see. Nothing like being able to experiment with something new for once!

[Ash]

Yep, people said it was really EI200iso.

I have a bunch of bulk tins of 35mm APX400S that were sold super cheap a few years back. Super thin base, but I've pushed it to 3200 and the results were fine (that said I've been known to push Pan F+ to 800 before).

Far as I remember these were on a Leica M2 with a Canon 50/1,2 wide open at 1/30.





Bear in mind these are 2 year old scans, back when I still hadn't got the hang of it.

[tbeaman]

If those are examples of a three-stop push, that's pretty damn impressive. Bodes well for this new emulsion. What was the sauce/procedure you used? Because incidentally, I'm going to be trying the same thing with some Shanghai sheets soon (read the meter off the wrong incident dome), and anything helps.

All I've got at the moment is HC-110, so I'm considering doing high dilution semi-stand. I saw some good examples done that way with FP4, and the Shanghai is supposed to be similar.

[ethics_gradient]

I hope the stuff is pushable, and comes out closer to Arista EDU than Tri-X or the other high speed B&W LF films in price! My Speed/Aero Ektar is just begging to be handheld in subdued light.

[John Kasaian]

It's always good news when a manufacturer thinks it is worthwhile to introduce a new(or new/old?) emulsion on sheets!