Agfa Scala 200X – Bittersweet Memories made with my last and only roll

Agfa Scala 200X has been a Film I had been wanting to shoot for a long long time; I always saw the beautiful contrasty pin sharp images up on the net and was always very impressed, one day I always thought, one day! and just as with Kodachrome – another Film I’d always looked at on the shelves and always picked up a box of Fujichrome or Ektachrome instead, thinking, one day, one day!

Why? because I couldn’t be bothered and was too lazy to mail off the Films to whatever special lab (and in Kodachrome’s case, in Switzerland or Dwayne’s in the US) would handle the processing, and just as with Kodachrome, suddenly the discontinuation of the film was announced and I panicked! I managed to eventually get two rolls of K25 to the US for processing and I’ll write about that at some point, but I only had one roll of Scala.

As fate would have it one day in I think 2016 or 2017 (the following years have been such a muddle that it’s as if I have had memory loss since then, and the years have passed so quickly), when the discontinuation had been done there were still a handful of Labs still processing Agfa Scala 200X, and my destiny lead me to the two places which have a special place in my heart, one being the Roman Amphitheatre at Caerleon, and the other being one which I swore I’d never visit again as to keep any memory I had locked away, special and sacred, yet undisturbed and untainted by whatever experience I may have had if I revisited – namely Tretower Court and Castle; a CADW historical monument hidden away in the Brecon Beacons of Wales. it’s a place of magic, of happiness and sadness, leaving a bitter yet sweet wound. I feel as if when I pass on, or pass over, it’ll be to haunt those ruins forever.

I had my Minolta Dynax 7 loaded with my only roll of Agfa Scala, it seemed appropriate as I had more or less lost everything apart from that Minolta, that single 50mm f2.8 Macro lens and my only roll of Film. I had vowed to make this my last ever use of a camera.

I sent the Film off to be developed and the slides stayed almost untouched and unscanned in their box for almost 10 years (bar one slide of the castle I had scanned on my flatbed and then gave up at the time putting the box away..), until a few days ago when I decided to open the box and with a deep breath laid them out on my light table.

I then scanned them using my Konica Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV and opened them in Light Room 5. I was presented with grey images; I made the mistake or rather was destined to use a Film meant for bright contrasty conditions on what was a relatively overcast Autumn day. I also had made the mistake of trusting the excellent honeycomb meter of the Minolta Dynax 7 which usually nails Slide film, but this was Black and White slide Film and I should’ve set exposure accordingly, but I didn’t.

The other issue was that the slides were dusty and the emulsion had seemed to be degraded in parts with horrible veined texture –  and if I had had IR clean or Digital ICE then this wouldn’t have been much of an issue (I could’ve used my Epson 4990 flatbed but that’s not very good for 35mm and the reason why I had bought a dedicated 35mm scanner) so I cleaned them with Pig Iron Film Clear and used a blower to clear any grime – this worked to a certain extent but they were still imperfect, while some were just beyond help using such methods.

Well I did what I could and even with the mistakes and issues I was left with bleak yet soulful Slides with a mood which reflected mine at the time and I was happy with them…

The experience has taught me to understand that Agfa Scala 200X is made for bright, sunny conditions where there is more contrast in the scene. It needs to be exposed for the shadows then reduce the exposure by 1 stop to give darker shadow areas with detail. It’s a tricky film; get it right and as with Rollei Retro 80s you’ll be rewarded. Overcast conditions will subdue its qualities.

Now Agfa Scala 200X is no more, sure there are labs which can develop it, but is it worth the risk buying expired Scala? Or have people experience using expired Scala? If so, do let me know. I see Adox have a Scala Film as well, but it seems to be at different speeds and according to some, a different Emulsion than the original – please feel free to correct me here and advise if it may be worth shooting.

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