Adox CMS 20 II Pro – My First Roll

Adox describe their CMS 20II Pro film as “an orthopanchromatic and ultra-high resolution film based on silver halide material” and “the highest resolution, sharpest fine-grain film in the world”. I came across it through a listing on the New Zealand online auction site posted by NZPhotochem, a trader I buy materials from, and who turns up some interesting items.

Delving deeper into both the film and its manufacturer proved interesting. Adox is a long established name in the photographic world of course. They have manufactured most things photographic over their long history which began in 1860 and, after the bankruptcy brought on by digital, have been rescued and now have the slogan “The best things are analogue”. They have managed to build new production facilities and have modified much of the equipment as needed. And, to judge by this film, they are no slouches technologically.

They are, very commendably, helping support the continuation of analogue photography that so many of us still enjoy and practice. I cannot praise such enterprises enough. My life would be extremely dull without them.

The film

35mm seems to be the most readily obtainable size, though it appears that 120 and 5×4 sizes have once been produced and are mentioned in their data sheet. I read a post on the photrio web site from Adox themselves explaining why 120 was not being produced. Scaling down the machinery for more limited production and the availability of packaging supplies and skilled operatives are given as the very understandable reasons. Their own website is worth a visit also for an up to date picture. The production quantities required nowadays must be more niche than industrial compared with pre-digital.

Physically, the film is very thin compared to say FP4+ and has a clear polyester base, requiring scissors to seperate it from the cassette if you process your own. It is impossible to tear across the cassette lips, my usual method with most films. It is so slippery extracting the tongue from the cassette with my Ilford film retriever can be challenging too if it has been wound fully back by cameras like my F801 I used for this film.

It is nominally rated at ISO 20 but there are alternative speeds for different results. For high contrast an ISO 12 rating is recommended whilst for lower image contrast ISO 25 gives very highly detailed images according to Adox’s data sheet. This is when using the dedicated Adotech IV developer.

In my case I am standardised on Rodinal so for this first film I used the time and speed rating for continuous tone recommended by the Massive Development Chart. ISO 10 is recommended for continuous tone, the complete opposite to Adotech’s ISO 25. I used the shorter time suggested to help limit contrast, 14 minutes at 1:200, 20ºC.

Its “orthopanchromatic” description seems contradictory but is explained by its unusual spectral response I guess. It responds up to 650 nm, approaching infrared wavelengths which might explain the sky tones it produces without filters.

The base is so clear, the negatives really punch out at you increasing the impression of higher contrast. Adox say this makes it suitable for reversal with a little experimentation and I would not dispute that.

My intentionally very high contrast subjects were a complete disaster but when it works it is a very good film. It is very suited to architecture and record, whist the high contrast can produce some dramatic results, especially the shot here of the Winter Garden in Dunedin’s Botanic Gardens (which I have now discovered is not the Tropical House as I previously thought, that is the central, taller section, flanked by the lower, slightly cooler temperature, less humid wings).

Results

I took a number of test shots with various filters and of a range of subjects and lighting. Even though I did not use the recommended developer, there is virtually no grain visible. And when applying USM and Clarity in Affinity Photo, which normally brings out the grain quite horribly, it is still almost non-existent and detail is enhanced instead of being broken up. Very like working with digital files in fact.

Only the red filter had any useful effect but then only in cutting through haze. With no filter, skies are rendered well anyway.

The main difficulty is the slow speed of the film. This forces large apertures to be used when hand-held (I am lazy sometimes) and my Tamron 17mm used for many of the examples here is not at its best at the f4 or f5.6 settings used. Sharpness isn’t too bad but this lens vignettes noticeably at wider apertures, an effect emphasised by the contrasty nature of the emulsion.

And it really is contrasty, with dense blacks. I spent some time very carefully post-processing an intentionally contrasty contre jour shot and produced quite a good range of tones, with just visible tone in the shadows, highlights slightly blown out and reasonable mid-tones. Absolutely on the limit. It must be said this is a pretty tricky emulsion to handle in order to get the best out of it. I don’t think it has any latitude at all so accurate exposure is a must.

In conclusion

I think my next film will be exposed at an even slower ISO, probably 8 (Adox suggest ISO 3-6 for non-dedicated developers), and given a little less development again in order to reduce the contrast still more (expose for the shadows/develop for the highlights). I may have to be less lazy and use a tripod more, and I will probably split the film between my Retina and Super Silette to reduce the wait to finish 36 exposures and to compare lenses. These cameras have very different lens characteristics, the Agfa Solinar being much ‘smoother’ than the Xenon. I have a feeling the Solinar might suit this film quite well. We shall see.

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