Cheap trills with a big results, I’ve being using old faithful for over a year now. My go to film, Agfaphoto APX 100. It well believed to be made by Harman Technologies. They also produce Kentmere and Ilford too. Agfaphoto APX 100 is also known to be rebranded as Rollei RPX 100 and Universal CHM 100 (FotoImpex Berlin). In my video I shot both Agfaphoto APX 100 and Agfa APX 25. There are plenty of example through out using my Olympus OM-1 camera.
Video
Agfa APX 100
Recipe: Spur N Acurol 650ml + 10ml for two rolls of film, first 30 seconds, then every 1 minute.
Let me straight with you, Agfa APX 100 with my favourite film developer. This developer you’ve probably never heard of, it called Spur N Acurol. Coming from a small Germany company, you guess it called, Spur. You me personally this combination gives me such lovely results. Detailed and well toned. I really enjoy to see those inky blacks when I hang up my freshly developed negatives. So far for last year its producing density negatives. These are kind of negative I develop under the enlarger in my darkroom with relish and pleasure. The 35mm cameras I’m using are the Canon AF35M aka the Autoboy, the Olympus OM-1 sometimes the Nikon FA or FE.
I don’t want to change my combination because I know what to expect in the end. I also enjoy Ilford FP4 and Pan-F very much. Now I could certainly use Rodinal as a developer or XTOL or DDX. But again I’ve found a workflow that makes me smile each time I see the length of the film strip hanging in the darkroom. This is what I want to say to you, that if you find something that work well for you, stick with it for a good while so you always have a reference point. This is really the key for good results when developing film regards on your brand loyalty or developer you use. Truth me told there is much different in films and developers once you know how to achieve the best results from either of them.
Both Rodinal and Spur N keeps nearly forever or at least for a very long time. Both developers are incredibly economical. I use both film developers. I mainly shoot a max 100 / 125 ASA. Recently I shot some Ilford 3200 which to be honest is usual for me but I found the results with Rodinal exactly if not exceed my expectations.
I do wish to let you in on a secret. That secret is expensive film will not make your photography look or feel better. Why is that, well, with the right combination of developer and development you can achieve wonderful results from basic B&W film such as Agfa APX 100 or FOMAPAN 100.
Let me talk about Agfa APX 100, the “NEW” version. Which is now made by Harmon technologies in the UK, it’s actually rebranded under the following: CHM 100, Rollei RPX 100, lford Pan 100 and Kentmere 100. The original Agfa APX 100 is no longer produced however ADOX Silvermax is actually the same recipe however double the price of the new version APX 100. But each to the own, I’ll stick to APX 100. It would be awesome if this was available in 120 format too but I’ll hold my breath on that.
Agfa APX 25
Recipe: Rodinal 1+100 for 20 min at 20ºC, first 30 seconds, then every 1 minute.
I’ve never use this film before, it’s known for it’s sharpness with great tonality. From the result I would have to agree. The film I had was well expired around 1999 however it performed exceptional well. I did notice some curling however this is quite normal for its age. After the film had dried, I used a heavy book to flat out the negatives before scanning them on my Canon 9000F with SilverFast software.
In very distance past when Agfa APX 25 was still being manufactured sometime in the early 2000’s it was also available in 120 and sheet film format. Sadly those days are well behind us and unlikely to return. The reality there is very little if any need for ISO 25 film anymore no matter how what niche there might be. One can hope I suppose. If wish to try out APX 25 there is limited stock available around and I believe best places right now appears to be ebay. Nonetheless if you can, do try it out unfortunately I had only one roll of it.
