AgfaPan APX 25 & 400

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Hello, I am able to buy this film for only $1.40 US per roll of 36 exp. in 35 mm format. Therefore I am giving it a try. I now have 10 rolls sitting in my fridge. What do you recommend for Developer and fixer-pls list times and temperatures. I plan on shooting my outdoor shots with a #1 Cokin yellow (wratten#8) and #3 Cokin Red filter(wratten#25).

Also what type of results have been achieved by pushing or pulling this film?

Thanks, Jeff

-- Jeff (qvisualart@earthling.net), July 23, 1998

Answers

Re: AgfaPan APX 25 & 400

I've used both of these films a little; APX25 is an extremely fine-grained film with a fairly 'soft' exposure characteristic, a classic. APX400 is pretty sharp but (to my eye) more grainy than other ISO 400 films like Tri-X and HP5+.

I processed these films in dilute Xtol (1+2), exposing at the rated ISO.

My impression was that APX25 is a fairly unique and excellent emulsion, while APX400 wasn't as interesting to me.

Dana K6JQ Dana@Source.Net

-- Dana H. Myers (Dana@Source.Net), August 07, 1998.


AgfaPan APX 25 processing

I just processed my first two rolls at home last night. I used Kodak HC-110, dil. B, 68F for 6 minutes. They looked good. If you're using steel reels, note that this is a very stiff, heavy film. You'll have to be extra careful loading it.

Here's one thing which I accidentally did, and I think I'll keep doing it with this film: Lengthy presoak. I presoak my film for about 30sec. Well, this time I inadvertently soaked it for several minutes. When I poured the water out, it was dark! I think the water leached out some kind of film dye. I think I'll try this with other films which give off a lot of dye when I put them through hypo clear.

I've only shot four rolls of this. Three were for testing purposes. I found that the lab I go to has some kind of problem with this film. (And they use Rodinal) The two rolls they processed (I put them in many weeks apart) have some kind of double sripe down their length, somewhat similar to water marks. The two I did at home are just fine, and all the film is from the same lot. No other film they've processed has had these stripes.

-- Brian C. Miller (a-bcmill@exchange.microsoft.com), August 13, 1998.


APX-25 streaks easily on drying; a good approach is to leave it in the foto-flo for several minutes. If you use a film drier, do not use the high setting (that is probably what happened with the lab).

My lens resolution tests with the 120 version showed that APX-400 had lower resolution than other 400 speed films; an old Modern Photography article comparing it to Tri-X found the same in 35mm. APX-25 on the other hand is sharper than anything except Tech-pan, and IMHO has a more attractive look.

-- John Lehman (ffjal@aurora.alaska.edu), September 24, 1998.


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