Follow-up on Forte / Super XX

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Here is a quote from an email I received from Forte today, regarding my question of Forte 200 and Super XX: "With refference to your kind email of April 10th, 2002 on above subject we confirm that our Fortepan 200ASA Sheet Films is really similar to the old Kodak Super XX, but our sheet films 1/Is coated on a 0.175mm Polyester Base 2/Red sensitivity is extended to longer wave lenth 3/Is retouchable on both sides!"

-- Erik Asgeirsson (erik@erikcellist.com), April 16, 2002

Answers

Can it be obtained in 12x20 and 11x14? Who sells it? Thanks.

-- David Vickery (vickeryphoto@cs.com), April 16, 2002.

I use Forte films all the time and have ordered custom sizes. Basically they will cut any size you want with a low minimum order, I use 8" and soon 16" wide roll film, their min. order is 5 x 100 foot rolls which is considerably less than what the big yellow requires for a custom order. Don't know what their min. for sheet film is, get onto their web and send a email. Eight Elm in Canada is a dealer, heard they're very helpful.

-- Clayton Tume (clayton@bigshotz.co.nz), April 17, 2002.

I've used quite a bit of Forte 200 and would like to add a couple things. The film works very well in masking developers like PMK but can be pretty grainy otherwise. The film is prone to reticulation so you need to match all the temperatures of your development including the final wash temps. The film can be expanded and contracted a great deal and it is a favorite of mine, however, I do believe that if you are going to be using non-pyro developers that there are better choices out there.

-- Kevin (kkemner@tatesnyderkimsey.com), April 17, 2002.

Fascinating. but I don't see how it can be similar to Super XX, which, I was told (not by Kodak), came from a formula captured from the Germans in WWII and contained a gold compound in it. I cannot say for sure that this story is true, but it would explain why Super XX, when last available, was $3.75/sheet for 8x10 size and Tri-X was something like $1.75. Supposedly all of the films that had "Super" in their name, like Super Panchro Press Type B (which was an excellent film by the way), had the gold compound in them.

Considering the reasonable price of the Forte film, I cannot believe it is the same formula.

-- Michael A. Smith (michaelandpaula@michaelandpaula.com), April 17, 2002.


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