Adox CHS 100 - 35mm Film

My first time shooting this film, and I'm quite happy with the results. It has a nice Retro look, with good tonal range. I developed the film in Rodinal 1+50 for 12.5 mins. I would certainly recommend a single shot developer for this film, as it turns the developer quite dark. This would be a great film for reversal processing, as the base is Gin clear.
It's certainly a film I will be shooting again!

The clear PET base makes it easy to scan and the second anti-halide layer provides additional sharpness. Is it as sharp as delta or Tmax? Probably not but its also a couple of quid cheaper than either. I've shot a couple of rolls of this not and will definitely buy again.

Shot a roll of this in my Contaflex using its built-in meter, which tends to give predictable results. Apart from being unkind to my old lenses and shooting most directly into strong, low, sun, where I shot normally I found that deep shadow lost all detail and created a few slightly distracting areas of blocked out black. Thinking it might be a scanning limitation of my V600 with the clear film base I dug out my old Minolta Scan Duo which has more control over exposure but found the same results with that. So I suspect that the 100 ISO rating is "just about 100 ISO" with zero safety margin for under exposure. Have another roll here which I'll try rating at 80 to give a little wriggle room.

Apart from that, the film gives a nice balance of tonality with strong, but not overpowering, contrast unless you really push the lighting. Sharpness is great and the overall vibe suits what I like from B&W. At the price it seems a perfectly valid alternative to other "traditional" emulsions. Easy to handle for loading into tanks and for scanning, the only thing not to like is that (I believe) slightly optimistic speed rating. If not for that I'd say it's an ideal beginner's film but that lack of latitude could lead to disappointment for the unwary.

Shot in Zeiss Contaflex with Tessar 50/2.8, developed in HC110 for 5.5 mins, 20 deg C, as per Massive Dev Chart.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film: back in the day ( the960s) Adox film seemed to be used by many "advanced" amateur photographers, but at that time I was a little nervous of trying it. I have now got over that nervousness and shot a roll CHS. It proved to be splendid delivering a great tonal range and also providing rich luscious blacks. I t also provides a nice sharp looking negative with a great clear base which makes the negs look very attractive. I developed the film in my preferred developer: Michrophen diluted 1;1 for 12 minutes. This provided me with what I consider to be very satisfactory results. I shall certainly be using this film again.

I wanted to try a different film for my long exposure project on film but I am still unsure about this film, the grain is fine, the contrast is ok though some images were lacking contrast and I am still debating whether I will use that film again or not. I am used to shoot with Pan F which I love for its very fine grain and strong contrast and I thought Adox CHS 100 will be similar but far from it. As I don't process B+W film myself it was also difficult to find a lab that would process that film stock. At least I tried it.