Last
year I enjoyed a very p1easant visit to Michigan in the U.S. and as you
will have read in the resrt of the Didcot Meeting this May, I presented a
good number of the slides However, what this didn’t show was a problem I
came against during the processing of the last few cassettes of film.
Having
gone through my stock Of re-load Konicachrome films (100 asa) just into my
third week of my stay I then shared some cassettes from a re-load of Agfa
200ASA film which my American friend got hold of. Most of the time the
weather was a bit bright for this speed but on the main I was quite happy
to use it and looked forward to seeing the results as I hadn’t used this
film before.
For
my first lot of Konica :films I had a Barfen CRX kit and these processed
perfectly. However as this kit was out of, stock when I came to do the.
next lot, I sent off for a Photoworld E6 Kit which I have used before, and
could expect the same good results. It was with surprise that the first
Agfa films came out looking under bleached and/or under Blixed.
I got
in touch with Roy Salmons who also couldn’t understand this and examined
his batch of chemicals, finding nothing wrong. He kindly sent me a fresh
packet of his Bleach, just in case. Well, the next two cassettes came out
the same. The colours looked. OK for the conditions, but the emulsion
definitely looked under bleached or fixed. For the next two films I gave
double time in the Bleach and Fix baths and this improved the situation
considerably, but still looking somewhat underdone.
An
interesting situation crept in when a friend asked the to process an Agfa
100 asa film. I explained the problem, but he wanted the film quickly and
said to give it a try. Well, I had one more Agfa 200 left and so processed
the two films together, allowing the extra time for first development and
again, double time in the bleach and Fixer baths to my amazement
the Agfa “200 ‘looked the same as the previous ones, BUT the Agfa 100
had processed perfectly The emulsion being completely clear and with
really sparkling colours. My friend was more than pleased. BUT, What was
going on with the 200 ASA film!! Roy Salmons commented in his local
Newsletter - "I cant offer any explanation, because I’ve used the
chemicals with every make of film on the market with No trouble. If anyone
else has experienced any difficulties with this or any other combination
can offer any comments then I’d be pleased to hear.
To
date I’ve had nothing but success stories from users of my kits. In fact
one or two of our members who run classes or give demonstrations have used
my kits with beginners to the hobby because they can be sure of good
results, Be this as it may, I don’t like things to go wrong without
trying to offer some helpful guidance. So
it is particularly niggling that I cant think of a reason why Bill’s
slides shouldn’t be the usual, high standard that he has had, till now,
from my kits.. Any ideas!? Bill reckons that the 200 asa film is the
problem - giving an unbleached and/or unfixed effect after processing. Using
the same chemicals with 100 ASA film from the same manufacturer gave
perfect results. A puzzler indeed. If anyone has used the Agfa kit you
will have noticed that they give a first development time of 5
minutes instead of the usual 6-4
mins. presumably a more active brew".
Well,
I certainly wouldnt blame Roy’s Kit. and can only conclude that the 100
and. 200 ASA Agfa films are two quite different animals. However, in the
end I think I managed to get the best out of this film and no-one seemed
to notice when they were included with the Konicachromes during my
presentation (They were the last dozen or so of the views from the
Sear’s Tower in Chicago). But if you think Fuji film is warm compared to
‘Konica’s -
well, Agfa ‘200 is even more warm looking than Fuji.