Agfa black&white APX 400

O

Out to Lunch

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I'll be shooting many rolls of this film -which expired in November 2019 but was kept frozen, in Saigon where the light is usually exceptionally bright throughout the day. I'd appreciate advice from film shooters familiar with this film. Many thanks in advance and, Cheers, OtL
 
I’ve shot APX400 a bit and always liked it. Nothing fancy or particularly surprising, just a regular classic b&w stock. Similar to HP5, Kentmere 400 (the same?) etc. I always developed in ID-11 1+3.

Only real suggestion is that it likes a bit of light. Perhaps meter at 320iso or thereabouts.
 
I have only shot one role back in 2009 so i have limited experience. I developed it in Rodinal and shot it at 400asa. My overall experience of it is that whites came out quite muddy. Looking at the negatives, i think they are underexposed - maybe it is not a true 400ASA film and Rodinal made it worse (you do get speed loss with rodinal). As Nick said, probably exposing it at 320 or even 250 would be the wise thing to do.

These are some quick scans, i suppose if i scan them properly they might look better.

CNV00019.JPG

CNV00038.JPG
 
nickthetasmaniac said:
I’ve shot APX400 a bit and always liked it. Nothing fancy or particularly surprising, just a regular classic b&w stock. Similar to HP5, Kentmere 400 (the same?) etc. I always developed in ID-11 1+3.

Only real suggestion is that it likes a bit of light. Perhaps meter at 320iso or thereabouts.
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I don't know when, exactly, the "original" APX-400 was acquired by Harmon/Ilford, but I am pretty certain that the product sold as AgfaPhoto APX-400 is equivalent to Kentmere 400 and thus the times/developers combinations available on something like DigitalTruth should work.

I have used the AgfaPhoto APX-400 on occasion and found that the developer/time combinations posted on the Massive Development Chart provided acceptable results.

Now, if the film in question is the older, original "Agfa" product, perhaps someone on this forum could provide some guidance?
 
p.giannakis said:
I have only shot one role back in 2009 so i have limited experience. I developed it in Rodinal and shot it at 400asa. My overall experience of it is that whites came out quite muddy. Looking at the negatives, i think they are underexposed - maybe it is not a true 400ASA film and Rodinal made it worse (you do get speed loss with rodinal). As Nick said, probably exposing it at 320 or even 250 would be the wise thing to do.

These are some quick scans, i suppose if i scan them properly they might look better.

View attachment 4818961
Click to expand...
Personally, I think this looks pretty good. Maybe the black levels need to come up a little, but I like the moodiness of it.

My understanding is that modern APX films are just rebranded Kentmere; that's certainly what the Massive Dev Chart claims anyway, and their times back that up.

When did they make the switch? The "real" APX 100 was one of my favourite films, and I finally burned through the last of my bulk rolls last year.

edit: Ah, @Tom R beat me to the punch. I guess @Out to Lunch is going to have to figure out if he's got the original stuff or the more recent rebranded stock; the expiry date makes me think it might be the original.
 
Coldkennels said:
@Out to Lunch is going to have to figure out if he's got the original stuff or the more recent rebranded stock; the expiry date makes me think it might be the original.
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Thanks, Coldkennels, to the best of my recollection, I bought a few bricks of it in 2015 when I was working in Bucharest. Since then, the film traveled with me to Vietnam where it languished in a freezer. I'm thawing the rolls as we speak. Cheers, OtL
 
Original APX400 was a good film, if always a trifle low on contrast and acutance. When i used it, i always juiced it up a little with a bit more agitation than my normal.

I have no experience with the post-Agfa film.

G
 
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