ADOX CMS 20 II PRO 35mm

Adox CMS 20 II has been marketed as an ultra-high resolution film, with a resolution of up to 800 lp/mm. This makes it the finest grain, highest resolution film on the market. This is not the kind of film you put in your camera for hand-held shooting or for walking around town. This film shines when used on a tripod with the best possible glass.

Adox instructions recommend shooting at ISO16 for normal contrast situations and ISO20 for reduced contrast scenes.

PERFORMANCE:

This film has one important feature… its high contrast, so don’t expect to use it in high contrast scenes. In the image of the dunes above, a 3-stop graduated ND filter was used to control the clouds, and some details were also returned in Lightroom. For every well-exposed photo, there were two that blocked the shadows or blown out the highlights. Careful exposure bracketing is highly recommended.

 

The resolution, as expected, is fantastic. The use of Schneider lenses on the Fotoman 69HPS and the use of a sturdy tripod produced detail well above typical scanning capabilities. Any image quality problems in the 100% enlarged samples are due to the scanning limitations of the photographer. The CMS 20 has a very thin emulsion, so the film is more sensitive to flatness during exposure and scanning.

 

 

ADOX CMS 20 II has uniformly sized cubic silver grains, which are coated in a single layer, with an ultra-fine grain.

ADOX recommends developing it with ADOX ADOTECH IV for optimum results and to obtain the perfect greyscale and tonality. It has a very strong contrast and will give you images with incredible detail. With ADOTECH IV, this film can be used in a range of light sensitivity from EI 3/6ºC to 25/15ºC.

In a normal standard developer, the light sensitivity increases to ISO 80/20°C and the contrast becomes ultra-hard. The chassis is not DX coded so you will have to manually set the ISO on your camera.

 

 

CONCLUSIONS:

This is a great film for creating dynamic contrast in black and white photos. But executing it well requires a lot of pre-planning and patience. We are pleased with the images produced, but it was a hit and miss process. Developing this film in the lab is particularly difficult despite the use of Adotech developer, we recommend that you send it to the lab. According to ADOX, no other film on the market is sharper or has finer grain. With it you can make enlargements up to 2.5m diagonal grain-free and very sharp (this is approximately equivalent to a resolution of 500 megapixels).

And what’s more… We can develop your negatives (And at a discount!*)

At Visualkorner we are specialists in analogue development for all types of formats. For every film you buy in our shop (physical and online) you will receive a 25% discount voucher so that you can bring the film to be developed and make copies or scan the negatives and receive your photographs by WeTransfer.

The discount voucher will be sent to you by email once you have made your purchase or will be given to you in the shop when you come to collect the film and you will be able to have your photographs as soon as possible.

Consult our prices in more detail in our catalogue

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In Visualkorner we offer our customers the widest range of products for analogue photography, we strive to always maintain a constant stock of film and a price as tight as possible taking into account the monopoly present in the film industry, this is part of our commitment to art.

We also offer a wide range of chemicals for black and white development and as always we offer you the highest quality in the development of your negatives and in the photofinishing. We are a Hahnemühle certified laboratory (Certification No.: 169197) which proves our excellence in printing your photographs.

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We also make shippings all around Europe, Contact us if you want to know more about our International shipping methods.

International shipping (All around Europe) +€5 more, free shipping from €250