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I just received 20 rolls of Adox Silvermax!


thebarnman

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've had some of this since early January (from Ag in Birmingham for our UK users) :)

 

I don't use a great deal of film but have been increasing the amount recently, and developing my own. Here's an example, taken with an M6, Voightlander 1:1.4/40 and developed in R9.

 

Hope you like it.

 

 

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I've had some of this since early January (from Ag in Birmingham for our UK users) :)

 

I don't use a great deal of film but have been increasing the amount recently, and developing my own. Here's an example, taken with an M6, Voightlander 1:1.4/40 and developed in R9.

 

Hope you like it.

 

 

It's an interesting look. Especially on what it does to the sky.

 

From what I can tell, it's got a clean look and isn't contrasty at all.

 

I sent my 20 rolls out and hopefully will get them back within this next week. Since I probably won't be getting any of the scanned, I'll do my best to describe how they look.

 

 

By the way, what developer is R9? Rodinal?

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Chris, I had to wait about a month for my delivery when I ordered it in mid November! I'm unsure which coating my lens has, as it is not indicated anywhere on the lens or the packaging. All it states is that it is a Nokton Classic, not sure if that's any help.

 

Thebarnman, as I recall it was a dull, grey and overcast day hence the flat sky. As I said I've only just started developing (this was only my fourth attempt) so lots to learn yet. The developer is an own brand version of Rodinal R09 from a company called Firstcall Photographic, here in the UK. Used the settings from Massive Dev for Rodinal (1+25), seemed to work ok. Scanned using a Plustek OpticFilm 7300 using Vuescan.

 

Thanks for both your comments :)

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Chris, I had to wait about a month for my delivery when I ordered it in mid November! I'm unsure which coating my lens has, as it is not indicated anywhere on the lens or the packaging. All it states is that it is a Nokton Classic, not sure if that's any help.

 

The SC has S.C. in blue on the logo around the front element so yours is the MC, differences are subtle but perhaps more discernible in B/W. great lens both ways.

 

Found some here;

 

Adox Silvermax 35mm 135-36 - The Imaging Warehouse

 

No commercial connection, they show "in stock" @ £3.44

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Chris, I had to wait about a month for my delivery when I ordered it in mid November! I'm unsure which coating my lens has, as it is not indicated anywhere on the lens or the packaging. All it states is that it is a Nokton Classic, not sure if that's any help.

 

Thebarnman, as I recall it was a dull, grey and overcast day hence the flat sky. As I said I've only just started developing (this was only my fourth attempt) so lots to learn yet. The developer is an own brand version of Rodinal R09 from a company called Firstcall Photographic, here in the UK. Used the settings from Massive Dev for Rodinal (1+25), seemed to work ok. Scanned using a Plustek OpticFilm 7300 using Vuescan.

 

Thanks for both your comments :)

 

Bob,

 

I develop Tri-X (at EI 320) using Adonal at 1:50 and have much better results than I did at 1:25. Here in Denver, US, it's easy to blow the highlights with the harsh sun, but a 'dull and overcast day' is perfect for those mid-tones with which Rodinal is so beautiful.

 

Good luck with both that film and dev!

 

s-a

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  • 4 weeks later...

As promised, I've written up a review of what I've experienced with my processed rolls of Silvermax. Hopefully it will give you an idea of what I've seen so far.

 

Also as a very exciting update. I may be able to share a few of the images in the next few weeks. (More about that later if and when I'm able to since there is a story behind this possibility.)

 

 

As noted earlier, all of these rolls were reversed processed by Dr5. dr5 CHROME - Black and White slide - transparency process FOR ALL B&W FILMS - WORLDWIDE

 

Before I start, I'd like to note all my rolls were shot at 160 ISO as recommended by Dr5 via their processing.

 

I received the film the other day (Monday.) Since then, I've had the chance to go through six of the 18 rolls. My first impression is the film is VERY gray with lots of white highlights. No real contrast to speak of.

 

From my experience so far, Silvermax seems to like being shot in very harsh light. It took me going through about two rolls before I ran into some images that had some nice contrast, images with some real strong blacks. On the other hand, even though it seems to be hard to get some real blacks, I will say this film does an excellent job of retaining incredible detail in the shadows.

 

My images of Monument Valley or any other images of distant objects (mountains, rocks or what ever,) seem to all fall to gray. Surprisingly however, there are shots where the rocks and or mountains are grayish, and the close-up objects such as people especially if they're wearing dark colors have real contrast and really strong dark (almost black) shades of gray.

 

So far I've only ran into two images where detail is lost in the blacks. One was at the car wash where everything in the exposure looked great except for a man with dark skin. His skin was simply turned into a black void. The other image where the blacks were buried simply looked to be an underexposed frame.

 

One thing I've discovered about the blacks in Silvermax, is if the image is correctly exposed and there's some blacks within the image; the blacks are very strong and retain incredible amounts of detail, more detail than I'm used to seeing in black.

 

One thing I can tell you for sure, this film looks best when something is critically in focus. Things out of focus almost take on a fuzzy mess. (Almost.) For what ever reason, Silvermax seems to fuzz out the areas out of focus more than other films I've used.

 

Interesting to note however, a few of the shots I've captured when taken on the fly, when there's light flair and other things going on within the image, it makes the whole experience scream "FILM!" A classic look I rarely see with digital images. Not saying film is better, it's just a different look.

 

With Silvermax, it's hard to see what a good exposer is. Another words, I rarely see any sky, it all looks whitish since I think this film may not be good at capturing blue. So it's hard to judge with all the gray going on. Another words, it's hard to tell if an image is simply overexposed or correctly exposed because most objects look gray anyway; a characteristic that's strong with Silvermax.

 

On the other hand, I've never seen as much detail in clouds as I see with Silvermax. Simply put, the detail with clouds is amazing. A lot of the early morning Monument Valley images before the sun came up and just as it was about to rain and after the rain, I've never seen as much cloud patterns captured with any of my photography. Of course exposing for the sky with Silvermax can render the rest of the image to be somewhat darker, however that's not such a bad thing with the look Silvermax has. I recommend to bracket exposers on some of the more important shots and or shots that your able to bracket.

 

Of course (as I said above,) the stronger looking images (higher contrast or lots of cloud details) are helped along if the exposer is set for the highlights. Funny I mentioned the sky looks white in many of my shots. On that same note, there are some images within my Rainbow Bridge shots that have snow very high up on distant mountains. I took note that the snow was still brighter than the surrounding sky.

 

Under controlled lighting conditions or very carful outdoor shooting, Silvermax can look fantastic but again, the conditions have to be just right. At the same time, the more rolls I go through; the more images I find with good contrast and incredible detail.

 

Personally, I don't know why Silvermax seems to show off great detail; however it may have something to do with the fact Silvermax has a true clear film base like a classic color transparency film when compared to the base on other B&W negative films.

 

 

I'll let you know if and when I get the scans and hopefully I'll be able to share at least two or three images with you. Obviously, that will be worth more than all the words from above!

Edited by thebarnman
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I have only run one roll up to now, two more in cameras; the weather has become, what we say, somewhat inclement recently.

I was running a mixed batch so use Rodinal 1:100 semi-stand so was not representative of what I, or most probably you, would run this film in. Nevertheless I found it holding a good tonal range and as reported above, for which many thanks, but did find the contrast to be, shall we say, sufficient ?

Conditions were overcast mainly but I ran at 100ASA; bear in mind this was sunny sixteen shoot so exposure accuracy is not a by-word.

I thought this 50s/60s look suited the film rather well:

 

I will most certainly investigate this "bokeh" effect mentioned on the next rolls going through and run a more conventional developer for this film speed. I am thinking D23 or Beutler with FX 39 waiting in the wings; to paraphrase " so many developers, so little time.

 

The second shot does, I think, demonstrate the gray tones but gives a punch where there is contrast to be shown. If you search my Flickr with the tag Silvermax there are more examples.

 

All the roll on a Leica IIIc/f conversion with 35mm f2 Canon lens. More on Flickr tagged "Silvermax"

 

 

8719990354_8cc8d7b37d_c.jpg

 

8718867539_4ec20f1d3c_c.jpg

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I have only run one roll up to now, two more in cameras; the weather has become, what we say, somewhat inclement recently.

I was running a mixed batch so use Rodinal 1:100 semi-stand so was not representative of what I, or most probably you, would run this film in. Nevertheless I found it holding a good tonal range and as reported above, for which many thanks, but did find the contrast to be, shall we say, sufficient ?

Conditions were overcast mainly but I ran at 100ASA; bear in mind this was sunny sixteen shoot so exposure accuracy is not a by-word.

I thought this 50s/60s look suited the film rather well:

 

I will most certainly investigate this "bokeh" effect mentioned on the next rolls going through and run a more conventional developer for this film speed. I am thinking D23 or Beutler with FX 39 waiting in the wings; to paraphrase " so many developers, so little time.

 

The second shot does, I think, demonstrate the gray tones but gives a punch where there is contrast to be shown. If you search my Flickr with the tag Silvermax there are more examples.

 

All the roll on a Leica IIIc/f conversion with 35mm f2 Canon lens. More on Flickr tagged "Silvermax"

 

 

 

Thanks. By the way, the lens I used was the R 2.0 90mm APO ASPH.

 

About the contrast and focus. I've discovered Silvermax "likes" to be exposed with lots of light (maybe even harsh light) while the aperture is around F8 or so. Of course I'm going with the experience I've had with my 90mm. Nothing wrong with it being shot opened up, it's just as I mentioned above the weird fuzzy "bokeh" effect. It could be a combination effect between the 90mm being wide open and slow shutter speed and the way Silvermax is made.

 

From my experience, it's important to get lots of depth of field with as fast of a shutter speed as and use of a tripod if necessary.

 

By the way, about the contrast; I've ran into more of my Silvermax images with pleasing contrast. Sky still looks light, distant objects and many things look very gray however for what ever reason, people (close up or distant) have a decent amount of contrast. Harsh side or front lighting seems to work well with people.

 

Per your most recent examples, I can clearly see the high content of "gray" dominate the image (as I was talking about.) It's funny as it reminds me of many very early M Monochrome samples posted on the internet. I think it will take a little working (knowing how to shoot Silvermax) to get decent contrast. And of course maybe the use of a filter. (Yellow comes to mind, though I'm not a expert with filters.)

 

It would be interesting to see what a Red or Yellow filter could do with Silvermax. Otherwise, simply use under very bright conditions with lots of DOF, fast shutter speed with the least amount of shake as possible! By the way, I think that will help with the contrast too.

Edited by thebarnman
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Agree I must run some "colour" tests, it does seem to show a strange response. I have seen somewhere a spectrum graph, I think when someone was trying to prove it was actually APX. But it is sensitive to hue. Look at the record shop sign in my frame. It is made of two sheets with a sun faded colour difference which is clearly shown, unfortunately I can't remember the colour and it is a way from base camp.

Today the sky is a uniform Zone VII, so cloud shots are out. I will try some filtration but that first roll had none; because I have no colour 40mm filters.

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