Pushing Fuji Acros 100

[mischivo]

I made a pleasant personal discovery today. A few weeks ago, I had the misfortune of confusing Acros 100 for Neopan 400, and thus set my meter for ISO 320 (as that is what I expose Neopan at). I was petrified when I removed the film and saw the error I had made. Nevertheless, I gave in the film with instructions to have it pushed to 320. The guy at the lab didn't seem like he wanted to—he mentioned he'd have to research the processing times on the internet, and then he trailed off... I requested the film be pushed to 400. I had also given him a roll of Neopan 400 for regular processing.

I'm now done scanning these two rolls, and to my pleasant surprise, the results from Acros are much more appealing to my eye than any 400 ISO film processed without pushing. The tonality seems very natural to my eyes: the blacks are black and the lights are light (or white). The grain is also much less noticeable! Is this normal? I've never used Acros before, but if the grain is any finer when it isn't pushed, it might become my favourite monochrome film. It's definitely less grainy than Neopan when rated at the same speed.

[Keith]

I have pushed Acros myself and noticed that it does start to get a little contrasty ... which can be what you're after at times. Neopan 400 is the same I've discovered ... pushed to 1600 it still produces minimal grain but the blacks get stronger and it loses a lot of mid tones.

Probably my two favourite films!

[mischivo]

I've tried a roll of Neopan 1600 before. I liked it a lot, including the grain—that very pleasant grain... Alas, I don't take many photos at a singular event, and only use one camera. I imagine it would be unpleasant to shoot 1600 film in daylight. I suppose I'd have great depth of field.

[Tom A]

I have pushed Acros to 200 asa, but not to 320-400. I suspect that the contrast would be considerably higher though.
If you are using a commercial lab - it is dependant on the developer they use too.
I use a Beutler formula for my Acros and in that it doesnt push well. Great looking negs at 100 though.
I wish that Fuji would change the color on their filmcans according to speed though. I have shot the odd roll of Fuji at even odder speed - including a roll of Neopan F (32 asa) at 400. I did let is stew for 60 minutes in Rodinal 1:10 - printable (barely) and not pretty!

[mischivo]

Here is an example of Acros 100 exposed at 320 and developed at 400:



I'm really fond of the out-of-box contrast I got. I usually have to play around with settings and curves in Lightroom.

[Pappy]

Acros 100 in Diafine gives 200 iso.
The grain remains very sharp and the contrast is not at all high. It gives negs that are very easy to scan.

[rphenning]

acros at 400 in stock ID-11 looks great to me. I am going to try 800 next time.

[Todd.Hanz]

I did the same, shot it at 400 and guessed at dev times, still works...





Todd

[chut]

Hi Todd,

Those shots look great. May I ask what developer and dev time you used for them? Am trying to figure out what dev time to use for Acros shot at 400 using HC110 or DD-X.

[TWoK]

That looks great.

[em nine]

Across 100 is my film of choice for my toy cameras which have limited exposure control.

As stated above, Diafine gives it a speed of 200, it also has a lot of latitude.
This makes it good to use in pinholes too, the film shows no significant reciprocity
failure out to over 2 minute exposures.

[raytoei@gmail.com]

I am currently experimenting with film pushing and I recently pushed Acros 100 to 2 stops at 400.

Here are the development times:

HC-110 Dilution B (aprox 9.2ml in a 300ml tank)
10mins in 20C or 5 mins in 31C

Here is a picture:

Some observations:

* There is a shortage of sufficient tones while the highlights tend to blow
* The grain is finer than other 400 film.
* My above picture is one of the better ones, developed at room temperature water here in the tropcs, the not so examples generally show that it is a bit underdeveloped. So perhaps for my next roll, I will develop it for about 5.5 - 6mins @30C.

Please share your experience with pushing Acros 100. My reason for pushing is because I am low on 400 film and I have lots of 100s around.

raytoei

[znapper]

I used Dilution H for 20 minutes at 20 degrees, the scene was window light (not much shadow to speak of).

Agitation first minute, then one gentle inversion every _two_ minutes to spare the highlights a little seemed to do very well.

Negs were a little dense, but scans and prints well and with good contrast.