Slow-Motion
Adox ORT 25 film by ADOX FOTOIMPEX BERLIN
By David Roy
21 July 2008
Adox ORT 25 is a very interesting black and white film from Germany. I first learned about this film when I saw it at Freestyle Photo Supply. After I did a little research, I decided to give it a try. I bought a roll of the 35mm and a box of 4 x 5 sheet film. I exposed the film using the zone system just like I do with my all-time favorite film 125PX, but my processing would have to be an experiment. After shooting a few sheets of film, I sent them to the lab for processing. My regular lab didn't know how to process this special film. They had to run a test with one sheet and process the rest later. When I got my film back it was well processed, but it looked like no other negative I had ever seen. The film had a clear base and the emulsion shimmered like an opal, nearly grain-less and amazingly sharp. I was very happy with the results. Next, I shot the 35mm roll and processed it by hand. I used HC-110 Dil. B for 7 minutes at 68 degrees. I used HC-110 just because I had some left after doing a run of 320TXP. Adox makes a developer specifically for its films, and that's probably what I'll try next. I found the suggested time for HC-110 at www.silverprint.co.uk. This film is just weird. When I poured out my pre-soak it was a shocking green color, not the Kodak pink-purple I'm used to. I poured in the developer, started my agitation, and crossed my fingers. The film came out with the same very cool clear base, but very contrasty, and very hard to print. This could have been caused many things, and I'm looking forward to doing some tests to find out. Adox 25 would be a nice horse to tame. This film preforms very well in scanning, I think this might have something to do with the base, but I don't know for sure. I'm also very interested in sending it to Dr5 for slide processing, it's supposed to be amazing. The only problem I have with the Adox ORT 25 sheet film is that the manufacturer puts a piece of tissue paper in between every single sheet of film. I'm guessing it is supposed to protect the emulsion, but it was a little annoying in total darkness while loading my holders. I ended up ripping all of them out and now I give this film 2 thumbs up!
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