This is the companion article to yesterday's post Diffusion. No diffusion was harmed or used in the making of this article.
I know I go on and on about trying to find the perfect 100 speed black and white film, the film that's just right for me, nonetheless, it remains an ongoing search. As much I've liked Acros II in the past, I've never really thought much about it. I did have a difficult time finding it for quite a while, maybe that's what drove it out of my thoughts?
Really though, I'm starting to think it ticks all the boxes. It has great contrast, beautiful tonality, great expsosure lattitude and high acutance. Oh, it also lies really flat in the scanner trays. Adorama currently has 5 packs for fifty bucks. That's almost dirt cheap for these times. What else can you get for fifty bucks? 10 gallons of gas, 5 hamburgers? You can't take photos with a hamburger (I think).
Before I decide that it's my go to ISO 100 film there are couple other films I'd like to test; Tri-X pulled to 100 sounds interesting, I'd also like to try Tura P150, although I don't know if it's currently available? Once again there's a great review of it on Jim Grey's Down the Road blog. Either way, Acros is definitely on my A list for black and white films and I plan to buy a 5 pack as soon as I have room for it, or fifty bucks, whichever comes first.
These exposures were taken on a bike ride back from a visit to my doctor, he's on the absolute southern outskirts of town so the road there goes through a lot of the usual urban sprawl but also through some areas that are for now hanging on as ranch land. There are a couple dodgy areas where cars are entering or leaving the freeway that parallels this road, but I survived once again (you have to celebrate the little victories, I'm beginning to learn).
