Adox CHS 100 II

 In May 2023 when my friend Keith Sharples paid us a visit, we decided on doing a film swap. I gave him a few rolls from my stash that he hadn't used before and he gave me a couple of rolls from his stash. One of the rolls he gave me was ADOX CHS 100 II, a film I have only ever used once before during his previous visit in 2022. I enjoyed the experience, but never got around to shooting more of it. I decided to make amends for that on my way home from a recent visit to my daughter in Yorkshire.

Train journeys are often boring and I wanted to break up the monotony so I loaded my roll of ADOX CHS 100 II into my Olympus OM-2 and found some time between trains to take a few shots near Oxford Road Railway Station in Manchester. We enjoyed a prolonged period of sunny weather here during spring and early summer, a 100 iso film was the ideal choice for a sunny afternoon in Manchester. I had half an hour to wait for my train home and took a walk outside.

The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is a magnificent piece of architecture and I took a few shots of it from a few angles outside the station and at the crossroads where the Palace Theatre also got my attention, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was enjoying a run at the theatre. Musicals aren't my thing, but the Palace Theatre has been enjoying good attendances as the home of Musicals in the city. Having a hotel across the street and a railway station right next door helps with that, I'm sure.

After a quick stop at a shop to buy a drink and some treats for my dog, I made my way back to the station. I took a couple of photos of the sculpture that stands right outside Oxford Road Station before I had to head back onto the platform to catch my train. I didn't have long to wait and was soon on my way home to Wigan.

That was it for the time being as I wasn't feeling inspired to go out, travel tires me out and it takes me a few days to recover enough to go out again. Fortunately the weather was forecast to stay sunny for a few more days and I was able to get out for a walk around my local countryside during bright midsummer evening and I tried something different.

I have a Sun 80-200mm f/4.5 lens for my Olympus cameras that I haven't used for a while, it came with my OM-2 when I bought it a couple of years ago. I fitted it to my OM-2 and set about capturing long shots. I explored my favourite power line compositions and a tree I had shot in winter for the Lucid project. I was also able to capture long distance shots across the corn field and down the hill with tall buildings in the background brought closer with lens compression. It didn't take long to finish the roll and, having shot my film, I headed home.

A couple of days later I developed my roll of ADOX CHS II in HC110 dilution B (1+31) for 6 minutes at 21.5 celcius. It was the closest I could get my developer to the optimum temperature courtesy of the sunny weather. Thankfully HC110 is a forgiving developer and works just fine a couple of degrees either side of its optimum 20 celcius. I was soon done and the negs were hung to dry in my bathroom. Later that evening I scanned my film with my trusty Ion Slides2PC 35mm scanner and removed any dust spots and scratches with Affinity Photo 2.

I am very pleased with this roll of ADOX CHS 100 II film. I shot it on two separate days in conditions that were ideal for a 100 speed film and I'm impressed enough to want to use more of it. ADOX is owned by Fotoimpex, a German film and developing chemistry retailer based in Berlin and the brand it uses for all its own film and chemistry including the legendary Rodinal, which it now owns. Here are a few of my favourites from this film and as always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

ADOX CHS 100 II