Shooting ADOX CMS 20 II Pro · Film Review

The Shooting Stage

Given that the film is rated at ISO 20 and that I shot it at box speed, a tripod was essential for around 90 percent of the roll. In direct sunlight it can be shot handheld, which makes it surprisingly practical in Malta, where sunshine is rarely in short supply.

Interestingly, the film can also be exposed at ISO 16. According to Adox’s technical data, ISO 16 is intended for standard contrast situations, while ISO 20 is recommended for reduced contrast scenes. Despite shooting in relatively contrast heavy conditions, I chose to rate it at box speed and was very pleased with the added punch in the negatives.

In certain situations, I overexposed by half to one stop to preserve as much shadow detail as possible. With a film this slow and contrast sensitive, protecting the shadows felt like the safer creative choice.

One important lesson learnt the hard way: Adox specifically instructs loading the film in the shade. I loaded it in direct sunlight. As soon as I developed it, the first few frames were completely fogged. Thankfully, I was shooting with the Canon EOS 500, which advances the film fully to the end before the first exposure and then winds it back into the canister as you shoot. This meant only my final, less important frames were lost.

The Developing Stage

For development, I used the recommended Adotech IV developer. The film was processed at a 1+14 dilution at 23°C for 11 minutes.

The process itself was straightforward. However, the moment I pulled the film out of the tank I noticed something unusual. The emulsion appeared incredibly transparent. This is a characteristic of its super resolution design. There is no traditional grain structure in the way we are used to seeing with conventional black and white films.

That transparency also explains why careful handling is crucial. This is not a forgiving emulsion.

The Printing Stage

Due to a tight project deadline, I skipped scanning initially and went straight into the darkroom.

The first challenge was focusing. Normally, a grain focuser allows you to critically focus on the grain structure of the negative. With CMS 20 II Pro, there is virtually no visible grain. The focuser had nothing to lock onto. Instead, I had to rely on crisp edges within the image to judge sharpness on the easel.

Another noticeable difference was exposure time. Because the emulsion is so clear, it allows more light to pass through the negative. This resulted in extremely short exposure times. Unfortunately, my enlarger lens was stuck at f4, meaning some prints required exposure times as short as three seconds. That leaves very little room for fine adjustment and made consistency a real challenge.