One Roll Review - Adox HR-50

I purchased a bunch of  "new to me" film stocks last year, and I am slowly shooting these low-iso films.  I aim to update the first Monochrome Mania with an additional review of films that are currently available, after I have tested them all. These one-roll reviews are sort of a preliminary report of what I hope to be more thorough testing.

Adox HR-50 is certainly a film that should be of interest to black and white enthusiasts.  According to the Adox literature, the film is "based on an emulsion commonly available for technical purposes, featuring an ultrafine grain and superpanchromatical sensitization."  I like that term "superpanchromatical"  I am going to have to use it sometimes and say, "Wow! Superpanchromatical, Dude!"

HR-50 Spectral Response

In addition,  Adox  states "ADOX HR-50 is especially suitable for street and landscape photography. In Portrait photography we recomend our dedicated HR-50 developer.ADOX modifies this film from the master roll and finishes it to 35mm, 120 and sheets (4×5). The film´s speed is enhanced to 50 ASA using ADOX´s new SPEED BOOST- technology. The gamma is reduced so it becomes perfectly usable for pictorial photography in regular developers. ADOX HR-50 can be used as an Infrared film and responds extremely well to any sort of filtration (yellow, orange, red, blue, green)."

Fact sheet - https://www.fotoimpex.com/shop/images/products/media/63360_5_PDF-Datasheet.pdf

Film facts:

• Emulsion: Superpanchromatical
• Resolution: Up to 280 lp/mm at an image contrast of 1000:1
• ISO: 50/17°
• Base: 0.1mm PET
• Anti Halation: Combined AHU with NC/AH on backside* ( AHU=Anti-Halation Underlayer, NC=No Curling, AH=Anti-Halation)

I purchased two rolls of the HR-50 and a bottle of its special developer from B&H. Usually, I try to stick to developers that I commonly use, but in this instance, it seems that the HR Developer gives the best results. In developing a roll of the HR-50 in a single reel tank, I needed only 6 ml of developer and 294 of water.  

I shot the first roll in November of 2020 and Feb. 2021 in my Pentax Spotmatic F. No filters were used. I plan on using roll 2 during the summer with a 25A red filter to see what I get with green vegetation on a sunny day.

This film reminds me a great deal of Kodak's Technical Pan Film. The clear PET base makes scanning really easy, and the spectral response is similar to TechPan, which is sensitive into the near-IR end of the spectrum. The HR developer reminds me a bit of the Kodak Technidol liquid, but I have no idea what the HR-formula contains. I sense that the HR-50 film would be a high-contrast film if developed with anything other than the HR Developer, much like Tech Pan.  

This film is really sharp and virtually grainless, and I found that in shaded conditions, there is a really smooth tonality.  In stark sunlit conditions, the highlights appear somewhat overexposed, and shadows dark. That could be due to my processing or my metering, but I do like the look of this film. Midtones, do look pretty good, though.  

I think that if you are looking for a pictorial replacement for Tech Pan, the Adox HR-50 should be a great candidate.  The preliminary results from it certainly encourage me to do more testing. It's a faster film than Tech Pan, for sure.  I may also try developing some in POTA, just to see how it compares, and likewise, I will try developing some Tech Pan (I still have a lot of it) in the HR Developer and see what I get from that.

As of this writing (3-5-2021),  it appears that HR-50 is no longer offered through US retailers, though I see it for sale in the EU. Drat!  Now I wish that I had bought more of this nice film.

Some Examples:

From the Blue Ridge Parkway, November 2020

dying elephant-ear leaves

These are all from a visit to Dillsboro, NC in late February, 2021.

Dillsboro, NC RR crossing. 

Restful place on the other side of the tracks

We sell masks

All others pay cash

mirror view

Rails, roads, and mountains