Adox HR-50 Test Film

Adox is one of the older companies (founded in Germany in 1860) for photochemical products. The Adox films are commercially available in different formulations as the black-and-white Adox CHS 100 II at 100 ISO that I like to use for time to time and special high-resolution films derived from technical extra-fine grain films as the HR-50 and Scala 50 at 50 ISO. The film is called « super panchromatic » with an extended spectral sensitivity in the red to the near-IR band. It is said that, recently, HR-50 film was released under the Leica brand (Leica Monopan 50). Processing of these 50 ISO film with extra-fine grain developper gives interesting rendering, with of very smooth and rich tone range and a very high resolution. Both Scala 50 and HR-50 are coated on clear thin (0.1 mm) polyester teraphtalate (PET) basis with black and blue dies layers that dissolve in water for anti-halo properties.

 

In order to test the HR-50 film, I prepared here 1L of Adox Atomal 49 stock solution, thought to be identical to the former Agfa Atomal 49 and one of the recommended developers for HR-50. This developper is prepared from 3 separate powders A, B, and C to be dissolved in a given order explained clearly by the guide for preparation by Adox. Atomal 49 is known as an extra-fine developper, controlling well the contrast of highly contrasted films. I still did not use it because of the limited conservation time of the prepared stock solution (6-8 weeks) while the concentrate Adonal developper (identical to the original Agfa Rodinal in formulation of 1891) can be conserved indefinitely.

 

For testing the HR-50 film I picked up my Leica M3 (year 1956, see the details below about the camera) and its original standard collapsible lens Leitz Wetzlar Summicron lens 1:2 f=5cm with a 39mm Leitz Leica screw-on yellow filter, a 42mm push-on Leica lens cap and an original Leitz shade hood (Ref. Leitz IROOA). The film was exposed over two days on July 26 and 27, 2025 during two photo walk in my district, Lyon, France. Light metering was done using a Minolta Autometer III (1985) equipped either with a 10° finder for selective metering privileging the shadow area’s, or an integrating opal dome for incident-light metering. The filter light absorption was compensated by metering for 32 ISO instead of 50.

 

 

View Nr. 26: 1/100s f/8 focusing at 30m. Leitz Leica E39 "dunkelgelb" (dark yellow type 1, Ref. Leitz HOOBE or 13086 H)

 

July 27, 2025

Montée du Lieutenant Allouche***

69004 Lyon

France

 

_______

 

*** ALLOUCHE Fernand, Élie [Pseudonyms in the Resistance: Lieutenant Terrot, Fournet, Marius Cousty], born November 9, 1924, in Constantine (Algeria), summarily executed on August 19, 1944, in Grenoble (Isère); student at the La Martinière school in Lyon (Rhône, now the Lyon metropolitan area), surveyor student; member of the Resistance, certified as a member of the French Combatant Forces, Action R1 network, and a member of the Secret Army, certified as a lieutenant of the French Forces of the Interior and interned as a member of the Resistance (D.I.R.)

During 1942, although it is not known exactly how or when, he managed to reach London and was assigned to the Manchester Parachute School, from which he graduated as a lieutenant. A P2 agent of the Action R1 network, reporting to the BCRA from April 1, 1943, he was parachuted into France in May 1943.

He returned to Lyon and led sabotage and material recovery operations.

Arrested on November 5, 1943, and imprisoned in Saint-Paul Prison in Lyon, he escaped on May 5, 1944, from the Antiquaille Hospital in Lyon, where he had been hospitalized for treatment.

He then joined the Vercors Maquis, Sector 8 of the AS-Isère, and joined the General Staff, for which he carried out numerous reconnaissance and mine-laying missions.

When the 6th Alpine Chasseurs Battalion was reconstituted, he took command of the 3rd Platoon of the 2nd Company (Chabal Company). With his platoon, and despite being wounded, he managed to escape the Vercors encirclement and reach the Isère Valley after completing his last barrage mission at "Les Baraques-en-Vercors."

He was arrested again in Valence on July 25, 1944, and released on August 5, 1944.

Having returned to the Lyon region, he was arrested again on August 8, 1944, in Rillieux (Ain), now Rillieux-La-Pape (Lyon Metropolitan Area).

On August 13, 1944, he escaped again from the Grange-Blanche hospital, where he was being treated for his wound.

He reached Grenoble but was arrested at his base, Porte de France, on August 19, 1944, by French Waffen-SS soldiers. There are different accounts of his death: some say he escaped from the Gestapo compound in Grenoble, was caught, and shot dead by a burst of machine gun fire on Rue Nicolas Chorier.

According to others, he died under torture or was tortured and then shot in the back of the head.

He received the mention "Mort pour la France" (Died for France) and was registered as a member of the French Combatant Forces and French Forces of the Interior with the rank of lieutenant, and was interned as a member of the Resistance. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with palms and the Resistance Medal, and posthumously elevated to the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

The street where he lived in Lyon (Montée du Mont Sauvage) is now named Montée Lieutenant Allouche.

 

 

_________

 

 

After completion to view Nr. 37, the film was processing in the Atomal 49 stock solution as recommended by Adox for 8min30 at 20°C.

 

Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.

 

The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version of Adobe Lightroom 14 (14.4, June 2025) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as print files with frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.

 

 

About the camera and the lens :

 

This Leica M3 circa 1956 (Ref. Leitz ISUMO), double stroke, was sold to me with a Leitz Wetzlar Summicron collapsible normal lens 1:2 f=5cm of the same period equipped with a 39mm screw-on protective filter, a 42mm push-on Leica lens cap and an original Leitz shade hood (Ref. Leitz IROOA).

 

The camera was serviced in Paris, France, in 2018 by Gérard Métrot at Photo-Suffren, (a Leica boutique) who worked on the maintenance of camera's of famous French photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. The camera was inspected by Odéon-Photo, Paris, another historic Leica place in Paris, in April 2024.

 

I sourced at the same time in Germany a stunning Leitz Leica leather bag (Ref; Leitz IDCOO) of the same model that appeared on the back cover page go the Leica brochure year 1954. This bag can accommodate the camera and a mounted Leica-Meter type M. The interior in covered with a carmin velvet in perfect condition.

 

The Leica M3 is one of the most iconic range-finder 35mm camera of the 50's and the 60's. It was produced in Wetzlar, Germany, in different versions at 226178 exemplars, between 1954 (n° 700000) and 1966 (n° 1164865, www.summilux.net/materiel/Leica-M3) . The Leica M3 was the result of the study of a "super-Leica" that was started before WWII and only achieved in the 50'S.

 

The greater improvement of the M3 compared the classical Leica's was in a magnificent and very complex range-finder combined to the view finder permitting the framing with the two eyes open, integrating the frame in the real and normal vision. The shutter integrates too the normal and the slow speeds in the same barillet. The film advance of this version of Leica M3 is also the typical "double-stroke" advance that was exclusive to the Leica M3 first versions.

 

The camera was transported to me from Paris to Lyon, France on April 26, 2024 and the bag arrived the day after.

Done