Adox CHS 100 II, Below Ground
Founded in 1860, Adox stands as one of the oldest manufacturers of photographic materials still echoing through the present.
Yesterday, I took this classic film out with a classic camera, for a classic photo project, one that felt almost inevitable.
I wanted to see how Adox CHS 100 II would respond to the gritty, low light subway scenes beneath Oslo. With the ghost of Alexey Titarenko in mind, I wandered below the surface together with my partner in crime, Thomas Sandfield.
Motion, shadows, time stretching those were the elements I was chasing.
Back in 1952, Adox released three flexible black and white film stocks: KB 14, KB 17, and KB 21, rated at ASA 25, 50, and 100. Marketed as German wonder films, they quickly gained a reputation for their high silver content, incredibly fine grain, beautiful sharpness, and long tonal range.
Production continued until 1962, when Adox’s entire film operation was sold off. The films lived on under different manufacturers, but the original spirit slowly faded.
In 2003, the Berlin based company Foto Impex acquired the rights to the Adox name and began investigating whether KB 21 could be reborn as a modern film stock.
That work eventually led to a long term agreement with Switzerland’s Ilford Imaging in 2015.
The goal was clear: recreate the soul of the original, using modern production methods.
The result was Adox CHS 100 II, high silver content, fine grain, exceptional sharpness, and a long tonal range, just as before.
In 2018, it officially hit the market. It was first released in sheet and roll film formats, with 35mm added later.
Due to various production challenges, 120 disappeared for a while, but thankfully it has recently found its way back.
I developed the rolls in Adox D-76 Classic using the AGO film processor. Since the AGO uses rotary processing, I reduced the development time by 15%.
I didn’t have stop bath or rinse chemicals on hand, so water had to do the job, and I fixed the film using color fixer.
The negatives were scanned using a DSLR setup and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
The results honestly exceeded my expectations.
There’s a clear Titarenko like atmosphere in the images, motion and mood merging into something soft yet heavy.
The film rendered the underground scenes with a beautiful emotional weight, and I’m happy to say a few frames earned their place in my ongoing Oslo Underground project.
A quiet thank you to the photography gods for the Hasselblad 501CM. Stavanger Foto generously sent this camera for us to test alongside a selection of film, and it’s hard not to fall a little in love.
The 501CM feels timeless in the hands, and looking down into that viewfinder is like stepping into a small world of its own, clear, calm, and almost magical.
Stavanger Foto’s passion for film photography shines through, and we’re grateful for the chance to experience it this way.
There’s also something deeply satisfying about supporting a company like Adox by using both their film and their chemistry together.
It feels coherent, intentional, in the same way shooting film itself does.
You can find Adox film and chemicals at stavangerfoto.no.
*behind the scenes shots are made by the awesome Thomas Sandfield.
