Every now and then, I stumble upon something new. This time, it all started in New York City, after I decided to visit in late June. As always, a stop at B&H was a must—it’s tradition whenever I’m in NYC. I knew the Film Photography Project (FPP) sold film there, and I was determined not to leave empty-handed. I picked up several rolls, but one stood out as particularly intriguing: Super Positive ISO 0.8. Turns out this film is Svema Mikrat Orto Direct Positive Film—an iso 0.8 film that produces positive images when processed in a standard black and white developer?
That alone was enough to spark my curiosity. Looking online, I couldn’t find any examples of it developed in POTA, so I decided to give it a shot.
I wanted the perfect subject to test it on, so I chose a place I’d been meaning to explore for a while: the area around Pic du Midi d’Ossau. The trail is a 14 km loop with 700 meters of elevation gain—very manageable, even with all my gear. The Pic itself is a striking, pyramid-shaped peak in the French Pyrenees, rising to 2,884 meters. Located in the Ossau Valley near Laruns, it towers above several beautiful glacial lakes, including the Lacs d’Ayous. For anyone who loves mountains and film photography, it’s the perfect place to spend a day—or a roll of film.
And that’s exactly what I did. I just finished developing the roll I shot last weekend during the Tour des Lacs d’Ayous hike.
All of these shots were taken with a tripod—which meant carrying it for the entire hike. POTA works best when film is over exposed by 1 stop. To rate the film at ISO 0.375, I set the camera to ISO 6 and dialed in +4 stops of exposure compensation.
Still, the results made it all worth it: the resolution of this film is incredible. I’d say it looks as sharp—or even sharper—than Adox CMS 20 II. According to the datasheet from Svema, the Ukrainian company behind the film, Mikrat Ortho has a resolving power of not less than 1000 lines per millimeter. Ever since Agfa Copex Rapid and CMS 20 II were discontinued, I’ve been searching for a replacement. While this film isn’t as fast as those microfilms, it seems perfect for landscapes when developed properly.
Interestingly, it lacks an anti-halation layer, which initially concerned me. But that turned out to be a blessing—I haven’t noticed any of the annoying streaking that often plagues other microfilms with anti-halation backing.
Another unexpected advantage: this film isn’t sensitive to red light. In fact, I was able to develop it under a safelight and observe some curious behavior. While processing in POTA, I noticed that the darkest parts of the positive image were remarkably transparent. Worried the images would come out too thin, I experimented to try and darken the film base and boost overall density. I tried adding more phenidone—no effect. Then some Rodinal—still nothing. Finally, a bit of Dektol—again, no change. It became clear the development had simply run its course, and no amount of chemical tweaking would push it further.
Perhaps, since this is a reversal film, POTA reduces contrast by slowing down the development of density, which may affect the darkest areas of the positive.
Technical Pan Comparison
Below are two shots taken on Kodak Technical Pan film for comparison. While Technical Pan delivers good results, it just doesn’t match the sharpness of Mikrat Direct Positive—the level of detail simply isn’t the same. That said, these two images show the Refuge d’Ayous and the incredible view from it.
Back to Svema Mikrat Orto
Conclusion
To get the most out of Svema Mikrat Orto Direct Positive, it really just comes down to using a tripod, nailing exposure, and choosing the right developer. Expose it at ISO 0.375, develop it in POTA for around 14 minutes, and you’ll be rewarded with incredibly sharp, high-resolution positives—perfect for landscapes and fine detail work. I’ve been genuinely impressed by both the results and the character of this film, and I’m already looking forward to shooting more with it. It’s not the easiest film to work with, but when everything comes together, the results are absolutely worth it.
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