My title ends with a question, because it's not exactly clear what one's quest is when shooting an ultra-high-quality film like Adox CHS Art 25 (which is the same film as Efke 25) in the small 35mm format.

We are talking about ISO 25 (in an era of Digital SLRs that produce smooth, noise-free ISO 6,400 and up) - and this using nasty little pieces of coated plastic. Ones that have to be chemically messed-about with in dark spaces, and handled exceptionally carefully after development because they are so very fragile. Hours of effort, for a maximum of 36 images.

For me, it has been the quest to find a film that truly does justice to the Olympus OM Zuiko lenses, as well as one that offers an even more "different" rendering compared to standard panchromatic films - or digital, if you must. If one searches merely for greater resolution, new cameras with ridiculous specifications (Nikon D800, 36 megapixels) abound. But if one searches for the sublime interpretation of visions from the real world in the best that silver-gelatin film has to offer, using highly compact cameras, well that is a relevant quest indeed!

I make frequent use of much larger film formats - 6x7cm and 4x5in. Using "the same" films as used in the smaller formats, there is of course a natural superiority to these larger formats. However, there is no reason for assuming any kind of inherent superiority to the larger formats, if the film and lenses use are up to the task. This past week-end, I shot and developed my first roll of CHS 25, and it is the singularly most beautiful and capable film I have ever had the pleasure of using. Perhaps one of the most illustrative examples is the following work:

• Rays and Stamens

35mm film has an oft-quoted "aesthetic" that is simultaneously applauded and derided - but few realise that this aesthetic is wholly coupled to the film (and then, to a lesser extent, the lenses) that one uses. Grainy, spontaneous, "crunchy" 35mm images can depict wonderfully authentic, old-school atmosphere. But - to myself, at least - it is proven that with a masterful film like CHS 25 (and of course, Adox CMS 20, an even finer-grained, more extreme film that I am playing with as we speak), the realm of ultra-high resolution, smooth, finely-rendered images need not be confined to the larger film formats.

The down side is that the spontaneity of the 35mm format is all but lost. It is true, I have taken some hand-held pictures, but this only with my 50mm f/1.2 lens, which (at that aperture) produces an entirely different aesthetic again - soft and glowing. For example:

• Watering the garden
• Leaning tree

But with careful technique (always involving a strong tripod) this film rewards in the 35mm small format like very few. If I could be appreciative of ISO50 (Ilford Pan F), I think I am ready to move one stop slower to ISO25 - this remarkable film may have restored my faith in the 35mm format fully.