Quo vadis, Plus-X?

[alfredian]

What's up with Kodak Plus-X pricing? Since 1969, my first & favorite film. Prices have climbed the last 5 years, but now I see, uniformly, $70 for 100' bulk, up from the mid-$40s last time I shopped. Is anybody reading Kodak's mind on this?

 

[Vics]

How about FP4+ at $47.50?
Vic

 

[Tim Gray]

I've only used it the last 4 years, but Plus-X pricing has always been a bit goofy. The single rolls I think have gotten a bit cheaper, so I'm ok with that. Currently, at B&H, 24 exp rolls are more expensive than 36 exp ones. WHUT?

36 exp rolls are a full $1.25 cheaper than they were one year ago. 120 rolls are about $1 more expensive than they were a couple months ago. Who knows. I would guess though that if the the bulk roll price went up $25, then they aren't moving as much of those as they used to. I'm ok with $4.25/roll though.

 

[kxl]

Just shoot Arista Premium 100 -- same stuff @ $2.09/36 exp. roll

 

[rover]

Rebranded as Arista Premium, 100 ft roll for $30

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/192110-Arista-Premium-BandW-100-ISO-35mm-x-100-ft.-roll?cat_id=402

Seems like a real deal since it is the same stuff.

 

[Keith]

Or $2.09 per 36exp roll .... if it is the same stuff that's a bargain and barely worth bulk loading!

 

[Freakscene]

The Arista Premium 100 is definitely Plus-X. I did gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy tests on both emulsions and they are identical.

Marty

 

[alfredian]

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the info

Sounds like what I suspected is true - low volume = higher prices. I had just gotten over the shock of no-more-Microdol-X when I did the post. That was me in '69 - brand new SRT-101, Plus-X and Microdol-X @ 1+3. I tried to figure out which Freestyle package was Plus-X by comparing dev times & all. Shows what happens when I was away over t' APX100 & Efke25 for a spell. I will definitely check out the Arista Premium. Of the older types of emulsion, I go with PX. Maybe I'll give FP4 another try, but I do like Delta 100. The 100's are my "fast" film anyway. Thanks, all.

 

[Freakscene]

I had just gotten over the shock of no-more-Microdol-X when I did the post.

Ilford Perceptol is a decent substitute for Microdol-X. And if you can't get that you can always mix your own D23:

Distilled Water (125 degrees F) . . . . . . . 750 ml
Metol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7.5 g
Sodium Sulfite (Anhydrous) . . . . . . . . . . 100 g
Cold Water to make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ltr​

or Grant Haist's formula for a salt containing developer that he attributed
to Egar Hyman.

Metol 5.0 grams
Sodium Sulfite, anhydrous 100.0 grams
Sodium Chloride 30.0 grams
Water to make 1.0 liter

They all work well with Plus-X, just from my own experience.

Marty

 

[naruto]

Ilford Perceptol is a decent substitute for Microdol-X. And if you can't get that you can always mix your own D23:

Distilled Water (125 degrees F) . . . . . . . 750 ml
Metol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7.5 g
Sodium Sulfite (Anhydrous) . . . . . . . . . . 100 g
Cold Water to make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ltr​

or Grant Haist's formula for a salt containing developer that he attributed
to Egar Hyman.

Metol 5.0 grams
Sodium Sulfite, anhydrous 100.0 grams
Sodium Chloride 30.0 grams
Water to make 1.0 liter

They all work well with Plus-X, just from my own experience.

Marty

Thanks for that Marty. Another developer to try since I have all the ingredients.