Shooting Eastman (Double-X) 5222 in the Leica

Shot a couple rolls yesterday on the walk from work to the train station. Not a long trip, but with the windchill it was just about the right length...

I guesstimated exposure around 640ASA, but it was dark, so most all the shots were 1/30 or 1/45 at f2 or faster.

Developed 5 min in fresh Acufine @ 18 deg C. At the end of each roll I ran some tests with a grey card in some pretty bad interior light and it looks like 400-500ASA is what I'll try the next rolls at. 640 wasn't too bad, any higher than that got blocky and contrasty. Rating around 250-320ASA looks like it would work too.


I had the M2+40/1.4 and the Zuiko 28/2 with me. I'll put some others up on flickr when I have a chance.

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Al Kaplan said:
Gosh darn! At this rate we just might start seeing Eastman 5222 in factory loaded 35mm cassettes!
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Or a Leica with a very large film and take up spool system! Can you imagine the Paterson reel required for 400 ft of film!
I just put up some more stuff done with the Adox. Seems to give me around 320 asa without any penalty in grain or loss of details.
I realized that I had not put down the times for the last batch of Adox. It was 10 min/3 inversions/60 sec. It is probably a good idea to do that as a routine for the other shooters.
 
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Tom A said:
Or a Leica with a very large film and take up spool system! Can you imagine the Paterson reel required for 400 ft of film!
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I can imagine it. I'd be 397 feet in, and the reel would jam.
 
I used to do aerial shots with Hasselblads and the 70mm backs. Kinderman made a reel that would hold 15-17 ft of film and a large tank for it. Loading SO 115 (the predecessor to Tech Pan) on that was an exercise in frustration! Saran Wrap thin filmbase and if you didnt watch it, you could easily load 30 feet in the cassette and then you were sitting there in the dark with an extra 10-15 ft of film on the floor as the Kinderman reel declared itself full!
It was also fun trying to dry the stuff - used to suspend it on steel clamps in the ceiling and there it was - like a huge, wet flytrap going across the darkroom!
 
For awhile Ilford was making 72 exposure loads of 35mm film on thin base. You could easily get reels for it to use in the larger tanks, but the few times that I tried it I just cut the film and sacrificed a frame so I could use standard reels.
 
I still have one of the old reels that took 72 exp thin Ilford film.

I used a few rolls but with my Pentax cameras at the time I really never knew what exposure I was on because of the counter going only a little past 36.

Leo-
 
Leo, with the Td 201 i found that after about 25-30 rolls through, you might have to add a minute to the B bath (A3/B4). i suspect that there is a build up in the B bath from the A bath and it makes it lsightly less effective. Not a huge problem, but slightly thinner negs.
I do the Td 201 as 2000ml each and as you loose about 8-10 ml per roll, after 45-50 rolls the volume in it is reduced to less than the required 1500ml for a 5 reel tank - i simply dump it and make up a new batch.
 
I think that depends on the volume. I found a bit slower development after 25-30 rolls but not enough to worry about. I suspect that one could get more out of the A bath as there is really no contanmination in it and just keep making up the B bath until the volume of the A bath gets too low. Biggest problem is actually dust,film chips etc in A. I do filter mine after 20-25 rolls and that clears it up a bit.
I suspect that it is not worth the trouble to keep it going and just replace it instead.
I did run a bunch of film through the Td201 last year and I liked the fact that you can stuff Tri X, Plus X and XX in the same tank and get decent negs out of either film. Seems to keep to "posted" speed too.
I have been slow shooting today, only 1roll but I will try to better myself tomorrow.
We should also try to establish a data bank for all of this information. developers.times, special procedures etc.
I am a neophyte when it comes to computers. I know how to turn it on/off and how to get scans from Lightroom to Flickr and post text on the forums. The fancy stuff I have no idea about!
 
I just checked on my Flickr site and there are about 250 shots done with the Td formula. Unfortunately, when I tagged them I had a slight case of "dyslexia" and tagged them as Td102 insted of Td 201 and there are just too many to sit and correct them. Most of these are either TriX, Neopan 400 and some Lucky 100/400 (not very good in that soup - too thin).
 
Just finished another Adox run, this time, today's M2 XX roll (going to have to work on increasing that :) ), as well as one 35mm Fuji Super Presto 1600 at EI640, and a roll of 120 Neopan 400, shot at EI250 recently at a trip to one of our local waterfalls, with evil Hasselblad 500CM and 50mm Distagon. Increased development time very slightly to 8 minutes at 20C.

Bracketed all shots on just about everything, erring towards slight overexposure, and it all looks -great-. Did coffee-filter the ADOX right before running it, and I think I'll keep doing that. Lots of crap gets caught during that process.

Anyway I really like the ADOX Borax MQ, and I think I'll keep using it, in the future as a general-purpose developer. Next I want to try the split/development TD-201, just ordered the added necessary added Sodium Sulphate from Photographer's Formulary.
 
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I found that the Td 201 worked very well with Neopan 400 Presto. Rated it at 400 or there abouts. I also tried it with 24 year old Pan F and it worked well. Weather was rotten yesterday so I spent several hours re-tagging the faulty Td 102 tag to proper Td 201 on about 100 shots from last year (I have to get out more often!). It is very consistent and gives a good shadow detail and the fact that it is a 2 part developer avoids over-cooking the high lights.
I was particulary impressed how it handled the series from the vintage car show. It was bright, sharp morning light with very deep shadows. Cars polished to within an inch of its life and bright sunlight usually spells "uber -contrasty" negs, but they both scan well and print well.
 
Acer1240UT test

Acer1240UT test

Hi All,

Just downloaded Vuescan, for now I am playing with my old Acer 1240UT flatbed. Here are four negatives from my very first XX roll with new M2:

-Dan, I have no idea what I am doing at this point, but it's still -fun-.
 
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Looks interesting with the 'contacts". I think your flat bed scans a bit lower contrast though. Hope to se you put some up on the XX site soon. I have to waste 1/2 roll tonight so I can run a batch later. Cat refuses to pose - stomps away, tail high and hides under a bed!
I am doing another Td201 run and then I have to switch cameras and film. we are heading to Japan in a week or so and I want to "shoot" myself in on what I am taking along. Bessa R4M/21mm 4,5 Biogon/M2 with the 35/1,4 SC and a MP with the 50f1.5 C-Sonnar and a 90mm in the pocket. Either the VC 90f3.5 or a collapsible 90/4. Lots of Tri X and possibly some XX, but I have to load it in "regular" cassettes as the IXMOO brass cassettes are too heavy and looks to much like 50 caliber cartridges for the Airport security!
Ideally I would take two M2's and the R4M and it might come down to that ultimately.
 
Tom-

I'm sure I'm not the only person who would really love to see what you can do with XX and the 50f1.5 C-Sonnar in Japan.

Have a great trip.
 
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