Shooting Eastman (Double-X) 5222 in the Leica

Tom,

I really enjoy your posts - most informative. Have you shot Bergger 400+?

Because my next question is - do you find Double XX and Berggerr+ to be the same film stock.

And what developers did they wrk well with.

Thank you,

John
 
Some years ago I got some Berger (I think it was only rated 200iso though), Not very good at all! I have shot a fair bit of the Orwo 74 and that is an excellent film - true 400 speed.
As for developers, both Orwo 74 and XX seems to work best with MQ developers (D76/ID 11 etc) - but also with some more esoteric stuff like Pyrocat HD. If you have a chance to mix your own, also try the Adox and of course the D96 which is Kodak's "official" movie stock developer. I find that I am not that pleased with Rodinal and other "surface" type developers and the XX - a bit too accentuated grain and strange contrast.
 
I'm pretty willy nilly on the temp. I say 17*c but really, its anything between 15*c and 20. I try to keep it around the middle. I do maybe 3 inversions off the top all very slow.
 
I'm pretty willy nilly on the temp. I say 17*c but really, its anything between 15*c and 20. I try to keep it around the middle. I do maybe 3 inversions off the top all very slow.
Thanks for the additional details. I like Rodinal semi-stand but the first time I did it at 20C for an hour with 100+1 there was more grain in highly exposed areas than I wanted with Double X; your shots seem much better, especially for a push to 1600. Very interesting.
 
Rating at 400, stand developing in Rodinal I'm getting still quite grainy results compared to those of you using D76 and Xtol

God damn that looks good! I think 5222 is pretty to hard to come by in Europe, so I might have to settle for something similar instead (maybe Fomapan 200 or Kentmere 200?)
 
God damn that looks good! I think 5222 is pretty to hard to come by in Europe, so I might have to settle for something similar instead (maybe Fomapan 200 or Kentmere 200?)
You can try for the ORWO 74 - gives you a true 400 and behaves in many ways the same as the XX, maybe even a bit better. If it wasn't for the fact that I currently have 14 cans of 400 ft XX, I would probably switch to the ORWO. It should be available in Europe under ORWO distribution.
 
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I have gone back to XX after about a month hiatus. The Nikon Rangefinder Month was all Legacy Pro and Fomopan 400. I am also running through my mixed up Pyrocat HD - done about 70+ roll so far. Good developer and as I only need 15ml of A and B for 5 rolls - 600 ml gets you a long way!
This is the Emily Carr University of Art - first year student show. My favourite was this one - the Egg Carton Croc. Either the artist made a lot of omelet's or subsisted on scrambled eggs for the first year!
Leica M2, Nokton 40mm f1.4 MC and XX in Pyrocat HD.
 
Here is an image on Eastman XX taken on May 8th, 1945 - V-E Day! As you can possibly tell from the newspaper. It was taken by my girlfriend's grandfather; I've been scanning some of the previously unseen film they have inherited. He was a film producer by profession. I don't know how much the formulation may have changed since then, or if it counts as the same film as the one currently produced... but it does say XX on the negatives at least.

EDIT: Just found out this must be super XX nitrate film as it's so early, rather than double-X. Sorry! Glad it didn't burst into flames in my scanner.
 
You can order the OrWo films in Europe directly at OrWo Filmotec in Germany with a minimum order of EUR. 100,- which means at least two cans 30,5m/100ft.
 
You can try for the ORWO 74 - gives you a true 400 and behaves in many ways the same as the XX, maybe even a bit better. If it wasn't for the fact that I currently have 14 cans of 400 ft XX, I would probably switch to the ORWO. It should be available in Europe under ORWO distribution.

Thanks for the advice Tom! Part of the appeal is that Double-X is so cheap (or at least used to be?)


You can order the OrWo films in Europe directly at OrWo Filmotec in Germany with a minimum order of EUR. 100,- which means at least two cans 30,5m/100ft.

That's good to know Robert, thanks! I just talked to the distributor for Benelux (Morten Jacobsen) and he quoted me 48€ for a 30.5m roll of 74UN.

I've been interested in Orwo films before and I'm quite positive the prices of that film used to much lower.

It's not like I'm about to run out of film (I've probably got 200+ rolls of B/W left), it's just that I'm curious what's out there except for Tri-X, haha.
 
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