Shooting Eastman (Double-X) 5222 in the Leica

Erik - do you have any samples of XX in PC-TEA. This is a developer I've been reading about, and am interested in cooking up- seems very simple, and has a long shelf life-

What are your thoughts?
 
I'll have to dig a bit to find those tests, but I found PC-TEA to give results very similar to Xtol with other films that I tested head to head, and I would expect Double-X to behave in a similar manner. PC-tea has the advantage of very long shelf life, as opposed to xtol, as Tom has stated. I found that the more I printed xtol negs and pc-tea negs, the less I liked what I was seeing. The grain is nice, and the shadow seperation is good, but the midtone and highlight contrast is flat. Since most pictures carry the important stuff in the middle and high end, this wasn't working for me. Increasing development time didn't help and increased the grain. On the other hand, many people like xtol and find that it works for the types of pictures they are making, so I don't want to discourage anyone from trying it and pc-tea out, never hurts to learn new things. PC-TEA is easy and cheap to make. I'll see if I can't find something to post.
 
Eric, your comments on the PC Tea/Xtol mirrors my experience with it. I just souped 5 rolls of XX in PCK. Higher basefog than I anticipated and just glancing at the wet film, looks rougher than the Adox/FX 37 developer. Final judgement will have to wait until tomorrow and scanning. I suspect that the ideal soup for XX is a MQ type developer, D76/D86 (will try that later) and D 96. Makes sense too as Kodak did this film according to what Hollywood needed and controllable contrast and mid tones were paramount there.
Highly dilute Rodinal (1:100) and additional Sodium Sulphite could also help. Might try that too. Have to shoot more film! I might load up every M2 I have and just go berserk with them!
This weekend seems to be rather wet and rainy so I might lock myself in the darkroom and load up another 400 feet in cassettes.
 
Tom how long does it take to do 400 feet? I get really bored just doing 18 rolls (100'). I have to do them in shifts usually at least a day apart.

I usually roll the cassettes in one period of time and then leave them and later cut all the leaders. I still use a bulk loader so in my darkroom I have to wind from a 400' roll 75-100 feet so it fits into my loader. I have old Tri-x 100' tins to keep the split up batches in before I tackle loading the rolls

Rolling film is fun for me for about 45 minutes and then I have to let it sit for a while. But if you don't have film ready to shoot, there won't be any film ready to use.

Leo
 
Dan-Its not that I don't like it, I guess I just have a short attention span.

I could give up bulk film but at the price of pre rolled film I would have to sell some of my equipment to pay for it.

Leo
 
My 100' roll of 5222 came in a standard size metal can, but it also came on a metal reel. It fits right in my watson/lloyd loaders, so I'm thinking that's one way to get a 400' roll broken up.

I've also been thinking of hacking together a 400' daylight loader using an old watson and some plywood from the shop downstairs. Probably not worth the effort, but without a darkroom I'm limited to my changing bags. One's pretty big, but not THAT big.
 
cosmonot said:
My 100' roll of 5222 came in a standard size metal can, but it also came on a metal reel. It fits right in my watson/lloyd loaders, so I'm thinking that's one way to get a 400' roll broken up.

I've also been thinking of hacking together a 400' daylight loader using an old watson and some plywood from the shop downstairs. Probably not worth the effort, but without a darkroom I'm limited to my changing bags. One's pretty big, but not THAT big.
Click to expand...

I've been decanting a 1000' roll of HP5+ into 100' rolls and then into cartridges with a changing bag.... It is during these times (and when I unravel the roll I am decanting to) that I think about the virtues of digital :)

This 5222 looks good, but it seems nigh-on impossible to get here in the UK. I rang around every film stock company I could find and no-one had short/medium/long ends and the prices they were charging for 'proper' rolls were more expensive than the Kodak guidelines... :(

You're lucky beggers over there.
 
Wow, Kully where did you get 1000' feet of Hp5+? That would be a really good find.

Leo
 
There was a company here selling off some old stock rolls (expiry date 2002) for £60/$120 each, stupid me only got the one roll.... They had 400' rolls for £40. The film is a little fogged but fine in D76. It doesn't like pushing at all though.

As someone in the thread already mentioned, it feels ... something ... to be salvaging cine film for the Leica, it's like it's all come full circle and my IIIa has been there from near the beggining and will probably be there at the dusk of 35mm film.
 
Looks like I have to get Eastman 5222 from US when kully have tried to get anything in UK. I don't expect low prices in Sweden either. Anyone know some US shops who accepts international shipping?
 
tomasis - Try FilmEmporium, I know they offer international shipping. The problem is how much it will cost...

As a guide the price of 400'/~72 rolls (~36) if I order direct from Kodak is £82 (with 10% student discount).
 
Leo, I can do 400 feet in IXMOO cassettes in about 2-2,5 hours. Sometimes it is quicker, but that seems to be the average. I turn the radio on to "Frank" - a station here in town that plays old 60's music (lots of Sinatra, hence my name of the station). I know that it is miserable to sit locked up in a dark room for a couple of hours, but the fact that I have a month supply is a good incentive!
I am surprised that Europe is difficult for XX! There is an active movie and music video industry there and that's seems to be the main market for this stock.
80 quid for 400 feet is not bad - still only 1,10/roll. I suspect that Kodak would ship bigger orders, but not individual cans. Maybe the European RFf'ers could do a big "bulk order" between them. The XX comes in a box with 20 cans (8000ft) as a shipping container.
Today I will try to scan some shots from last nights run. It was in PCK/7,5 min - looks a bit flat and has higher basefog than the Adox. The sun is out now so I rather go out and shoot some more though!
 
The sun is out in Van??? Ladies and Gentlemen, Tom A. will be away from the keyboard for the duration...
 
As this is February in Vancouver, the suns appearence was shortlived! Oh well, we saw it and it still there! Just downloaded about 25 shots done with the PCK developer and the XX (7.5 min). Some negs were a bit flatter than I liked and it is certainly no fine grain soup. Printing limit would probably be about 8x10, unless it is an "important" shot where content takes precedence and then it could go to 11x14. Grain is distinct, without Sodium Sulphite "mushiness" to it. I might do one more run at 6.5 min and see what happens. Part of this is also that at the moment I am shooting "meterless" just for the hell of it!
 
Speaking of crap in the ADOX Borax MQ developer, the stuff I mixed up, I am -slowly- decanting it into a Coke Classic 2-litre bottle (Thanks again Al) due to the fact that there is a chemical precipitate, which collects at the bottom of the bottle, and swirls up to turn the liquid a creamy crystalline brown. Filtering off the clear solution and dumping the very bottom leavings seems like my only option, anybody have a better way to handle this?

I've also got a gollon of Microdol-X, to mix up,and I need to get some Microdol-X Repenisher. I would think that the strong sulphite and soft development of the Microdol-X will complement the XX vintage emulsion, perhaps even requiring a bit more exposure. And also using lenses from the 50's, like the Canon F1.2 since these lenses came out to complement the high-speed EI250 film back in those days :)

Diafine (I also have a gallon of Acufine to mix up and try) seems to be the "speed king" with this film, maybe 800EI in a pinch. And of course Rodinal but that seems "gritty" tonality and contrastier, that can sometimes be desirable.
 
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Filtering out undisolved crap is easily done by running the solution through a coffee filter. They're reasonably cheap at your grocery store, but if there are a lot of fine paticles in the solution the filter soon clogs up. Always let the developer stand overnight before deciding that it needs filtering. Some chemicals just take a long time to go into solution and more stirring won't always speed it up.
 
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