Fun with Double-X in medium format and 35mm

 It's been a while since I shot Double-X, the much lauded B&W cinema film from Kodak. I needed to film test my latest acquisition, a Minolta X-300 that came with the X-700 I spoke of last week and I had a look in my stash. I found a 35mm roll of Double-X I bought from Nik & Trick and a 120 roll of Cinestill Double-X bought from Analogue Wonderland and had an idea.

I have been struggling with some niggly issues with my RB67 film back I bought for my Goodman Zone recently and I wanted to have a roll go right for a change. I also figured a wander with Double-X in two formats at the same time would be a fun challenge. I loaded the 35mm Double-X into my X-300 fitted with my Hoya 35-105mm zoom lens, I loaded the medium format roll of Cinestill Double-X into the 3D printed 6x6 film back for my Goodman Zone Z1 and set off for a wander around the local countryside.

I also decided I wanted to explore the evening light and visited some familiar locations and compositions where I knew the light would be producing some long shadows. There are a couple of interesting trees on the remnants of the old mine workings in the area and I explored them with both cameras. I used the X-300 as a means to find a composition I liked and then took a shot with my Goodman Zone. It's a strategy that has served me well when I am out and about with my digital and film cameras, but I don't often employ it when purely using film.

The only problem was the evening light goes very quickly at this time of year here in Wigan and I had to spread my photography over a few days. Day one was fun exploring the trees and a burnt out car. It's sad to see a vehicle someone had probably gone into debt to buy ending it's days like this, burnt out and abandoned on wasteland, but it gave me a few ideas that I explored with my cameras and was an enjoyable evening. I didn't manage to get to my other locations before the light went and headed home.

Day two was a bit of a bust as I lost the light almost as soon as I arrived at my preferred location. It wasn't really worth setting up my Goodman Zone so I grabbed a couple of shots with my X-300 and headed home again. on Day 3 a couple of days later I got the light I was looking for and was able to get a few shots in the locations I wanted to shoot on Day two.

I think having to spread my photography over three evenings did me good to be honest and I really enjoyed it. Limiting the number of photos I took rather than feeling a need to shoot a whole roll on one walk is unusual for me. I am a self confessed happy snapper so holding back and being prepared to save it for another day took some doing. On this third session I finished my rolls of film and headed home to develop them.

I developed both rolls in Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and I hung them to dry in my bathroom. I was pleased to see the 35mm roll of Double-X shot at 250 iso in the X-300 was nicely exposed and I could see the difference between the ones I shot manually and the ones shot with aperture priority. My "sunny 16" efforts were not too wide of the mark compared to the metering on the X-300 which is excellent.

I'm getting better at reading the light with every roll I shoot and it's fun to guess the settings before checking the meter on my camera. The metering on the X-300 is visible in the viewfinder and my guesses were around half a stop either side of the camera's meter, which was bang on the money according to the light meter app on my phone and my Vivitar 45.

My medium format efforts were pretty good too, apart from two that I missed as I had forgotten to take the dark slide out. I swear that thing is mocking me! I metered the medium format roll of Double-X at 250 iso with my trusty Vivitar 45 light meter which was giving me around 1/15th - 1/30th of a second at f/32 - f/45. I really enjoyed shooting this roll of Cinestill Double-X in my Goodman Zone Z1, I needed to have a a bit of luck go my way and I got some with this roll. The Photography Gods smiled on me.

I left the films hanging to dry overnight and scanned both films into my computer the next day. For quick and easy digitizing I used my Ion Slides2PC scanner for the 35mm and my phone camera, PixlLatr and led light pad for the medium format film. I processed the images with Affinity Photo and I am very happy with what I was able to achieve.

My first impression of the Minolta X-300 is it is a very robust camera, well built yet lightweight enough to carry around all day with a nifty fifty on it. I will recommend this camera as a good choice for someone wanting to get into film photography for the first time. The aperture priority mode is accurate and reliable thanks to its electronically controlled shutter. This will give a beginner nicely exposed photos time after time and quickly build their confidence to switch to manual and get creative. When the camera is switched off you wont accidentally take a shot when taking the camera out of your bag either. Also the LR44 betteries it needs to operate are widely available.

The only bad thing to report about my Minolta X-300 is the frame counter doesn't work. It's no big deal as the important stuff, shutter speeds, aperture priority and metering work just fine. I am a convert to the joys of Minolta manual focus cameras, I hadn't used a Minolta at all until this year. I found the X-300 to be very easy to use and it didn't take long to be able to use it instinctively. I will definitely be taking this camera out again in the not too distant future.

Please consider buying me a coffee using the Ko-Fi buttons on the page as it helps me to continue my photography journey. Thank you to Jim Hanes who bought me a coffee last week, your donation is greatly appreciated my friend. Here's a few photos from my Double-X films and I have put them and more in an album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Double-X - Minolta X-300 - Goodman Zone Z1