On our recent photo walk around Chester I had decided I wanted to use Double X, a 35mm black and white cinema film from Kodak. Double X has a legion of fans who appreciate it not just for it's excellent qualities as a cinema film, it also produces fine photographs too. I loaded a roll into my OM-10 fitted with a Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 prime lens before we set off and got straight to work when we arrived.
Alternating between my Balda Baldax and my OM-10 was easy as I had my OM-10 around my neck and could sit my Baldax on my bag when I changed cameras. It was deciding which compositions to shoot with each camera that got the old grey matter in my noggin going. I really enjoy using my OM-10, a gift from a very dear friend, and had chosen to shoot my Double X at 200 iso.
It was a bit overcast on the day and Double X likes a lot of light, 200 iso would give me a chance at getting some decent exposures hand held in a busy city centre. I hoped the contrast between the Victorian Tudor Revival buildings and the more modern edifices in the town centre would stand out on Double X. On a bright sunny day I tend to shoot Double X at 400 iso and a slower shutter speed at 200 iso was definitely the way to go given the conditions.
As we wandered along the streets, busy with shoppers and tourists, I was spending a lot of my time looking upwards or waiting for the next available gap in the crowd to quickly photograph a composition I had spotted. There was also a demo march in the town centre who were calling for a cease fire in the conflict going on between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. There wasn't a huge amount of people marching, but they certainly made their voices heard.
I was picking my shots with my OM-10 as the 50mm lens didn't give me much room in the tight confines of Chester city center. It was great for photographing the details on the upper floors of the buildings that lined both sides of every street. It also gave me some space to stand back a little and be able to pick a spot before going closer in with my OM-2 and it's Zuiko 28mm lens.
I enjoyed photographing the various Buskers around the city centre who were happily entertaining everyone as they went about their day. There was a young chap belting out some fine tunes on his Cornet whilst his Dad accompanied him on the Accordion. Keith and I grabbed a few shots and Keith, being a brass player himself, showed his appreciation and put a few coins in the young lads Cornet case. They were our favourite Buskers of the day.
My second roll of Double X was the last film I shot on our walk. Keith had surprised me with a roll of Agfaphoto APX400 and I shot that after I had finished my Vision 3 in my OM-2. I figured it was good to use both rolls of Double X in the same camera for consistency, but it wouldn't have mattered which camera I used. Maitani made sure that whatever OM camera you used, your photos would consistently be properly exposed thanks to the excellent metering utilised in the OM cameras.
We wandered back the way we had came and found a few more compositions as we had walked around the city centre. This is always the way when enjoying a photo walk, you will always find things you missed as you look from the opposite vantage point. We tend to see the world in front of us and rarely will anyone look up or behind themselves.
I rattled off the last couple of frames as we headed back to the car to make our way home and I was very happy with our photo walk, it was a very fruitful day. I shot 5 rolls of film, 4 35mm and 1 medium format so my next developing session was going to be a busy one. I needed a rest day before I even thought about developing any film, I was mentally and physically worn out, but happy that I had been so productive.
After my rest day I got to work developing my two rolls of Kodak Double X. I chose to again use Keith's current favourite dilution and developed both rolls in Kodak HC110 1+47 dilution E for 8 minutes at 20 Celsius. It didn't take long to complete the remaining stages of the process before I was able to take my first look at my shots. I was pleased with how the negatives looked and I hung both rolls to dry in my bathroom.
After a few hours my film was dry and scanning was done with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 led light pad. The RAW files were processed on my PC with Affinity Photo 2.
Here's a few of my favourite photos from both rolls of Double X I shot on our photo walk around Chester, I think they have turned out great. Developing them in Kodak HC110 dilution E really brought the best from a cloudy day with precious little sunlight to keep us warm. The longer developing time brought out the wide tonal range that Double X is noted for with rich blacks, bright whites and all shades between them. As always I have placed them and more in an album on my Flickr account you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Kodak Double X - Olympus OM10
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