Eastman Kodak Plus-X - A bucket list film experience

 Ask any photographer old enough to have enjoyed film photography in the 20th century for an example of a film they loved and miss since it was discontinued. There's a fair chance of them saying Plus-X with little or no hesitation. I never got to enjoy the charm of Plus-X when it was in production, I wasn't really taking my photography seriously. I was content to be a happy snapper and annoy my family with a cheap plastic film camera and the cheapest colour film available until I eventually bought a cheap compact digital camera.

Since taking this hobby of mine seriously I have learned a lot about various films that were popular during the heyday of film. I learned the joys of black and white film and one name kept coming up in conversations of films to try before I die. Kodak Plus-X, a black and white 125 iso film that was so popular it was in production for over 50 years. 

Two versions were available, Eastman Kodak 5231 Plus-X Cinema Film and Kodak 125PX for stills photography. The version I bought from Analogue Revival here in the UK is Eastman Kodak Plus-X 5231, the cinema film, and I got three rolls. 5231 Plus-X cinema film was sold in bulk rolls and some folk immediately put them in cold storage, which is, I believe, where this batch came from. I will leave a link below if you want to experience Plus-X yourself.

My first roll was dutifully loaded into my Olympus OM-2 with my favourite Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 lens and I used an orange Cokin A filter to tame the harsh light on what was a bright sunny day. I set my film speed at 100 iso and went for a walk in my local countryside. My photos were nothing special, but I did try to photograph things you haven't seen before as well as some that you have. I was just interested in seeing how this film handled the varying light conditions I encountered on my walk, with and without a filter.

I shot a second roll a few days later with my Pentax SP500 and Meyer Optik Gorlitz 30mm f/3.5 Lydith, again with an orange filter. I took photos in town, in the park and along the route of my long and slow walk home. For this roll I chose compositions I haven't done for a year or three alongside a few that are regulars when I am out and about. There's a couple of changes I wanted to document as old buildings have come down and housing built in their place.  

As with my previous walk, it took me a few days to recover and it was a week later when I was able to develop my first two rolls of Plus-X. I chose to develop both rolls in Bellini Euro HC 1+63 dilution H for 10 minutes at 20 celcius. The heatwave hadn't abated, I took care to keep my chemical temperatures under control on developing day and I soon had them hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light source. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I could see when I hung my film to dry that my exposures were pretty much on the money and it didn't take long to process my photos. Getting it right in camera saves a lot of messing about in processing and I didn't have to do too much to my photos. A little tweak here and there and removing a few dust spots and scratches was all they needed. I love the dark sky effect I got from my orange filter, next time I will use a yellow one to compare them. The photos I took deep into the woods and the tanker too if my memory serves me well, were all shot without a filter. I love the exposure latitude of Plus-X, it performed just as good using slow speeds and wide apertures as it did with my settings maxed out at 1/1000th f/16. 

Overall I am glad I was able tick Plus-X off my bucket list and I have enjoyed this wonderful film. Given the beautiful summer we are having, I may just have to buy a few more. Here's a few of my favourites from my first two rolls of Kodak Plus-X. The first 5 were shot with my OM-2 and the remainder shot with my SP500. I have placed them all and more in albums on Flickr you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Olympus OM-2 - Kodak Plus-X
Pentax SP500 - Kodak Plus-X
Analogue Revival - Kodak Plus-X

Pentax SP500 - Fomapan 400 developed with FX-55

 After my recent switch to Bellini Euro HC, I had a chat with Richard, owner of Nik & Trick, who got in touch after reading my blog about it. He made a couple of suggestions of developing chemicals to try out and take my film developing education along another step. I have always said there's something new to learn every day and placed an order for some FX-55, a two part black and white film developer formulated by the late Geoff Crawley that first appeared in 2008. 

Geoff Crawley was a stalwart of the film photography world and contributed a lot to the community via his formulations of black and white film developers for us to try. Richard liked it enough to have a play about with the formula to try and make it more usable for the home developer in liquid form, extending it's shelf life and making it more eco friendly. Apparently Fomapan 400 shines when developed using FX-55, so I loaded a roll into my Pentax SP500, popped another into my bag and headed to Preston with my pal Keith who had come to visit.

Preston Dock was once one of the busiest ports in the world, but these days it's a sleepy Marina where leisure boats ranging from Yachts to Narrowboats are moored. It's also a nice place to sit and eat a sandwich or just while away and hour or so pointing a camera at stuff. We did both of those as we had nipped into a local supermarket for supplies before heading across the road to the dock to see what we could find.

It was good to be using my Pentax SP500 again and it always reminds me why I paid for it to have a CLA. It's just so blummen reliable and will be me for the rest of my days. I had fitted my Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2 lens and also took my Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 30mm f/3.5 Lydith for a wide angle option where needed. I used both lenses a lot on this day and had fitted a yellow filter and an orange filter to them to help with contrast and highlights. 

We soon finished a roll of film around the Dock and it was time to move on to our next location. We didn't have a plan, but I suggested we head to Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool, to see what we could find by the seaside. We headed back to the car to set off for Lytham and I loaded a second roll of Fomapan 400 into my Pentax SP500.

As It turned out, we found a lot of wildfowl and a Spitfire at Fairhaven Lake on the seafront at Lytham St Annes. Fairhaven Lake is popular with walkers, joggers, boaters and paddleboarders. It is also the home of a rather tenacious swan that I mentioned in a previous blog. I had to admire its fearlessness but to be honest, getting bitten by a big swan wasn't on my bucket list. The bugger was convinced I had food in my hand and I wasn't too chuffed when it found out I didn't by having a nibble of my hand.

I wont feed animals in the wild and certainly not at a popular boating lake. The birds wont turn down a free lunch, but are they getting the right stuff? Think before you go feeding the ducks at your local pond. There are plenty of places to look up what the birds eat and you can often buy the right food from a Pet Shop or Veterinary. No doubt it will cost a bit more than "tuppence a bag", but you will be giving the birds the right nutrition. You can find info on what's best for wildfowl on the the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds website based here in the UK. I will leave a link below.

I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty of an aircraft that was built for war. The Spitfire on display at Fairhaven Lake is an exact size replica made from Fibreglass and painted to commemorate Spitfire Mark Vb W3644. The actual WW2 aircraft was paid for with the help of money raised by the People of Lytham St Annes. Many towns across the UK raised money for the war effort in a similar way. The Aircraft was Piloted by Sgt. Alan Lever Ridings who was sadly shot down on June 23rd 1942 over the English Channel. 

Sgt Riding's mother, Edith, was born in the town and the link between the town, family and the aircraft didn't become apparent until 2009. The Spitfire Display Team based at Blackpool Airport commissioned the replica with the backing of the general public, local residents and the council. The memorial was officially unveiled in 2012. You can find more info on the Spitfire and Sgt Ridings at the Aircrew Remembered link below. 

With my 2nd roll of Fomapan 400 just about finished and our aching bones feeling rather tired, we headed back to the car and came home, thoroughly happy with what we had achieved on this unplanned "3rd star on the left and straight on until morning" kind of day. I like doing things off the cuff. It tends to be more fun when everything falls into place, and it certainly was for us on this day. 

I developed my film a few days later in FX-55 developer, a two part solution with Part A that is mixed with water at 1 part chemical to 9 parts water and the activator, Part B added to your Part A working solution. This was my first use of this developer and I'm glad I have a few years experience of developing film under my belt. It's not difficult to mix the working solution up, but the confidence I've built over the last 5 years helped me enormously. 

I used a time of 15 minutes and 30 seconds at 20 celcius to develop my 2 rolls of Fomapan 400. Richard published a data sheet for a variety of films and developing times that have been tested by himself and members of the film community. That time may seem a long time to be stood by a developing tank, but it soon passes. I completed the stop bath and fix stages then I hung my freshly developed Fomapan 400 to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder and A5 sized led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

First impressions of FX-55 are it is very easy to use, both liquid parts are supplied in decent containers and it doesn't take long to mix. I mixed enough to develop 2 rolls of Fomapan 400 and it does the job nicely. Once I had digitised my film and got down to processing the RAW files, I didn't have to do much to them.  

Using a yellow filter was the way to go, but that's not to say my orange filter didn't produce the goods for me. Fomapan 400 is a contrasty film anyway and what I lost in the shadows, I gained in having definition in the highlights. The day we went for our walk was very bright sunshine with very high UV levels and I am very happy with what I was able to achieve. I haven't shot Fomapan 400 for a while and both rolls had been sat in my fridge for a couple of years before getting their time in my camera. I'm just glad I remembered what to do with it....

Here's a few favourites from our day out at Preston Dock and Lytham St Annes. I had fun experimenting with Fomapan 400 and filters and the chance to use a different developer was too good to pass up. Foma has a vintage look to it at the best of times, but the filters enhanced it and the FX-55 developer brought out the full tonal range with ease. It even tamed the famous "Fomapan Bloom" highlights which were not blown out at all. I have a couple of rolls in Medium Format that I hope to use before the summer is out and I will definitely be developing them in FX-55. As always I have placed these and more in an albums on Flickr you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Preston Dock 
Lytham St Annes
Nik & Trick - Geoff Crawley's FX-55 developer
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Aircrew Remembered - Sgt. Alan Lever Ridings - Spitfire W3644 

Celebrating 620 Film and Cameras

At the beginning of February 2025 I shared my thoughts about using my Kodak Brownie 127 and shooting a roll of Rera Pan 400 film for 127 day on January 27th 2025. I shared some photos on social media and my friend Tom suggested that maybe we should adapt that idea and have a 620 day on June 20th. I agreed it was a great idea, but there was a slight snag. I didn't own a 620 format camera. It was time to go hunting.

I am often idly searching through ebay to check what kind of prices various cameras are selling for. One thing I noticed a few years ago was that folding cameras are disgracefully cheap. Many of you will now be saying "they are cheap for a reason" and list several of them. On occasion I will happily agree with that sentiment as there's some right chancers on the bay selling what can only be described as "fungus farms" for exorbitant sums of money. However, there are bargains on there if you are patient.

Thus it was that I found a good looking Kodak Sterling II for sale with a starting price of £24.99. I figured it would go for more, so I put a bid in at the starting price and left it to run. A few days later I got an email, I was the only bidder and the new owner of the Kodak Sterling II 620 film camera. I duly paid for it and a few days later the seller messaged me to tell me it was on its way and to enjoy my camera. I promptly ordered some Shanghai 620 black and white film from Nik & Trick to try it out. 

620 format film is the same as 120 format film with a subtle difference, the size of the film spool. This is important as you cannot fit a 120 film into a 620 camera without a fair bit of bodging. For many years 620 film had been discontinued. You couldn't buy it fresh, but it didn't stop a few determined folk re-spooling 120 film onto 3D printed 620 spools. Nik & Trick offered that service and were amongst interested parties who lobbied Shanghai Film in China to bring factory spooled 620 film back to the market.

Shanghai Film in China took a leap of faith and produced a short run of 620 B&W film to see if the folks lobbying for its return were truly serious. It sold out very quickly. Nik & Trick were fortunate enough to get some and it sold out almost as soon as they added it to their website. The leap of faith paid off and Shanghai now have 620 film as a part of their production roster. 

I shot a couple of rolls of film during the spring just to get used to using the camera and I wasn't altogether impressed with my efforts on my first roll, but my second roll was better. It still wasn't perfect, but I was slowly getting the hang of the camera. As it turned out I didn't get to shoot a third roll until the June 20th 2025, 620 day. 

June 20th was hot and humid and I got bitten by just about every horsefly I encountered on my walk. I didn't care as I was out and about with a camera and grimly determined to finish the task I had set myself. I had also fitted the yellow filter I had bought for my Kodak Retina 1a. It's a versatile little addition to my kit and I figured it would help me get my exposures looking decent. With just 8 frames per roll, I was taking care of my film and went for familiar compositions. Also, to help me get my exposures right, I used my trusty Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. 

I had an enjoyable wander, despite being dinner for a multitude of horseflies. My photos are all of things I have photographed to death, but that's ok. It's all part of my ongoing therapy as I keep my brain and my aching body exercised. I'm not healthy by a long way, but getting out once a week with a camera is helping me enormously. By the time I had captured my last frame, I was ready for home.

I developed my 620 roll of Shanghai GP3 100 iso medium format black and white film a few days later in Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, my Valoi medium format film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2. 

One thing I noticed right away was my images are nice in the centre and very blurry around the edges. Is it me just not getting my depth of field right or has an element on the lens been reversed at some point in the past? I definitely need to investigate it as these should have been decent photos. They are nicely exposed, but... well. Some folk may like the blurring around the edge, the effect can be done with a spot filter or a very thin smear of lip balm around a UV filter. It certainly makes them stand out. 

It hasn't put me off the camera, in fact it has piqued my OCD. It makes me want to understand it and maybe even live with it, much like I live with the fact that I always seem to forget where I am up to and get that inevitable "double exposure". Here's a few of my photos from my roll of Shanghai GP100 620 B&W film shot with my Kodak Sterling II for 620 Day. I have placed them all in an album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Shanghai 620 Film 

 

Rollei RPX 25 medium format film

 Keith came to visit again and he brought some sunshine with him, which was nice. We got out for our customary wander and didn't have a plan, just go out and see where we end up. We started at Preston Dock, where I shot a roll of Fomapan 400 for a separate blog, then we headed to the seaside and had a wander around Fairhaven Lake at Lytham St Annes near Blackpool for an hour. I loaded Baldy the Baldax with a roll of Rollei RPX 25 120 medium format B&W film. The sun was very high and bright, and I hadn't used this film before. Keith had given me a couple of rolls some time previously and it was high time I used it. 

Our first stop was the Fairhaven Lake Café, which was closed, to see the multitude of wildfowl that hangs out there on the off chance a human comes along with some free food. It was there where I met a rather tenacious Swan who thought my camera was something tasty to eat. After a good chat with it, I happily directed the swan to a chap with a loaf of bread who was being followed by a gaggle of geese and a couple more swans and it soon lost interest in trying to eat my camera. 

When wild animals become accustomed to humans, they relax and get on with their lives, which at this time of year means raising their chicks. I found a few compositions as we made our way around the lake. It's a popular spot for recreation and plenty of folk were either walking or jogging along the path, there was also a chap in a powered wheelchair who had a good natter to Keith, who was sat upon his chariot, and they cracked jokes about having a race. British humour at its finest.

We eventually made our way to the Spitfire on display at the opposite end of the lake. This is a full size replica to commemorate the important role that Lytham St Annes and Blackpool played in RAF Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Command during WW2.  Pilots came to Lancashire to train in aircraft before being deployed to their operational unit and defending our skies from the Luftwaffe. 

You don't really appreciate the beauty of this weapon of war until you get close to one. R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, definitely got it right as pilots often said "You didn't strap into a Spitfire, you wore it." It was comfortable, could turn on a sixpence and matched the Messerschmidt Bf 109 in the skies above the English Channel whilst our Hurricanes went after the Luftwaffe Bombers during those dark days of WW2. 

We had a glorious afternoon of photography and I hadn't quite finished my roll of film, but we were getting tired and headed for home. We were happy with what we had achieved on another splendid wander around a couple of great places to visit right here in Lancashire. I finished my roll of Rollei RPX 25 a few days later in Mesnes Park, Wigan on an equally sunny afternoon. 

I developed my film a few days later in Zone Imaging 510 Pyro diluted at 1+150 for 9 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

It's always a joy to get out and about, especially when I have Baldy the Baldax with me. The conditions were wall to wall sunshine and I didn't have to do much my film in post production. Baldy the Baldax thrives on slower films and thus it was with this roll of Rollei RPX 25. 

The slow speed of 25 iso gave me decent exposures without having to max out the camera's shutter and aperture settings in the process. I have another roll in 35mm format and will definitely be using it when we get another sunny day and I will use a yellow filter with it, just to eek out the contrast a little better.

Here's a few favourites from my very first roll of Rollei RPX 25 120 medium format B&W film. We had a wonderful afternoon and you can view them and more in my Rollei RPX 25 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Rollei RPX 25 - Balda Baldax