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
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