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Kodak Double-X film 5222


david_goldfarb

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Anybody out there ever try this as a film for still photography and have any opinions or recommendations? I just won an auction for 4 rather old 35mm x 100' rolls, real cheap (cheap enough for me to bid on a whim--maybe it will be interesting for some retro effects, and I'll certainly have enough to experiment with). I know that Kodak still makes it in 35mm x 400' and 1000' rolls for motion pictures, and Freestyle in L.A. lists developing times for it in various developers, suggesting that they might sell it spooled up for still cameras.

 

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Is it the same emulsion as Super-XX, which was a popular thick-emulsion film for large format, especially for Zone System users, at one time? It is rated at ASA 250 for daylight, 200 for tungsten, but given the age, I'll do my own tests.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, if anyone is curious, that film I picked up turned out to be

DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. From the serial number I determined that it must

have dated from 1972.

 

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First experiment: Developed about 2 feet unexposed in D-76, 1:1, 12'.

Base fog looked pretty serious--about 1 stop.

 

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Second experiment: Bracketed 5 exposures, half-stop increments, of a

Kodak gray scale, middle exposure would rate it at 200 (Kodak's rating

for tungsten), developed for the recommended time of 10', D-76, 1:1,

with 1 oz/quart of Edwal Liquid Orthazite anti-foggant. No base fog

this time, that's for sure. No images either. Nothing. Absolutely

clear except for the exposed leader which was slightly grey.

 

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Third experiment: Cut off about 2 feet of film in roomlight, and put

into straight D-76. In about three minutes it became moderately grey,

maybe two stops past middle grey, probably would reach a full black by

8 minutes. I would say that rates this film as somewhat slower than

fiber-based paper, an E.I. of about 0.5-2.0, maybe.

 

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So, for my $15 expenditure, I learned some interesting things. I did

some research on movie films and the effects of benzotriazole. I have

some nice metal reels if I ever want to try spooling some film from

movie-sized reels onto 100' reels for bulk loading. Not a total loss.

That doesn't rule out trying some fresh XX at some point in the

future, but nothing's coming from this batch. Anyone need about 390

feet of 35mm streamers for the Christmas tree? New Year's? How about

some super slow film for photographing nuclear explosions?

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  • 1 year later...

Hey, now that the forum has moved to photo.net, this question shows up in the "My Workspace" area, and I can post an update.

 

THE FILM LIVES IN DEKTOL!

 

I let it sit in my freezer for some months for a while waiting for some new ideas, and it turns out that I can produce really grainy results, but with reasonable contrast and density range in Dektol 1:3, 5 min. at 68 F, agitating 5 sec/min, rated at EI 80. Base fog is a high .5 (it's old stuff), but I still get a respectable DMax of 2.1 above base+fog. I might try a few tricks to reduce the base fog yet.

 

I haven't photographed anything terribly interesting yet with this film, but if I do, I'll post some examples.

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  • 9 months later...
I know of a source of fresh Eastman 5222 film. Film Emporium sells "short ends" of various Kodak, Ilford, and Fuji motion picture stocks. I bought 200 feet of fresh 5222 for 10 cents per foot. I rate it at E.I. 250 and develop for 7' @ 68 degrees in D-76 with good results. The film is a nice compromise (in terms of grain) between Plus-X and Tri-X. Some numbers for you: The RMS granularity is 14 and resolving power is 100 lp/mm. I like the film and at this price experimentation is cheap. Load into ISO 200 DX cartridges and cut back on development a bit and it's a great film for point and shoot cameras.
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