old and new plus-x

Dunno 'bout Plus-X but I've compared old vs. new T-Max 100 and Tri-X and don't see any significant differences. A densitomter might turn up something but I can't see it with my eyes, when scanning or printing.

Some folks allege the new Kodak emulsions have less silver. I'm doubtful. Silver is pretty cheap right now. I'll bet there are other more expensive ingredients that go into making film.

Personally, I think the only change Kodak made was to add purple to the film base just to give us something to fuss about. They probably got the purple cheaper than the old clear they used to add to the film base.

The developing times are different. With some developers

the new film takes longer, and with other developers, it takes

less time. I don't know the reasons.

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I just ran tests of the new versus old Plus-X in Rodinal.

I found that the two films looked significantly different in

the shadows -- the new film has more "punch" in the shadows.

Maybe my old PX was slightly fogged from age. The new

PX requires approximately twice as much time

in the fixer to clear, a significant difference that could

lead to nasty surprises for the unaware. It has different

dyes (sensitizing and/or antihalation, I don't know which)

that give a different color to the film base. In Rodinal,

the new film takes about 15% less developing time, by my

experiments, to produce a similar negative.