Favourites, and a Day's Work

[rick_drawbridge]

Having refined my experimentation with the Adox FX-39II developer to a point where I'm reasonably confident using it with a variety of films, I decided to go out early this morning with some of my photographic favourites. I chose the inimitable Canon T90, the epitome of Canon FD mount cameras, and the excellent Tamron Adaptall II SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 (Model 27A) lens. For film I loaded up 24 frames of Ilford FP4 Plus, as I've I been impressed by the quality of the negatives I've been getting with this stock developed in the Adox developer.

It was a really beautiful Autumn morning, sunny but a little chilly, and I took a 15 minute drive to one of our neighbouring towns, stopping along the way to capture a couple of landscape pictures, and wandered around town putting the Canon to the test. The T90 always engenders a feeling of confidence, rather like being in the company of an old friend. I finished the film and treated myself to a coffee at one of the local cafés, then drove home. After lunch I developed and scanned the film and later in the day I edited the images for this post, an enjoyable process when one has good images to work with. Overall, it's been my idea of a pleasant and constructive day, and I'll post a selection of images below.

Should anyone be interested in trying this film/developer combination, here's my current technique.

I rate the FP4 at 100 ISO. I'm using Paterson tanks taking 300ml of developer for a 35mm film. The developer dilution is 15ml to 300ml of water. I develop at 20oC for 8 minutes, with 4 gentle inversion a minute, on the minute. The resulting negatives appear to be a little lacking in both contrast and density, but they scan beautifully on my Epson V800 Perfection scanner, which dislikes dense and contrasty negatives. Overall, I find the Adox compares well with my usual PMK Pyro development, producing negatives with slightly higher acutance and deeper blacks, with no loss of shadow detail.

There's not much of great art in these images, but I feel they demonstrate the good tonality produced by the combination. See what you think!

Backwater

Carts

Elements #134

In the Square

Kitchener's

McLaren

Just One

The Gin Spot

 

 

 

 

 

[bruce_z._li2]

Very nice combination you have there, Rick! And I enjoyed the photos, especially your eyes for unique patterns.

[gary green]

Very nice, Rick.  It looks like you've hit on a winning combination of film, developer, and process.  I'll definitely keep Adox in mind when I finally deplete my HC-110 stock.

Regarding your observation with negative scans, I have seen the same with my Epson V600.  That is, negatives that appear less dense and contrasty tend to have better scans.

Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences.

[chuck_foreman1]

I suspect we will be seeing more of this combination! Great success in determining what you want and ...getting it. BRavo

 

[Mike Gammill]

Great results, Rick.  I will have to try this developer will some of the film I use.  Many years ago I used the older (non II) version and liked it.

 

[SCL]

Very nice. I agree that the results very closely seem to approximate your PMK Pyro ones. I've been tidying up my T90 for a walkabout as soon as the weather gets a little more favorable here. And that Tamron has been a favorite of mine for years. I'm always surprised at how many people in the past have downplayed it.

[subbarayan_prasanna]

Lovely , as always. Thank you. SP