Film Test - Kodak Plus-X in Acufine

It's time for everyone's favorite, a film test!

So despite having shot film for years now, I've never actually bulk-loaded 35mm. I picked up a bulk loader for like $1 on eBay after finally deciding that I would try it out - spurned on by the discontinuation of the Arista Premium 400 film (re-branded Kodak Tri-X 400), leaving me without a very cheap 35mm film other than Foma products, which I do not like.

Anyway, I've been combing eBay for cheap 100' rolls of film, and came upon a only slightly expired roll of Plus-X film. I've heard a lot of great things about this film, along with sadness about its discontinuation. Hoping for a medium-speed film, I decided to soup a test roll in Acufine, and rate it at 200.

Turns out it might not be quite that fast, even in Acufine. The negatives were definitely thin, and at the same time were fogged slightly due to my first bulk roll popping open as I took it out of the camera. Oops! So far not a real big fan of this bulk loading thing, but after ironing out the kinks in the process I think I won't have that issue anymore.

I of course love burning film on the VSU campus, so please excuse the typical college scenes. I used my Bessa R2S and Skopar 25mm f/4, with an orange filter, and tried to find geometric shapes and a variety of light and dark tones. I think I'm going to rate the Plus-X at 125 next time and go with Acufine again. The negatives are definitely a bit on the grainy side, which is an interesting look. Not a landscape combination, but for architecture, texture studies, and the like, I think it'll be nice. Or maybe I should use XTOL? Well anyway, for reference, I souped it in Acufine for 4:30 at 70F:

And with that, I'll be signing off for the rest of the year. I'll be taking my annual trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with a variety of film cameras in hand, and I'll even be visiting New Orleans this year, so there will be many photos to develop and scan in January...

Christmas Lights in Downtown Valdosta

Not much going on lately due to my schedule but I took this shot downtown a few days ago. It's nice that they put the lights in the trees - it makes downtown a bit less drab - but I sure wish they'd do a few more things to liven up downtown.

Taken with my Linhof Master Technika and 75mm Biogon on Fuji T64 II:

Winter shots on the Withlacoochee

It's finally starting to get cold down here (though tomorrow it's supposed to be right back in the 80's), and with that we finally have some leaves on the ground. I took a little walk last week before Thanksgiving out at Langdale Park.

First I tried a new lens - an odd 250mm f/4.7 Fujinar. Very little info is available on this lens from any source. I have mixed reports of it being a standard fast Tessar as well as reports of otherwise. Who knows? That said - it's a crackerjack of a lens. Very sharp even at wider apertures and beautiful out-of-focus rendering, especially due to the special Copal 3S shutter with 10 aperture blades. Here's a few shots from it:

 

I also took a couple more with my Nikkor 90mm f/8: