Kodak 125 Plus X Best B&W Film All Time

infundibulum · Apr 23, 2014

I got to stop obsessing about film specs and camera specs and just get out and shoot photos.

Bob Carnie · Apr 23, 2014

Plus one

Ian Grant said:
The general consesnsus here in the UK was always that FP4 was a much better film than Plus X, that was my own experience as well.

Ian

chip j · Apr 23, 2014

I've found that English films do not perform to my liking in my area, which has every kind of weather. I want to use Fomapan 100 but too many QC issues(35mm).

Rick A · Apr 23, 2014

chip j said:
I've found that English films do not perform well in my area, which has every kind of weather. I want to use Fomapan but too many QC issues.

Really? I shoot loads of Fomapan 100, bulk load 135, and 4x5 in both Fomapan and Arista EDU branded, I still have yet to find QC problems with any. The only problems I encountered were self induced. Pinholes are a result of using too strong a solution of stop bath. I resolved that by either using half strength with D-76 and other similar developers, or no stop bath when I use PMK Pyro (or other pyro dev's). Note here, that I do not use stop at all with any film in pyro. I have also found that the "soft" emulsion is best hardened, in my instance by using pyro developers, which generally harden by tanning the emulsion. I dearly love the look afforded me with Fomapan 100, I have yet to try other speeds of the product.

DREW WILEY · Apr 23, 2014

I'm not going to wade thru all the past posts, so forgive me if someone else has said something like this. But this is an apples vs oranges comparison. Plus X was an "all toe" film with a long slowly upswept curve favoring subtle midtone and highlight gradation, specifically for the
portrait market. FP4 has a short toe and a rather long straight line, and is more a general-purpose film. Delta 100 is about as close as you'll get
nowadays to Plus X.

Axle · Apr 23, 2014

*hides my last two rolls of Plus-X in 120 and my box of 4x5 Plus-X*

Rick A · Apr 23, 2014

Axle said:
*hides my last two rolls of Plus-X in 120 and my box of 4x5 Plus-X*

Why? What good does that do you? You might as well shoot them, you already lamented their passing.

Xmas · Apr 23, 2014

Which film are we going to hold a wake about next?

Double-X, Tmax 100, ... Fuji...

Noel

Richard S. (rich815) · Apr 23, 2014

Bob Carnie said:
Plus one

I've found, sometimes by mistake, that almost any film and any developer are capable of excellent results.

wblynch · Apr 23, 2014

For me there are two kinds of black and white film...

1) Plus-X
2) everything else.

Thomas Bertilsson · Apr 23, 2014

Plus-X is dead. Long live Plus-X.

No film will make or break a photograph, only how you use it will. Learn how to use something that is still produced and get on with it.

NB23 · Apr 23, 2014

I looooved plus-x. And apx-100.

Now i'm onto tmax 100. I'm blown away by it each and everytime... So I had to come to the obvious conclusion: I purchased 12 bulk rolls.

Axle · Apr 23, 2014

Rick A said:
Why? What good does that do you? You might as well shoot them, you already lamented their passing.

Oh trust me, I'm shooting them, plus the last of my Efke R/KB50 and PL25! I shot ten sheets this past week, plus a roll!

37th Exposure · Apr 23, 2014

"Kodak 125 Plus X Best B&W Film All Time"

That's why they discontinued it

chip j · Apr 23, 2014

Rick A said:
Really? I shoot loads of Fomapan 100, bulk load 135, and 4x5 in both Fomapan and Arista EDU branded, I still have yet to find QC problems with any. The only problems I encountered were self induced. Pinholes are a result of using too strong a solution of stop bath. I resolved that by either using half strength with D-76 and other similar developers, or no stop bath when I use PMK Pyro (or other pyro dev's). Note here, that I do not use stop at all with any film in pyro. I have also found that the "soft" emulsion is best hardened, in my instance by using pyro developers, which generally harden by tanning the emulsion. I dearly love the look afforded me with Fomapan 100, I have yet to try other speeds of the product.

I've used both Fomapan and AristaEDU factory loaded cassettes, and get debris on my film, like parts of the felt, leaving short black lines in the print ,kind of soft-focused.My lab develops other films w/o problems.

Xmas · Apr 24, 2014

I've not had any problems with formapan 120, or 135 or bulk cans, in 100 and 400 ISO.

Beyond the 100 is 100-125 and the 400 is 250-320 for same shadow detail and they don't 'push'.

Nuff · Apr 24, 2014

Bought 25 x 120 rolls of this stuff from some guy in France. Expired in 2010, so I hope it's still good. Once it arrives down under it will go into deep freeze.

Xmas · Apr 24, 2014

37th Exposure said:
"Kodak 125 Plus X Best B&W Film All Time"

That's why they discontinued it

My film shop only has Tmax 100, &400 and Trix it is a web shop with brick store.
My drug store chain only BW400CN, a big drug store chain, they do have mini labs but still sell HP5+?
Cine suppliers only do 5222.

Kodak don't stop finishing it until resellers stop buying it.
The resellers don't stop buying it until they have expired.

I never shot Plusx in 50 years only a few Trix (mainly 220) oodles of Ilford and Agfa, some Fuji 400.

If the film volume is increasing why are/were people not buying PlusX?

Why dont Kodak rationalise to BW400 or 5222? Is this a planned slow death. Or like ignoring Polariod patents incompetence?

Roger Cole · Apr 24, 2014

Nuff said:
Bought 25 x 120 rolls of this stuff from some guy in France. Expired in 2010, so I hope it's still good. Once it arrives down under it will go into deep freeze.

Unless it's been stored in an oven or something I bet it will be fine. Plux-X is known to keep pretty well.

Nuff · Apr 24, 2014

Roger Cole said:
Unless it's been stored in an oven or something I bet it will be fine. Plux-X is known to keep pretty well.

Thought so as well, but thanks for confirming.

Rick A · Apr 24, 2014

chip j said:
I've used both Fomapan and AristaEDU factory loaded cassettes, and get debris on my film, like parts of the felt, leaving short black lines in the print ,kind of soft-focused.My lab develops other films w/o problems.

There's your problem, you let a lab handle your film. Fomapan emulsion is "soft" and some care is needed when handling it. This is why I develope mine in pyro, to harden it and make it more scratch resistant. Labs are notorious for their machines being dirty and scratching film. I have shot many factory loaded cassettes and bulk load my own, none of it has shown scratches or debris of any kind. I don't get "soft focused" what do you mean by that? I find it a very capable film and the "old school" emulsion endearing, but it is far from soft looking.

Thomas Bertilsson · Apr 24, 2014

Rick A said:
There's your problem, you let a lab handle your film. Fomapan emulsion is "soft" and some care is needed when handling it. This is why I develope mine in pyro, to harden it and make it more scratch resistant. Labs are notorious for their machines being dirty and scratching film. I have shot many factory loaded cassettes and bulk load my own, none of it has shown scratches or debris of any kind. I don't get "soft focused" what do you mean by that? I find it a very capable film and the "old school" emulsion endearing, but it is far from soft looking.

When the film is dry, the Foma emulsion is as hard as any (and so is Efke).
It's only when the emulsion is wet that it's soft.

chip j · Apr 24, 2014

Rick A said:
There's your problem, you let a lab handle your film. Fomapan emulsion is "soft" and some care is needed when handling it. This is why I develope mine in pyro, to harden it and make it more scratch resistant. Labs are notorious for their machines being dirty and scratching film. I have shot many factory loaded cassettes and bulk load my own, none of it has shown scratches or debris of any kind. I don't get "soft focused" what do you mean by that? I find it a very capable film and the "old school" emulsion endearing, but it is far from soft looking.

The black short "lines" in the print are soft, not hard-edged. My lab has processed lots of brands for me, from Fortepan to Agfa et al. I think maybe Fomapan doesn't handle being frozen very well.

snapguy · Apr 24, 2014

the real deal

Panatomic-X was the read deal. Plus-X was for wimps.

wblynch · Apr 24, 2014

snapguy said:
Panatomic-X was the read deal. Plus-X was for wimps.

Panatomic-X

Kodak 125 Plus X Best B&W Film All Time

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