Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402

Cholentpot · Jun 29, 2021

I got a roll of this stuff down by the bay. Shipped in from Mumbai. Seller claimed it was refrigerated. Slit it down from 70mm to 120 - did not realize there were perfs - and ran through a camera. I shot it at about ISO 100 and developed in D-76 1:1 for 8.5 min with an agitation every 30 seconds. There doesn't seem to be much fog and the speed seems alright. However the film is pretty contrasty and does not have all that much latitude. It also tends to flare but I see that as a positive. There's not all that much out there about this film that I can find. Anyone have experience with this stuff?

Yashica A, f/5.6ish, 1/2ish

1/300, f/11

DSLR scan and inverted with Negative Lab Pro.

I'm thinking of doing a stand in 1:100 rodinal next time around. I've found it tames micro film pretty well and why not go for it with this stuff? Also, it's what I've got.

Nokton48 · Jun 29, 2021

I have 3 rolls of 70mm not from Mumbai, but honestly I have no experience as of yet. I would think PMK Pyro+ would be interesting as it tames the highlights and provides copious detail from the mids to the top end. It's aerial mapping film not intended for pictorial. I have seen wonderful stuff on the internet, no doubt there is a good way to go

Mark Crabtree · Jun 29, 2021

I've shot many hundreds of feet of PX aero in 9.5" size. EI 100 is very optimistic for that film; aerial film speed is based on development to a much higher contrast than most people want for pictorial use. I use about EI 50 and am not be skimpy on exposure even then. Plus X developing times are a good starting point, then you can adjust to get the contrast you want. I've cut this down to 120, plus sheet film sizes, and for Cirkut Camera. It can be very nice film but not always and for every purpose. It is, of course, extended in red sensitivity, plus these aerial films do not seem to have much of anything to control halation so you get glowy effects sometimes that I kind of like.

Cholentpot · Jun 29, 2021

Mark Crabtree said:
I've shot many hundreds of feet of PX aero in 9.5" size. EI 100 is very optimistic for that film; aerial film speed is based on development to a much higher contrast than most people want for pictorial use. I use about EI 50 and am not be skimpy on exposure even then. Plus X developing times are a good starting point, then adjust you can adjust to get the contrast you want. I've cut this down to 120, plus sheet film sizes, and for Cirkut Camera. It can be very nice film but not always and for every purpose. It is, of course, extended in red sensitivity, plus these aerial films do not seem to have much of anything to control halation so you get glowy effects sometimes that I kind of like.

I've got HC-110, Rodinal and D-76 sitting on my shelf. Any baseline times for these? I'm going to run a roll through my Yashica Mat tomorrow. Any tips on filters to use if at all?

Mark Crabtree · Jun 29, 2021

Of those three I would use D76 and just try the published times for Plus X as a starting point. HC 110 would also work very well, but would probably need a higher dilution than B, so starting point times would be harder to get. I personally would not consider Rodinal for this film, but you might like it. There should be published times for Plus X at 1:50.

Filters is a tough question for me; someone else might have a better answer. It is already extended red sensitive so should give decent skies and cut through haze a bit. I'd stick with mild filter if you use them at all. I do use a minus red filter sometimes to get an orthochromatic look, especially for portraits. I use a fair bit of this and XX aerial for portraits on 8x10 and don't like the extended red look for that. A milder filter might give a more standard look if you want that for people - maybe a green but the filter factor will be pretty high.

mshchem · Jun 29, 2021

Cholentpot said:
I got a roll of this stuff down by the bay. Shipped in from Mumbai. Seller claimed it was refrigerated. Slit it down from 70mm to 120 - did not realize there were perfs - and ran through a camera. I shot it at about ISO 100 and developed in D-76 1:1 for 8.5 min with an agitation every 30 seconds. There doesn't seem to be much fog and the speed seems alright. However the film is pretty contrasty and does not have all that much latitude. It also tends to flare but I see that as a positive. There's not all that much out there about this film that I can find. Anyone have experience with this stuff?

Yashica A, f/5.6ish, 1/2ish

1/300, f/11

DSLR scan and inverted with Negative Lab Pro.

I'm thinking of doing a stand in 1:100 rodinal next time around. I've found it tames micro film pretty well and why not go for it with this stuff? Also, it's what I've got.

I have a roll of this coming to play Moon landing with a motor Hasselblad. You seem to have a lot of short stoplights where you live

Cholentpot · Jun 29, 2021

Mark Crabtree said:
Of those three I would use D76 and just try the published times for Plus X as a starting point. HC 110 would also work very well, but would probably need a higher dilution than B, so starting point times would be harder to get. I personally would not consider Rodinal for this film, but you might like it. There should be published times for Plus X at 1:50.

Filters is a tough question for me; someone else might have a better answer. It is already extended red sensitive so should give decent skies and cut through haze a bit. I'd stick with mild filter if you use them at all. I do use a minus red filter sometimes to get an orthochromatic look, especially for portraits. I use a fair bit of this and XX aerial for portraits on 8x10 and don't like the extended red look for that. A milder filter might give a more standard look if you want that for people - maybe a green but the filter factor will be pretty high.

Thanks.

mshchem said:
I have a roll of this coming to play Moon landing with a motor Hasselblad. You seem to have a lot of short stoplights where you live

Awesome kids 'safety' park. Wish there was such a think when I was a tyke. Instead we dodged cars and ignored lights.

mshchem · Jun 29, 2021

Cholentpot said:
Thanks.

Awesome kids 'safety' park. Wish there was such a think when I was a tyke. Instead we dodged cars and ignored lights.

I got my roll of film today by DHL. Good service from the dealer in Mumbai. I will need to get busy.

Cholentpot · Jun 29, 2021

mshchem said:
I got my roll of film today by DHL. Good service from the dealer in Mumbai. I will need to get busy.

Keep us up to date. Post photos.

Film does seem to capture skies and clouds pretty well.

mshchem · Jun 29, 2021

Cholentpot said:
Keep us up to date. Post photos.

Film does seem to capture skies and clouds pretty well.

Nice, looks great to me.

Donald Qualls · Jun 30, 2021

Cholentpot said:
Film does seem to capture skies and clouds pretty well.

That'll be the extended red sensitivity -- magnfies the difference between white cloud and light cyan sky.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Jun 30, 2021

Cholentpot said:
Slit it down from 70mm to 120

Would you mind sharing your rig+steps for slitting? Is it easy? Thanks in advance.

Cholentpot · Jun 30, 2021

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
Would you mind sharing your rig+steps for slitting? Is it easy? Thanks in advance.

I have one of those 3D printed slitter that use razor blades and is made of a bunch of plastic slats. I got it along with a can of 70mm off of a user here.

In the dark.

I have on a table two marks made of built up tape marked to the length of one roll of 120. On my right wrist are a bunch of rubber bands. Pull off and measure from tape line to tape line the amount needed and cut. Roll up and keep secure with rubber band. Place in light tight pouch or can if you'd like. After getting a few lengths of 70mm go over to the slitter and run it through. Once again, roll up secure with rubber bands. Now, take the 120 backing paper which beforehand you've set up like this. I mark with tape a spot right behind the last exposure mark on the paper and roll up with the spool just to that spot. I feel for the tape, tuck the film under roll and roll up until it's all fully rolled. Rubberband. Repeat until you have what you'd like.

Lights on.

Take roll and slowly unroll until the film 'leader' peeks out. Use precut tape to secure and reroll, rubber band.

I find this works well for me but at times I'll lose frame 1 and 2 if I'm not careful. I do give the film a few extra inches to compensate. This also works for 220 btw, just a little more work getting the leads and tails perfectly aligned.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Jun 30, 2021

@Cholentpot: this is most helpful! Thanks so much!

removed account4 · Jun 30, 2021

there used to be a guy on ebay named mrfoto1 ( ed of mrfoto1.com ) who used to sell large rolls ( 9.5" &c ) of plus x, and pan x aero film.
I wish I saved the info and his website cause it talked about extended red sensitivity and processing times and developers &c.
you might go to the large format site and ask there, someone might have saved the info, or I think Jim Galli might know, a lot of people
used a lot of his film after photo warehouse stopped selling "made in England" we had to improvise. ...

Mark Crabtree · Jun 30, 2021

Ed must have sold many of miles of that stuff. I'd love to know what happened to him; I believe he was having health problems. I have his old printed price lists and the don't think you'd really learn anything new from his recommendations, but he did seem like a pretty straight shooter. The last printed list I have from Ed is 1999 and he was selling a 6 roll case of 9.5" x 125' PX aero for $120! (his exclamation point, but deserved I think).

I have the spectral sensitivity for the film in the Kodak tech sheet. It goes out strongly to just past 700nm then drops very abruptly.

Filter factors from the tech sheet:
#8 - 2
#12 - 2
#15 - 2
#25 - 4

removed account4 · Jun 30, 2021

Mark Crabtree said:
Ed must have sold many of miles of that stuff. I'd love to know what happened to him; I believe he was having health problems. I have his old printed price lists and the don't think you'd really learn anything new from his recommendations, but he did seem like a pretty straight shooter. The last printed list I have from Ed is 1999 and he was selling a 6 roll case of 9.5" x 125' PX aero for $120! (his exclamation point, but deserved I think).

I have the spectral sensitivity for the film in the Kodak tech sheet. It goes out strongly to just past 700nm then drops very abruptly.

Filter factors from the tech sheet:
#8 - 2
#12 - 2
#15 - 2
#25 - 4

thanks mark!

yeah, I also wondered what happened to him, he sure was a was a nice guy.
John

Cholentpot · Sep 13, 2021

Here's a few more shots on that Aerographic stuff. I don't remember what I developed it in or how long, it's been a while. Might still be the D-76 1:1 at 8.5 min. I think I might need to try something else. Too contrasty for my tastes.

Oddly enough the stuff looked far better for skin tones.

Nokton48 · Jun 15, 2022

I just ordered a roll of five inch by 350 feet. Looking forward to slitting some down to 4x5 and 9x12. Maybe 5x7?

Nokton48 · Jul 9, 2022

120 Respooled 70mm Plus-X Aero 2402 Nik N Trik by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is some respooled to regular 120 Plus-X Aero 2402, developed in D23 1:1. I think this film will become a fave for some uses. Midtones look particularly nice, IMO better than some other films I shot of this same test subject. I ordered the film from "NIK and Trik" in the UK

Cholentpot · Jul 14, 2022

Here are some more results from last summer.

Yashica Mat D-76 stock I don't remember the times though

Missed focus...oh well.

Rolleicord III D-76 1+1 8.5 min

I suspect that the first few windings on the core were messed up as the further rolls of film got better. It does seem to shoot well at ISO 100

tlloydau · Jul 15, 2022

I recently shot my first cassette of 2402 around the house and garden in a 70mm back. I found a range of recommended speeds online so ended up metering at 80 and shooting +1/-1 compensated shots. Souped 1-100 in Rodinal I found all shots from ISO 40-160 scanned well.
Has anyone used the film with filters and wish to share their compensation factors? I'd read that (at least for red filters?) the recommendation was different from your average pictorial film but I'm not sure if that's based on pictorial tests or from the manuals assuming aerial photography conditions.

Nokton48 · Jul 21, 2022

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

4 inch wide strip fits tightly in holders by Nokton48, on Flickr

This cuts down nicely (I just test cut some in the dark) into 4 inch wide sheets, going directly and perfectly into my 4x5 film holders, of which I have quite a few kinds. For shooting 9x9cm full frame images with my Plaubel Makifexes, this couldn't be better. This roll will produce 1,050 sheets of 4x5, at a total net cost of 28 cents each. Pretty darn good !

Fits tightly in the film holder too.

Cholentpot · Jul 21, 2022

Nokton48 said:
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

4 inch wide strip fits tightly in holders by Nokton48, on Flickr

This cuts down nicely (I just test cut some in the dark) into 4 inch wide sheets, going directly and perfectly into my 4x5 film holders, of which I have quite a few kinds. For shooting 9x9cm full frame images with my Plaubel Makifexes, this couldn't be better. This roll will produce 1,050 sheets of 4x5, at a total net cost of 28 cents each. Pretty darn good !

Fits tightly in the film holder too.

Help me out. This isn't the 70mm stuff is it?

tlloydau · Jul 21, 2022

Drool, nice score!

Cholentpot said:
Help me out. This isn't the 70mm stuff is it?

This is the same material but cut to 5 inch width and perforated for a different type of aerial camera.

Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402

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