Spotmatic Philly...

[scott]

Hi all -

I've had occasion to walk around Center City Philadelphia twice in the past few weeks. I like Philly once I'm there. Great city to walk around in, as long as the roving bands of angry youth aren't pulling folks off the streets and beating them. That said, there was a very distinct police presence everywhere we went. Forgot the pepper spray, so that was good to see.

Anyway, we were there for the Thanksgiving parade, and my wife and I went down this week for an overnight to see some art and eat well. I took the Spotmatic both times, and had the radioactive Super Tak 50/1.4 attached. Finished the roll this week; these are on TMax 400 in DD-X.

My son and I got antsy during the parade so walked around a bit:
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And my wife's an my walking around Philly (14 miles in just over a day):
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(Yes, that's from the top of the Rocky steps at the Art Museum)

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(I *think* that's the Philadelphia Free Library, as seen from the entrance of the Barnes Foundation - we really have a lot of really nice things to do in the area...)

img061 by Scott, on Flickr
(City Hall, that's William Penn on the top left, facing away unfortunately)

I've got to say, I'm having an awful lot of fun with 135 lately. I have a case being made by a leathersmith in Colorado for the Konica right now - I can't wait to start hauling that camera around. Hope it proves to be even half as fun as the Spotmatic has been lately.

Thanks for looking.
Scott

[PFMcFarland]

I've been to Philly twice in my life, and both times it was "Get in, and get out.", with no time for site seeing. Like any large city, the place is full of interesting things to photograph, and your photos prove that, Scott.

PF

[GrahamS]

Great series of very informative photographs, Scott, particularly for us guys on the other side of the pond. Never been to Philly but I recognise many iconic landmarks in your photos. It's great to see images taken with a Spottie and the 50/1.4. What a wonderful camera and lens. I really must find a source of chemicals to start using mine again. What, pray, is DD=X?

[Brazile]

DD-X is Ilford's developer, rather D76-like, I think.

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=31

Robert

[GrahamS]

DD-X is Ilford's developer, rather D76-like, I think.

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=31

Robert

Ilford's equivalent of D76 was ID-11. I have never heard of DD-X.

[scott]

From what I've read DD-X is more in line with TMax developer, but less finicky. I've never used the Kodak equivalent, this is only my second roll of TMax, and I bought the stuff a few years ago to use with Acros and FP4+ on Sandeha's recommendation. Once it's gone I'll likely go back to HC-110 or Adonal. I'm not big on experimenting with developers.

[Philip]

Nice shots, well-taken. Your pictures make me feel guilty about the half-dozen rolls of b&w waiting for me to develop.

And yours are obviously are well-developed.

So I'm intrigued, too, by this Ilfotec DD-X. The product information at Ilford's site says this:

"Correctly exposed negatives developed in ILFOTEC DD-X have a full range of tones, with
depth in the shadows, a smooth transition through the mid-tones and bright detailed
highlights."

That sounds a bit like a warning about *incorrectly* (or pushed/pulled) negatives. Any idea if Ilford recommends using something else (like the older Ilfosol) for pushing and pulling?

.

[scott]

Hi Philip,

There are definitely people who push with DD-X. I've never done it, don't ever push film, and I've only pulled a film once, and I think that was using HC-110. The ilfotec has been a very good developer with the few films I use, and I'll likely keep some on hand specifically for the 400 speed films. I HATE 400 film, but this roll of TMax turned out nicer than any other 400 I've ever shot, and I attribute that to the DD-X. It's expensive stuff, though, which is why I'll probably go back to the HC-110 as my general developer. I like Adonal, but the ~1/4 bottle I have left has almost completely crystalized, and I'm not happy about that. HC-110 never seems to go bad.

Thanks for your comments everyone. I appreciate your thoughts.

Scott

[Julio1fer]

Nice series of cityscapes! I visited Philadelphia once, many years ago.

Keep the 35mm going, Scott. It is working. DD-X is a developer for the Delta series of film, which is similar to Tmax.

[titrisol]

DD-X was a great developer, Ilford came with it in the 2000s.
I think it was a home-use-version of their machine brew and it came to the rescue of Delta400 and 3200 which were not receiving good reviews
I loved it for almost any film 100ASA and above, and it was just magical with Neopan 400
It worked great at 1+4 for 400ASA and above, and 1+9 for slower films (longer times)

The ilford forums had good information, rbarker is a great resource!

PS. I found my Ilford Product DataGuide from 1999 and it sayd DD-X coming soon
Ilfotec DD is/was their Dip-and-Dunk and Deep Tank processor developer