I’ve been off colour this week, and I don’t mean C41! I had a tough week at work before taking a two week vacation on the Wirral. That was a great two weeks, very relaxing, full of interesting days, and plenty of film photography. Then it was back to work and the same old, same old. I feel jaded. As you might have noticed I’ve not yet returned to my “post every two days routine” – to be honest I’ve just not felt like it!
I did have a day off on Thursday and had a mammoth processing day! You may remember that I brought a 3 reel processing tank from a seller on Eprey, you can read about that here if you wish. In total I developed 18 rolls. As a reasonable proportion of it was Ilford Delta, I thought I’d open my bottle of DDX developer. It’s much more expensive than my usual Ilfosol 3, but designed to get the most from Delta. The results by eye seem to be good. It can also be re-used in the same session so I got 6 rolls out of each mix.
Some time back I tried the Agfa APX 100, I liked the results. The general consensus, is that it’s Ilford manufactured. To my eye it seemed to be a slightly higher contrast, than say FP4. I thought I’d try a roll of the 400asa, and took a single roll with me on this trip.
This roll was developed in the DDX 1+4, 20°c, 11.5 mins – (same time as Kentmere PAN 400!). Of course the weather and therefore the light was different so it’s not a comparison, but the 400 does seem to lack the “bite” that the 100 has. Generally I’ve found the faster films to be more contrasty than the slower. For a standard emulsion 400 speed film, the grain seems OK. It’s certainly cheaper than Delta 400. So in time, if I need a 400 I might use more in the future, for that reason alone.
The view from the ramparts, looking across the estuary, above, is actually a much more recent railway bridge, the turret at the end built to be “in keeping” with it’s surroundings!
As an everyday film, when I’m just out and about shooting, and don’t want to use, a more expensive film, I think APX 400 might fit the bill quite well!
S.H.O.U.T. 
I don’t envy your mammoth processing day. I’ve usually had enough after a single round, much less doing it three times over! To be honest, it’s mainly the getting ready, and cleaning up after stages I don’t like – the actual developing bit is fine. Maybe I need some sort of lab assistant / butler to help out with the other parts…
The pictures look well. The last load of APX 100 I developed in DDX looked overdeveloped and quite grainy, but I put that down to me messing up somehow. A roll I developed in Rodinal (well, Adonal, but the same thing) came out nicely though.
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Hello! – A butler! Now there’s and idea! Maybe a Sherpa to carry the camera bag at times too 🙂 I can sympathise with your comment, I’m the same – it’s why I partly wait for a batch, apart from the economy of doing that way, I convince myself it’s a more worthwhile use of time getting ready if I’m doing a few rolls! As regards to the Dev, I think I agree. I suspect cheap film/cheap(er) developer might work better. When I get around to another roll of APX400 I’ll try it in my usual Ilfosol3 and see what I get! All the best – Andy
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