Finally I managed to score some D96 developer (thanks retrocamera.be!). It is a bottle of Bellini D96 that I got just for trying out Double-X with the developer it was meant for.
D96 is supposedly a lower contrast developer than D76 for example, which might explain why this is a good match. D96 is a developer made for motion picture film (which Double-X is). D96 is used as a stock solution (meant for replenishment systems) so you just reuse the solution until exhausted.
I found that Double-X in Xtol was a bit too hot. The contrast worked pretty well for street photo style pictures, but I prefer to add contrast with higher paper grades or after scanning, rather than having high contrast negatives to begin with. Information that was never recorded can never be recovered, and it’s much easier to add contrast the way you want than to remove it. Kind of like salt in food, you need to have some, but if you add too much before it’s on the plate you can’t save the dish.
Here is what I wrote about Double-X in XTOL 1+1 a couple of years ago. Since I wanted this to be a fair comparison, I rescanned that roll since I scanned it last time with a Plustek. Here are example pictures of Double-X in XTOL 1+1, developed for 9,5min, 20c:
Alright and finally here’s some sample pictures. D96, 6,5min in 20c. Scanned with the Kodak Pakon F135+, my custom 16bit workflow.
In my eyes, it has more grain when developed in XTOL. Also, it feels like there is an S-curve when developing in XTOL, the darkest shadows get crushed Look at the umbrella the man is holding, and look shadowy part of the ceiling in the walkway.
Now compare to the roll developed in D96, look at the ice, or the snow next to the men working on the truck. Look at the shadow side of the phone. The tones are nice and long, with lots of midrange. Also, the images look almost grainless in D96, they’re not in reality, Double-X is very grainy compared to other modern emulsions of this speed range, but in these scaled down pictures there is almost no detectable grain.
That’s it for this time. Let me know your thoughts, and check out my shop for issues of my zine. Any support is appreciated, all money will go into keeping this site running.