Eastman Double X processing notes for lab help

Stephen Perera · February 7, 2020

As we speak 2 x cans of 400ft Eastman Double X are flying to London - Jarin recommended I shoot the 'cleaner' Tri-X in 16mm but Cinelab London don't process it and I already had a stock of Double X in my fridge so my hand was forced....

anyway....normally I just tell Cinelab I want a normal processed negative (no push or pull) and then a .dpx log scan at 2K.....

but this time I'm taking the stock to its limits....shooting against the sun, person in silhouettes and high contrast in most cases.....some not......I shot at EI 250 in daylight and almost always at f11 to f22 on a Cooke Varokinetal....spot metering the skies to get detail.....thinking zone system always...then mixed in with interior scenes at T2.5 to T4 max with tungsten

I was wondering whether there's anything different I should tell the lab....sometimes out there i was EI 200.....shooting in the last half hour of magic hour before the sun set over the mountains of Algeciras opposite our Rock of Gibraltar....in my experience Double X doesn't have much latitude.....not like BW film for stills photography where you have a much larger range of interpretation of a good negative......

any advice comments, advice, thoughts, experience, welcome

Edited February 7, 2020 by Stephen Perera

Simon Wyss · February 7, 2020

1 hour ago, Stephen Perera said:

sometimes out there i was EI 200

in my experience Double X doesn't have much latitude.....not like BW film for stills photography where you have a much larger range of interpretation of a good negative

You’re messing things totally up. Is it any wonder? We’re in the Aquarius time of the year, so the weirdest of ideas crawl in brains.

Earnest, it is not EI 200 out there. The manufacturer states the E. I. according to a standardized processing method. The various methods are described in the standards. The manufacturer also indicates in which general lighting the index is valuable. These are daylight (which is generalised over the day) and artificial lighting (generalised again on 3400 Kelvin). From these starting points it is you who decides what should hit the film, light-wise. It is nobody else than you who knows what diaphragm setting, which filter, how long an exposure time, and in view of what final image these things are dealt with.

For projection prints you want to have an developed-out negative. A given film should be developed by people who know the stock, i. e. who know what densities result from at least a few developer-time-temperature combinations. I can tell you about because I have processed a great variety of films in many different ways. Your default menu should thus be the formula indicated by the film manufacturer and nominal treatment. If you deviate from that, you must know what for, else you only stir up mud. You can change the density and the contrast of the positive image anytime later (to great extents).

You can compare a ciné negative film to a stills film, no big difference photographically. Yet, the positive image on paper looks quite different from a slide made off the same negative image. Scans and data files displayed by LCD or LED screens or tubes look different again. Without your grip on who should see what you’re lost.

Stephen Perera · February 7, 2020

hahaha the Aquarius time of the year!!!!!!! Im gonna trust my instincts in what I did out there with the iris etc.....haha

what I meant to say about EI 200 out there is that I noticed the Sekonic had slipped from my 250 asa rated to 200 asa rated and thus half a stop off...the Sekonic has the touch screen

Edited February 7, 2020 by Stephen Perera