Café Society

Café Society, originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

This particular shot is doubly a test, in that it's one of my first with a beautiful E series 100 f/2.8 I just acquired, and from the first roll of T-Max 400 I developed in Ilford's LC29 developer.

Compare with the look of the film in Ilfotec DD-X;


(click the image to see it larger).

I was prompted to do this after having a think about the last roll of T-Max I developed, and wondering whether it might be slightly better with more assertive grain. My personal view is that it looks better in LC29, at least on the showing of this roll.

One of the great things about bulk rolls of film is the ability to roll little 10-12 shot rolls for this sort of experiment. Arista Pro 50 (rebranded Ilford Pan F) in R09 will be the next experiment, I think.

Incidentally, today also marks the beginning of the DVD Forums' yearly "Picture a Day" project, in which everyone tries to take one good picture each day for the month of July. Mine will be on film this year, and I hope to have the first week uploaded on or around Monday of next week. If you're interested in last year's, you can see my efforts here, and the group's output here.