Dutch Date - Part 3: Minolta Freedom Dual C and Minolta Freedom Zoom Explorer

Every so often, I'll get really frugal and ask a couple of cameras to share a roll of film.  Though there are problems here and there, they'll usually agree.  I call these "Dutch Dates" and usually try to pair cameras with something more than simply the film format in common.  Below is a look at just one such pairing...

They scarfed down their British fare with reckless abandon, and remarked, how of their contemporaries coming up in the 90's, they were some of the few who could really see the "big picture."

Camera Models: Minolta Freedom Dual C (1991) and Minolta Freedom Zoom Explorer (1999)

Similarities: Both are Minolta made point and shoot models with multiple focal lengths that have the fairly rare ability to shoot at the 28mm focal length on the wide end of their focal length range.

Differences: The Freedom Dual C, an earlier model, is actually a dual lens camera rather than a zoom like the Freedom Zoom Explorer.  It offers special buttons only to turn off flash or to use a self timer.  The Explorer however has a burst mode, night portrait mode, red-eye reduction flash, and macro mode among its options. 

Film Shared: Ilford Delta 400, fresh dated, developed in TFX-2. 

As the 1990's progressed, point and shoot cameras continued to try to reach new and impractical levels of focal length, as the typical 35-70mm range began to expand ever upwards with each successive year.  As the decade closed, and a consumer digital era crept imminently close, the longest of these super zooms stretched to a 200mm focal length! 

Far fewer camera models in this age of length inadequacy crept inward, typically leaving 35mm (or more often 38mm) as the widest focal length offered, and in effect leaving snapshooters in close quarters with few comparative choices.  Minolta was one of the few makers to crack the semi-wide ceiling on some of their models, with a couple of models reaching inward to be operable at a wide 28mm focal length.  

Darkroom Diaries: Ilford Pan F+ 50 and Photographers Formulary TFX 2

Challenging one's comfort zone admittedly is a good thing.  As big of a fan of HC-110 as I am, I did have to wonder what else was out there in black and white developers that might work well to give me.  As my supply of the syrup was winding down, I began to explore what other options might be out there, and was wondering what I might find to vary my stable of developers.

Ultimately I selected Photographer's Formulary TFX-2.

The desire to try a new developer actually goes a bit beyond simple caprice as I imply.  As much as I love HC-110 as a general purpose developer, I wanted to see what I might be able to find that might be a lower contrast developer, particularly for use on microfilm as well as Ferrania P30, both of which tended to have higher contrast in HC-110.  I'd seen some results of P30 in the Metol based Beutler formula, which really looked promising, and was about to pull the trigger on the needed powders when, on perusing the wide array of options from Photographer's Formulary, elected that TFX-2 was the perfect choice.  Similar in makeup to the Beutler formula, but in a 2 part liquid formula that could be used as a one-shot developer, TFX-2 also had some at least one follower who was using it as a stand developing solution!  It was just like taking my existing practices and just changing the ingredients! 

Rather than jump directly into microfilm developing with TFX-2, I elected to do my first tries of stand developing of this developer using a couple of rolls of Ilford's Pan F+ film, a 50 speed emulsion known for being a bit heavy on contrast.  Using 12.5ml of both solution A and B in the 400ml tank for a 30 minute stand, I was quite curious to see what I'd get.  My first roll was a roll of 120 shot in a newly acquired Zeiss Ikonta 515/2, and my second roll was a cut down roll of 127 taken in my newly beloved Zeh Goldi.  

My results show a mix of promise and concern.  Some are simply wonderful, while I find there are a few challenges that can result when using this developer, at least on the somewhat temperamental Pan F film...

From the Zeiss folder, I'm instantly impressed by the first frame developed in TFX-2.  Though the sky shows some rather odd developer artifacts around the steeple, the tonality in the statue is nothing short of wonderful to me.