I shot my first pack of the new black border PX600 UV+
I will scan an post some results soon on my blog and here soon but here are my first thoughts:
1. The B&W is definitely more B and W, especially the whites.
2. Like all of the impossible films I have noticed this film does much better indoors under low light with long exposures. The longer the exposure the less sensitive the film seems to be with regards to developing temperatures.
3. Temperature during development when you are shooting outside in bright sun light really matters. I shot on a cool day, low 50's (deg F), and developed between 59-63 deg F (which is perfect for indoor shots) and every image was over exposed and washed out (and yes I block the film from light). And I had the light dark wheel set to all dark, so as usual you loose your ability to make adjustments because you are forced to shoot at one extreme end of exposure. I did one test developing between 74 and 77 deg F and that seemed to work better. I still need to test this more.
4. The film still develops a color shift toward orange when heat is applied. I shot an image in my car which was quite warm with the heat on (85 deg F or so) and got a quite nice almost color looking image. I will say that there wasn't the usual loss of contrast you would see in the past film developed at high temps, but this was only one shot so I don't know how repeatable it is.
5. This film is much more crisp with deeper blacks and whiter whites and really has potential. That said it would be awesome if the dam films weren't so sensitive to temperature. I don't mind that they are sensitive, it is kinda cool to be able to add heat and cold to alter the image. But a few degrees difference really can change the look and that makes it impossible to have any repeatability without shooting under temperature controlled conditions. I really don't care that you have to block the images from light as I put them in a hot/cold clip to develop anyway.
It should be noted I am shooting with an SX-70 Sonar with a ND filter. I have thought about stacking a second ND filter to see if that would help. I don't know if using a true 600 camera would be better. I'd love to hear from anyone using a 600 camera, especially what settings on the light/dark wheel you have to use. personally I think they need to adjust the film speed so you can use a neutral setting on the wheel to get decent exposure, that would give you room to play on the exposure.
So the summarize, the new UV+ is better, it's improved, but until I can use it with consistent results under a wider temperature range I won't call it perfect. Right now this film is perfect for indoor shoots, especially at night, on a tripod, in temps around high 50's to low 70's (deg F). Oh and if you are shooting indoors under lower light (no sun light) you don't really need to block the film from light as much.
