35mm TMY2 and large prints

waynecrider · May 11, 2010

I'd like to pull the largest print I can off a roll of 35mm TMY2. I'm not expecting tight fine grain in the print, but I don't want it to look like golf balls either. The print, a glamour portrait, is to be displayed on a bedroom wall. I'm considering using Xtol, but could be persuaded to buying something else if it would help the grain situation. Thoughts?

andrewkirkby · May 11, 2010

I'd do a test with Xtol & TMY2 before you process your precious neg.

Ronald Moravec · May 11, 2010

Do the test so you know what you are doing.

I like D76, but Xtol is a decent developer. Print the test negs ASAP and then develope the glamor shots ASAP.

Xtol is marginally better than D76 which I use. I can mix small amounts of D76 myself and it tells me if it goes bad, a good trade off to me for slight decrease in quality. Right now I use 76, TM100 & 400. I am a happy guy.

tkamiya · May 11, 2010

To give you some idea on what you might see....

I've tried cropping and enlarging TMY2 processed in XTOL 1:1 to equivalent of full frame on 16x20. With very sharp and quite contrasty negative, it was an acceptable print. With anything else, I wasn't happy. All you can do is try it and see if you actually like the result.

R gould · May 12, 2010

XTOL should be good, I would use promicrol from champion,I have done in the past with fp4+ and hp5+ and got very acceptable print up to 16x20 both full frame and tightly cropped, grain sure from the hp5+, butnot golf ball, nice and tight, and I would say 16x20 isabout the max to get an acceptable print from 35mm,Richard

cmo · May 12, 2010

One more vote for XTol. You will not be disappointed.

phaedrus · May 12, 2010

35 mm TMY-2, X-TOL 1:1, good enlarging lens, aligned enlarger, no vibration makes 16x20 prints acceptable. One size smaller can be grainless. Remarkably, I get the same results with Acros.

waynecrider · May 12, 2010

Thanks everyone; I've been a Xtol user for quite awhile now but was wondering if there might be another option. I guess I'll stick with what I know.

BetterSense · May 12, 2010

Thoughts?

How high does your enlarger head go? How much paper can you afford?

TMY2 will get the job done. Your bottlenecks are going to be lens quality, precise focus, and camera/enlarger shake. I would worry about those before I would worry about grain. A bit of grain never hurt anyone anyway.

Colin Corneau · May 12, 2010

Harry Lime · May 13, 2010

Anyone developing TMY-2 with the TMAX developer? How does it stack up against XTOL or good old D76?

archer · May 13, 2010

Dear Wayne;
you might consider Microdol X if you want the smoothest grain from a very big enlargement. Here is a crop from a full size enlargement to 24X30 from a Panatomic X 35mm neg. I shot in 1964. I don't know how much larger the grain is in TMY2 but you can see how smooth the grain is in this enlargement.
Denise Libby

Ian Grant · May 13, 2010

Perceptol is still available and a good alternative to Microdol-X which has been discontinued although there may still be stock in some stores etc.

However I'm another who would recommend Xtol with Tmax 400.

Ian

jp498 · May 13, 2010

Xtol 1+1 is my recommendation. There will be some grain (compared to larger sized film), but it will be tasteful.

35mm TMY2 and large prints

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