Anyone tired Ultrafine UltraMax T-Grain 400 B & W Speed Vari-Film 35mm x 24 Exp

I used Ultraine T grain 400 many years ago, at the time I thought it was the old Foma Tgrain 800, don't know the origins but doubt that is made by Harmon or Kodak. Maybe rebranded Foma 200, which does not push well, pushing to 800 would a 3 stop push. Maybe old stock 800?

"NEW UltraMax 400 film yields excellent negatives when exposed anywhere between ISO 50 up to ISO 800. Fine Grain, Excellent shadow detail, Variable speed. We have a limited run of this Ultrafine favorite that we have been making in small batches over the last few years. Get in on the action and pick up some Ultrafine UltraMax, A True Classic!

This film has a T-Grain type of emulsion, which creates an extremely fine grain structure used for making very large prints. With a wide exposure latitude, you can yield excellent negatives when exposed between ISO 50 and 800. Ultrafine T-Grain can be processed in T-Max type Developers (Ultrafine or Kodak) or conventional type developers as well. Ultrafine Ultramax T-Grain Films were first introduced to the marketplace in 1989."

I am thinking of trying a hundred feet of this film and am wondering if any other members have tried this film recently and what they think of it.

Here's a pool of examples: https://www.flickr.com/search/?text="ultrafine"+"ultramax"&view_all=1

Robert Ley said:

I am thinking of trying a hundred feet of this film and am wondering if any other members have tried this film recently and what they think of it.

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I ran a test roll today using my Zeiss Planar 1.4/50 lens on my F100 using matrix metering, developed per Ultrafine’s instructions in TMAX developer 1+4 at 20C for 8:00 (30 second initial tank inversions, then 10 seconds every minute). EI 125 and 200 were excellent: great shadow detail, soft highlight roll-off (highlights not blown). Nice sharp details. Tonal curve appears to be more like old-school 1990s T-Grain emulsions rather than current TMY-2 or Delta 400–sort of like cubic grain tonality with T-Grain acutance. EI400 was very usable at this developer/dilution/time, but I’d like either extend development ***slightly*** or eek out a bit more speed by using TMAX 1+9 at 24C for ~8:00. EI 500 density really drops off dramatically vs EI 400. EI 400 is really the maximum speed for usable speed at normal published development times in TMAX developer. True speed is really ~EI 200. If I were to shoot this at EI 500, I would give it +1 push; EI 800 would get a +2 push (but I’d really just use another film if possible).

A second test roll of the same subjects were developed in ID-11 Ultrafine’s recommended time of 6:00 in stock (1+0) ID-11. I found these negatives to be much thinner. They’d probably print fine in the darkroom, but not well-suited for DSLR scanning.

This emulsion absolutely benefits from the lifted shadows that TMAX developer provides.

Overall, it’s a nice moderate speed film—especially for the price (if you want to bulk-roll it). Great for causal shooting, street photography, family shots, etc. For more critical work, I’d rather use FP4+, HP5, Double-X or RPX400 if I wanted a more traditional tonal curve; TMY-2 or Delta 400 if I wanted a “more modern”, crisp, clean look.

Paul Howell said:

Maybe rebranded Foma 200

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This is the only film I can think of that fits the bill and roughly matches the price point. Its grain and halation seem consistent with this insofar as I can judge it from online samples.

As to the alternatives, I think they're all unlikely for various reasons:

• The only other extant (true) T-grain alternatives on the market at the 400-speed point are TMAX and Delta, and this certainly doesn't appear to be either esp. given the price point.
• A proper 400-speed T-grain white-label manufactured by Harman could technically be possible, but the price point is far too low for this.
• It's unlikely that Foma would have built a proper 400-speed T-grain emulsion and only sell it at cut-throat prices to Ultrafine while not marketing it under their own brand as they are known to do with their other films.
• The Chinese to the best of my knowledge simply are not yet at the point where they can deliver a 400-ish T-grain film.
• Fuji makes no B&W film.
• Old stock appears unlikely to me; after 10+ years of 'film revival', most of the promising/sensible stocks for still work have been milked out/dried up, and what remains are (no offense) oddball products and small odds & ends, but not something you could sensibly sell in any reasonable volume with these specs.

So, Foma 200 is IMO the likely candidate, and this means the marketing by Ultrafine includes a little wishful thinking as Foma 200 is realistically a ca. 160-speed film (in XTOL variants) and is a mixed-grain (not pure T-grain) emulsion. But with a bit of artistic license, it should be marketable that way.

Ultrafine may have ordered a special run of the old Foma 800 which would match the range of ISO from 50 to 800 with 400 being the sweet spot. I never did order a roll, maybe on my next order I will a couple of rolls.

Fomapan 200 can be pushed to EI 800. Below is an example taken with a Mamiya C330, developed in T-MAX developer and printed and scaned from ADOX Variotone warmtone paper:



Strong spotlight from above.

Paul Howell said:

Ultrafine may have ordered a special run of the old Foma 800

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I don't believe that. Why would Foma coat a run for Ultrafine for a song, with all the inefficiencies of a low manufacturing volume, and not include a similar products in their own lineup? The whole thing doesn't add up.

From seller

NEW UltraMax 400 film yields excellent negatives when exposed anywhere between ISO 50 up to ISO 800. Fine Grain, Excellent shadow detail, Variable speed. We have a limited run of this Ultrafine favorite that we have been making in small batches over the last few years. Get in on the action and pick up some Ultrafine UltraMax, A True Classic!

On the other hand a "T grain type emulsion rather than T grain, so back to Foma 200 which is a hybrid. But Ultrfine states 400 was introduced in 1989, does match either T 800 or Foma 200, so who knows.

If it is repackaged Foma 200, pick up a roll of 120 and see if it has that wretched spotting issue.
Has Delta 400 been ruled out? I ask because Ultrafine Online's (Photo Warehouse) Ultra-fine line is repackaged Kentmere.

It is only available in 35mm 24 exposure. As the seller has been offering this film since 1989 I doubt that is Delta, in those days ILford would not rebrand it mainline films. The packaging is not typical of Harman no DX coding plastic cassettes looks like Foma. I ordered a few rolls, last used it over 10 years ago, will pull up my notes what developer I used.

Thanks Paul. That's good to know... Could it be Kodak WL220 surveillance film? It was used for traffic and security cameras. It has tabular grain.... Maybe there are master rolls of this stuff that Kodak kept in cold storage, and they only way they can get rid of it is to repackage it for Ultrafine Online...