RattyMouse,
I see you are holding out just like me. I refuse to risk even one negative, good or bad, on a film like TMY2, no matter how good it "CAN" be. This dilemma should have played out months ago.
DD-X and Delta ought to be excellent for you. I have only used two bottles of DD-X, but thought it was really a fine developer. I settled on Xtol-R since cost is much less and the results are darn good, but for a store-bought developer DD-X is very hard to beat. I too, like TMY2, but I'm just a little gun shy at the moment.Well, I've never really shot much Delta 400, so now is as good a time as any to get my feet wet with that film. I just love TMAX400 because you can shoot it at ISO800 if need be and still develop normally. Anyway, I started using TMAX400 on my first trip to Japan and really loved the images I came away with and so repeated that for my next 4-5 trips there so it became sort of a ritual for me to shoot this film (and use DD-X) to develop it. Great, great results.
XTOL is about 90g/l sulfite (based on the patent, which may or may not correspond exactly with the commercial formula).
I don't buy the t-grain/sulfite stuff. That was mostly a Crawley thing perpetuated by Anchell/Troop and I don't think it has much merit although clearly tablular films, being finer grained, are also a good fit with non-solvent developers. In any case D-76 was the release developer for the T Max films and they performed excellently with it. XTOL was a later development and was a step forward (albeit a small one) in solvent developers.
TMAX 100 is not the same film introduced around 1987. In 2002, when coating was moved to Bldg. 38, grain of the newly designated "100TMX" increased compared to its predecessor, while acutance, already not spectacular, decreased. I didn't notice much change in TMAX 400 at that time, but found it significantly improved when the current version was introduced in late 2007....I never liked TMAX films when they came out but Kodak has improved them, definitely TMY2. I have not tried TMX again yet but I think that may be the original emulsion...opinions?...
Yes, I use XTOL straight with the Jobo, 1:1 with hand inversion. It's the film more than the developer.+1 or +2 or +3 even!
I'm still shooting up TMY 1 that's got 1996 expy.that I bought for 10 bucks a hundred sheet box ,always been in the fridge works great. I don't know about recent improvement in Ilford. I must say modern black and white films blow me away Kodak,Ilford and Fuji is about all I've tried. I remember Tri-X back in the 70's, that was when grain was grain!Thanks for all of your replies. I really can't complain about the results that I'm getting with TMAX developer. The frames taken with a metered body were better than my sunny-16 guesses, that could of been a factor. I will definitely give XTOL a try. I have to mail order it, local stores don't carry it. I usually mix my chemicals with distilled water and in most cases only use them one shot unless it's within a half hour of each other.
I recently got back into film, does anyone know if Ilford made any improvements to their Delta films in the last 10 years? I'm still using up my outdated stock.
regards,
Rick
Thanks for all of your replies. I really can't complain about the results that I'm getting with TMAX developer. The frames taken with a metered body were better than my sunny-16 guesses, that could of been a factor. I will definitely give XTOL a try. I have to mail order it, local stores don't carry it. I usually mix my chemicals with distilled water and in most cases only use them one shot unless it's within a half hour of each other.
I recently got back into film, does anyone know if Ilford made any improvements to their Delta films in the last 10 years? I'm still using up my outdated stock.
regards,
Rick
IMO D76 or ID 11 1+1I've read that Kodak states the resolution of TMY2 is 200 l/mm.
So far I have only processed it in TMAX developer 1:4. (shooting 120)
I recently did a lens test of 7 of my Bronica normal lenses (75-80mm) and noticed while many of my lenses could resolve 80 l/mm (which was the upper limits of my NBS targets) there is no way I could resolve 100 l/mm or more because of the grain. This is still great film IMO for a ISO400 film and will keep using it. I'm wondering how Kodak got that number? I've always read that TMAX developer was formulated for the TMAX films and was the best choice. Has anyone that has use TMAX developer gotten better results with something else? I'd prefer keeping the ISO at it's standard rating of 400.
thanks in advance,
Rick
IMO D76 or ID 11 1+1
Great replies, I have so much to try. What is your opinion of TMX vs TMY2? Did Kodak improve TMX the same time they did TMY?
I'm getting the feeling that there is no advantage of using TMX over TMY2...your thoughts? I've been lost in the digital world for the last 15 years and making my way back.
Thomas I've gone down that road but why keep trying different developers? I use xtol 1+2 semi and it works for me; makes great prints. of course I'm always wanting to try different but you'll never make art if you don't know your materialsI have used that combination in the past, and in my opinion TMY-2 sings in just about every developer used with it. It truly is a spectacular film.
But then again, I'm also a firm believer in the continuous use of materials, exploring alterations in technique and HOW the products are used, which in my opinion yields more performance improvement than trying to find the best materials. It also teaches us a lot about what exactly to expect once the film has been processed, which helps a lot with the printing, and eventually it gives a person a lot of feel for the whole work flow as one large interdependent system, where every step of the process matters down the road. If we know to a larger degree how the steps affect the outcome, we are better off in terms of the results achieved; we are much more in control.
I know people are curious about different developers, and I am like this also, which is why I'm working my way through some ADOX FX-39 I felt like I had to try. After it is gone, and I have used up my stash of Harvey's Panthermic 777, I'll probably go back to using Xtol again. Sometimes a walk on the other side of the fence is needed to appreciate what we have.
Thomas I've gone down that road but why keep trying different developers? I use xtol 1+2 semi and it works for me; makes great prints. of course I'm always wanting to try different but you'll never make art if you don't know your materials
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