Help Needed for TMax 400

[okanumit]

I made a stupid mistake and accidentally underexposed a roll of TMax 400 by 5 stops. Is there a way to save the film. I have not developed it yet . Any suggestions about how to develop it ?? Developing time etc??
what kind of result should I expect? Thank you.

 

[okanumit]

I forgot to mention that I have TMAX developer..but if you any other suggestion, please let me know.

 

[Rick A]

How can you underexpose by 5 stops--did you shoot everything at shutter speed 1000 or 2000 that should have been at 30 or 60, or maybe f/16 for everything that should have been f/2.8? Explain how you did this,please.

Rick

Edit: Did you use a hand held meter and set it at 12,800? None of my cameras will go past 6400asa, only my Sekonic L-398 is capable of that setting, and you can really tell if it is there just by a quick glance.

 

[bdial]

Some developers are better than others for pushing, but 5 stops, as noted by Rick is pretty extreme. So, you may as well use it as a learning experience to see how far you can take the materials and chemistry you are already working with.
Kodak's data sheet has suggested times for various speeds. A snip test will be your best route. Cut off a portion of the film, extrapolate heavily from Kodak's fastest recommendation and see what happens. Adjust from that time as necessary and process the rest of the roll.

As to what to expect, a lot of grain, and very contrasty images.

 

[BetterSense]

I think I would just put it in a dilute developer overnight.

 

[mjs]

What BetterSense said. Try D-76 1:3 and leave it for 8-10 hours or so, no movement, no agitation. Just let it sit. Stop, fix and wash as normal.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I made a stupid mistake and accidentally underexposed a roll of TMax 400 by 5 stops. Is there a way to save the film. I have not developed it yet . Any suggestions about how to develop it ?? Developing time etc??
what kind of result should I expect? Thank you.

Nice for a chemical experiment or artistic exploration, but give up hope to make quality images from it. It's a goner. A 5-stop overexposure, on the other hand, and you could still make high-quality images, but B&W negative film is very sensitive to underexposure.

 

[okanumit]

how did i make this mistake? i just did not meter beforehand. my camera is a diana + . shutter speed is fixed ....1/60 ..the camera was on cloudy mode which is equivalent to f/11. after i shot a roll of tmax 400 indoors ,in my baby's room with ambient light, i measured the light with my lightmeter and noticed that my exposure was under 5 stops....

 

[jp498]

For something with a fixed shutter speed, you might want a more forgiving film in the future. Tmax was initially shunned, and not used in schools, because people felt traditional film like tri-x was more forgiving of exposure.

I'd probably push process it in tmax developer, the print the weak negatives at a higher contrast grade if needed.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

For something with a fixed shutter speed, you might want a more forgiving film in the future. Tmax was initially shunned, and not used in schools, because people felt traditional film like tri-x was more forgiving of exposure.

I'd probably push process it in tmax developer, the print the weak negatives at a higher contrast grade if needed.

There is no latitude towards underexposure, only acceptable loss of shadow detail.

 

[wclark5179]

Maybe this might help:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4016/f4016.pdf

Refer to page 21.

 

[Ian Grant]

What ever you do don't use D76 it's poor for push processing, you have the best developer TMax Dev, try the Kodak time in the link Bill's posted

Ian