How is TMax 100 at 400?

[Jon Buffington]

Two examples of TMY-2 in 35mm, first one showing some light grain in the sky with hc110 (xtol as a developer would probably minimize/rid this). 2nd hardly any grain, d76, 3rd is TMX...neither is anything in particular, just what is handy. TMY is great film, I REALLY like TMX for landscapes/nature. I just ordered a bulk roll of both TMY2 and TMX as I am out of TMX and only half a bulk roll of TMY left
little grain but minor in sky...dreary day

very little grain, bright and sunny day

TMX...smooth

 

[Ariston]

Pretty much what everyone else has already implied - TMX100 has a steep toe. Underexposing it @200 is like chopping your own toes off; @400 it's like amputating your legs at the knee. There just won't be anything left down there. Use TMY400 instead. There will be a little more grain, but the edge acutance is higher, so TMY often looks even sharper. I shoot both of them in 35mm, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5, and 8x10, so am very familiar with them.

Does TMax 400 have a steep fall-off of shadow detail, too? Can you push it any?

 

[DREW WILEY]

TMY400 has a long straight line and short toe just like the 100 speed product. Expect the same thing. Remember, you aren't "pushing" anything - when you underexpose, you're simply lopping off shadow gradation to the same degree. If a wholly blacked-out deep shadow effect is something you like, then go for it. Just know what to expect. Low contrast scenes obviously don't carry the same amount of risk.

 

[Ariston]

Thank you for the info - exactly what I needed! I say only “pushing” because it is a lot easier than saying “underexposed then push processed.” It is admittedly lazy, but hopefully most everyone understands.

Is there a fine grained film that is good for underexposing then push processing? Tri-X pushes fine for me, but it was grainy.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Thank you for the info - exactly what I needed! I say only “pushing” because it is a lot easier than saying “underexposed then push processed.” It is admittedly lazy, but hopefully most everyone understands.

Is there a fine grained film that is good for underexposing then push processing? Tri-X pushes fine for me, but it was grainy.

Try the tabular grained films such as TMax and Delta.

 

[DREW WILEY]

It's exactly tabular grain films like TMX, TMY, and Delta 100 that are the worst for underexposure! If properly exposed for shadow values, they can be developed for a higher contrast gamma than most other pan films, but won't forgive shooting at higher than box speeds as well. Delta has a little more toe than TMX, but that's why I shoot it at 50 instead of 100, to get the deep shadows up on the straight line, just the opposite of "pushing". But the ticket would still seem to be TMY400. Try a variety of shots at both 400 and 800 before buying bulk film. A single ordinary roll would do it.

 

[Ariston]

I've ordered a few rolls of TMax 400 and Delta 100 to try. Thank you guys for all the insight.

 

[alanrockwood]

I’m thinking about buying some for my bulk loader, but don’t want to be locked in to 100 ISO for every roll...

Not quite an answer to the question you asked, but what about just buying a second bulk loader? That way you can have one loaded towh Tmax 100 and the other loaded with Tmax 400.

There are always some listed on ebay. The most common ones are probably the Watson 100. A similar one of somewhat higher quality is the Alden 74.

I prefer the Lloyd type (under various brand names). Some people object to the design of the Lloyd type because it uses a felt light trap whereas the others use a contact-less light trap. The felt traps can scratch the film if the felt gets dirty. Pulling some sticky tape through the light trap can clean the felt if it gets dirty. I think the Lloyd units are the easiest to use and waste less film than the others. The other Supposed disadvantage of the Lloyd is that it doesn't have a frame counter. You have to count the number of turns of the crank to load the desired number of shots in a cartridge. To me that's not big deal because I learned to count at least as early as a year ago.

You can also minimize the wasted film with the other designs if you learn to do some of the operations in the dark.

Other designs: Watson 66B (better than model 100 in my opinion), Telesar, AP, LPL, Prinz, and perhaps a few others. There's a lot o name badge engineering that goes on with bulk loaders, so some of the ones under different brand names are actually identical to units under different brand names.

From the discussion above it almost sounds like there is a big difference between the types. There are some differences in operation between some of the units, but actually they all work pretty well if used properly.

Here's a trick that you may already know about If you don't want to buy reloadable cartridges, but if not, here goes anyway: If you can find once-shot cartridges (e.g. ones that have been used for C-41), just tape onto the end of the film stub of an old cartridge. These days its getting harder to find sources for the once-shot cartridges, but if there is still a company processing consumer film in the neighborhood you might be able to pick up a supply. I think this method is probably a little easier than popping open the reloadable cassettes and making sure they are closed properly. There is the issue of DX coding to consider, if you want to worry about that. There are some ways around that issue, or just don't worry about it and remember to set the ISO manually on the camera whenever you load the camera.

 

[Ariston]

Not quite an answer to the question you asked, but what about just buying a second bulk loader? That way you can have one loaded towh Tmax 100 and the other loaded with Tmax 400.

There are always some listed on ebay. The most common ones are probably the Watson 100. A similar one of somewhat higher quality is the Alden 74.

I prefer the Lloyd type (under various brand names). Some people object to the design of the Lloyd type because it uses a felt light trap whereas the others use a contact-less light trap. The felt traps can scratch the film if the felt gets dirty. Pulling some sticky tape through the light trap can clean the felt if it gets dirty. I think the Lloyd units are the easiest to use and waste less film than the others. The other Supposed disadvantage of the Lloyd is that it doesn't have a frame counter. You have to count the number of turns of the crank to load the desired number of shots in a cartridge. To me that's not big deal because I learned to count at least as early as a year ago.

You can also minimize the wasted film with the other designs if you learn to do some of the operations in the dark.

Other designs: Watson 66B (better than model 100 in my opinion), Telesar, AP, LPL, Prinz, and perhaps a few others. There's a lot o name badge engineering that goes on with bulk loaders, so some of the ones under different brand names are actually identical to units under different brand names.

From the discussion above it almost sounds like there is a big difference between the types. There are some differences in operation between some of the units, but actually they all work pretty well if used properly.

Here's a trick that you may already know about If you don't want to buy reloadable cartridges, but if not, here goes anyway: If you can find once-shot cartridges (e.g. ones that have been used for C-41), just tape onto the end of the film stub of an old cartridge. These days its getting harder to find sources for the once-shot cartridges, but if there is still a company processing consumer film in the neighborhood you might be able to pick up a supply. I think this method is probably a little easier than popping open the reloadable cassettes and making sure they are closed properly. There is the issue of DX coding to consider, if you want to worry about that. There are some ways around that issue, or just don't worry about it and remember to set the ISO manually on the camera whenever you load the camera.

Thanks for the rundown on different loaders. Buying another loader is probably what I’ll end up doing, because I like having cheap bulk film on hand.