Kodak TMAX P3200- bought 18 rolls...now what?

GarageBoy · Mar 7, 2013

Always wanted to try this film, and guess it's now or never. All 18 rolls expire on 12/14, but I've heard that it'll fog way before ?
Now that I have it, what should I shoot?
Thanks!

illumiquest · Mar 7, 2013

dark things.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 7, 2013

illumiquest said:
dark things.

Great reply

TMax 3200 is a fantastic film. I love it because it looks to my eyes a lot like the previous version of Tri-X, but it's sharper and somewhat finer grained. My advice is to shoot it at 1600, and just go have fun with it. It's great for evening and night photography. With a hand held camera and 35mm f/1.4 lens I've been able to get nice 16x20 prints from 1/15th second shutter speeds. That seems to jive with what most street lights provide good light at. You could even shoot at 3200 at 1/30th second and not worry too much about camera shake.
I used Rodinal, FX-37, or replenished Xtol to process. All worked really well. The film loves any developer you throw at it. Just run one or two test rolls to make sure you have your process down before you embark on your adventure.

Enjoy the film!

vpwphoto · Mar 7, 2013

Delish... tones and grain even at 800 but 1600 was always normal looking as opposed to pushing TMax400 that far.. I always used the T-Max developer and Kodak's suggested times/agitation, etc.

pentaxuser · Mar 7, 2013

GarageBoy said:
Always wanted to try this film, and guess it's now or never. All 18 rolls expire on 12/14, but I've heard that it'll fog way before ?

Thanks!

I've heard that its in the stars next July we'll collide with Mars. It'll fog way before it's expiry date?:confused:

It's the self destruct stuff that was left over from Mission Impossible. You cannot trust anybody these days especially that Spock character

pentaxuser

pmargolis · Mar 7, 2013

Enjoy the film and don't worry about the expiration date. For many years, I rated the stuff at 1,600 and processed it in HC110 Dil. B for 8-9 mins. It's a lovely film, as others have said -- too bad Kodak decided to kill it.

piu58 · Mar 8, 2013

> that it'll fog way before ?

Yes, it wil fog, but it remains useable.

edibot42 · Mar 8, 2013

It's a nice film, I have a few rolls left myself. Don't worry, it won't fog (at least not noticeably) before the expiration date.

EASmithV · Mar 8, 2013

freeze it when not shooting

GarageBoy · Mar 12, 2013

Thanks!
I guess I'll do some lurking in dark interiors

brucemuir · Mar 12, 2013

I was never crazy about it but I was relying on it too heavily to give me 3200-6400 on a project when I was green and first starting out. Flash wasn't allowed(for me ) and it was a fairly prestigious project involving some very old male and female subjects.

Luckily I was assisting and second shooting but I still got a nice body of work out of it.

Not my first choice for older female portraiture but that is no fault of the film really.

StoneNYC · Mar 13, 2013

What next? Spread the wealth I'll trade you for 2 rolls of Fuji CN film

~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

Felinik · Mar 13, 2013

I shoot it evenings or stage events @3200 and underexpose 2/3 stop if it's pitch dark and street/stage lights, develop in X-TOL turns out pretty nice. Lately I've started trying Delta 3200 as this one is discontinued, and it looks pretty good as well!

As mentioned before in the thread, freeze until some hours before you need it.

GarageBoy · Mar 13, 2013

Quick storage question: should I just blast a roll in a night (gonna be hot here in the summer, soon) or can it keep in my camera w/o freezing?

Felinik · Mar 13, 2013

Of course you can keep it in the camera without freezing, the freezing is just for the long term storage, if you think you'll shoot them all within the expire date, keep them in the fridge instead...

removed account4 · Mar 13, 2013

if you were wondering ...

i have shot some tmz 10 years expired
and it sat in a dresser drawer before i loaded and shot it ...
exposed at asa 400 ( maybe 800 )
and processed it in coffee and the negatives came
out absolutely beautiful.

have fun with your film !

john

Patrick Robert James · Mar 13, 2013

My approach to shooting in low light has always been to ignore the meter and shoot at the slowest shutter speed possible. This approach gets the most out of the film. Most people woefully underexpose film when it gets dark.

jm94 · Mar 14, 2013

I loved TMZ, It was great for low light and produced lovely 12x16 prints in 35mm at ASA 1600 with good shadow detail. Not a fan of delta 3200, i really do not like it's look, probably the only ilford film I do not like! theres plenty of it out there but it was a shame to see it discontinued!

Kodak TMAX P3200- bought 18 rolls...now what?

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