New Tmax 400 4x5 Availablity

[Alex Hawley]

Anyone found a supplier with the new TMY in 4x5? I've found the 8x10 and 120 but no 4x5 yet. I would prefer to do my film testing with individual 4x5 sheets but I guess I could do it with 120 in a pinch.

 

[c6h6o3]

Anyone found a supplier with the new TMY in 4x5? I've found the 8x10 and 120 but no 4x5 yet. I would prefer to do my film testing with individual 4x5 sheets but I guess I could do it with 120 in a pinch.

The 120 has anti-UV backing. It won't print worth a damn on Azo.

 

[Alex Hawley]

That's true Jim. I'm not doing Azo anymore but I still wonder if the anti-UV backing will make a difference. I also wonder if the old TMY 4x5 is close enough to the new stuff that I could use it to test.

 

[Peter Schrager]

tmy400 and azo

the uv backing has no effect on azo printing....sandy king answered this in another thread
Peter

 

[Alex Hawley]

Found the post from Sandy. Thanks Peter.

 

[Michael Kadillak]

the uv backing has no effect on azo printing....sandy king answered this in another thread
Peter

It is common knowledge that film with UV backing can produce an image on Azo paper. But to the descriminating eye, it is far less than optimal. I will leave it at that.

Cheers!

 

[c6h6o3]

the uv backing has no effect on azo printing....sandy king answered this in another thread
Peter

Have you ever tried to print a TMX negative on Azo? You'll get 99 and 44/100% pure mud. Even on grade 4. Maybe that's caused by something else, but until someone can tell we what that something else might be I can only assume it's the anti-UV coating.

Michael's post above is being more than kind. One's eye doesn't have to be very discriminating to see the difference.

Alex, I'd be interested to hear your experiences with other papers. I've been making test negatives comparing the old with the new but I haven't printed them yet. The only enlarging paper I have is Kentona, with which I haven't learned yet to print very well, but I've heard that its response is similar to Azo.

 

[Alex Hawley]

OK, let's drop the debate about using the 120 roll film. I'll change my question a bit and ask if it would be worthwhile to test with the old TMY in 4x5? My quandary is that I don't want to burn up a bunch of 8x10 sheets doing film testing, given its expense, as opposed to doing it with 4x5 at a lower cost. I will be testing for both contact printing (8x10) and enlargement (4x5 and 120).

I've never used TMY in any form up to this point so my only starting point will be other TMY user's experience.

Alex, I'd be interested to hear your experiences with other papers. I've been making test negatives comparing the old with the new but I haven't printed them yet. The only enlarging paper I have is Kentona, with which I haven't learned yet to print very well, but I've heard that its response is similar to Azo.

Jim, I've written several posts on this in the past year so here's my experience in a nutshell: Kentona is a beautiful paper and is can be very close to Azo in its tonal characteristics. Many of my 8x10 negatives print very well on it and in some cases, do better than they did on Azo. The downside is that Kentona is available only in one grade so one would have to pay attention to tailoring the negatives to it. Second favorite is Slavich Unibrom. I'm still exploring its capability but I think it can be a winner. It's available in grade 2, 3, and 4, and also available in single weight. Then there's the Ilford MG papers which I find to be pretty capable, including contact prints.

I'm at the point where I'm trying to stabilize things and lock in on using just two films and just one or two papers. Ilford FP4 my current choice for film because of its availability in 7x17 and the other standard sizes. With all the good words that are being written about TMY, especially the new stuff, I think it deserves a fair shake too. I've learned my lesson the hard way about using the second tier films. I will now quite gladly pay for the expertise Kodak and Ilford have at making excellent quality film.

 

[dpurdy]

I thought the UV coating was only for the roll film? It won't work for platinum if it is uv coated. Tmax 100 is useless.

 

[Alex Hawley]

I thought the UV coating was only for the roll film? It won't work for platinum if it is uv coated. Tmax 100 is useless.

That's all true according to various sources.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

Then there's the Ilford MG papers which I find to be pretty capable, including contact prints.

I couldn't agree more. I've used split grade printing with Ilford MG to make some contact prints that simply wouldn't be possible on graded paper...

Back on point, if you find some 4x5 TMY in 4x5 let me know, Alex. I'd love to try it. Best. Shawn

 

[c6h6o3]

I'll change my question a bit and ask if it would be worthwhile to test with the old TMY in 4x5? My quandary is that I don't want to burn up a bunch of 8x10 sheets doing film testing, given its expense, as opposed to doing it with 4x5 at a lower cost. I will be testing for both contact printing (8x10) and enlargement (4x5 and 120).

I've never used TMY in any form up to this point so my only starting point will be other TMY user's experience.

My answer would be that it's not only worthwhile but essential. The two films are different. TMY-2 seems to yield about a stop more contrast for a given exposure/development combo for me. In other words, if I mark a negative N+2 I'll use my tried and true time for TMY of 20 minutes at 72º but I'll give that same image on TMY-2 my N+1 time of 18 minutes. You'll be hard pressed to tell the difference.

The shadows are about the same for both films as far as I can tell and the curve for TMY-2 seems to be very straight like it is for TMY. However, the TMY-2 curve seems to have greater slope.

I develop my TMax in Harvey's 777 which is very soft working, so your times will probably be shorter.

My standard time for TMY in Pyrocat-HD is 11.5 minutes for a standard negative and around 9.5 minutes for N-1. I give an N+1 14 minutes. Those are all at 70º F for printing on Azo. Hope this helps.

 

[Alex Hawley]

Thanks Jim! That was the kind of info I was looking for.

 

[reggie]

Anyone found a supplier with the new TMY in 4x5? I've found the 8x10 and 120 but no 4x5 yet. I would prefer to do my film testing with individual 4x5 sheets but I guess I could do it with 120 in a pinch.

Would you mind telling me where you got the new 8x10?

Thanks.

-R

 

[Alex Hawley]

Badger Graphic has it in the 10 sheet boxes. B&H has the 120 roll film in stock.

 

[jgjbowen]

Alex,

I would recommend waiting for the new film in 4x5 before I started testing (if at all possible). The new film is obviously different than the old film and as Fred Picker used to say "Different isn't the Same." I think you would be wasting your time and $$ to test using the old film.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Alex Hawley]

Thanks John. Think Ol' Fred was right on the money.

 

[jgjbowen]

Of course maybe you could be brave and cut an 8x10 down to 4 4x5 sheets

 

[rcoda]

Of course maybe you could be brave and cut an 8x10 down to 4 4x5 sheets

Did that yesterday... did my testing last night... developing the film tomorrow!

 

[Alex Hawley]

Of course maybe you could be brave and cut an 8x10 down to 4 4x5 sheets

That ain't a bad idea! Why didn't I think of that? :confused:

 

[Macwax]

I bought the new 4x5 Tmax at BH in December. Just developed my first negs in D76 the other night. Very nice results.

 

[msage]

Anyone found a supplier with the new TMY in 4x5? I've found the 8x10 and 120 but no 4x5 yet. I would prefer to do my film testing with individual 4x5 sheets but I guess I could do it with 120 in a pinch.

How do you know that you have the "new" TMY? I just bought a 50 sheet box in Seattle. The box had "New Developing Times" and "Sharpest B&W 400" and the film has new code notching, one notch. I am guessing this is the new film.
Michael

 

[Alex Hawley]

How do you know that you have the "new" TMY?

The difference in packaging and film notching was explained in (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

 

[Alex Hawley]

I bought the new 4x5 Tmax at BH in December. Just developed my first negs in D76 the other night. Very nice results.

Thanks Macwax!

 

[c6h6o3]

How do you know that you have the "new" TMY? I just bought a 50 sheet box in Seattle. The box had "New Developing Times" and "Sharpest B&W 400" and the film has new code notching, one notch. I am guessing this is the new film.
Michael

It's TMY-2 then.