pushing tmax 400

Hi,
I was checking the development charts at Digital Truth to see how far I could push Tmax 400. I have an exposed roll that I now realize that I need to push to at least 1600, further than most developers on the charts. Has anyone successfully pushed it to 3200 or even 6400 using Microphen? What are your times, dilutions, etc? If not with Microphen, with what developer?
Thanks,
James

blackmelas said:

Hi,
I was checking the development charts at Digital Truth to see how far I could push Tmax 400. I have an exposed roll that I now realize that I need to push to at least 1600, further than most developers on the charts. Has anyone successfully pushed it to 3200 or even 6400 using Microphen? What are your times, dilutions, etc? If not with Microphen, with what developer?
Thanks,
James

Click to expand...

I have done it @ 6400 in T-Max 1+4. Time was 16 minutes. Ok negs, but not ideal.

Morten

Check out the Xtol data sheet. It has times and temperatures through EI3200.

Neal Wydra

Look here - (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Thanks for the help. Looks like I'll be trying Tmax or Xtol next time I get into the city.
Best regards,
James

I've used XTOL for TMY up to EI 1600 with good results. Here are some times for 35mm TMY in XTOL at various dilutions for 20 deg C. Times for 120 film are approximately 20% longer, though I don't know why. The emulsions are the same. The figures are pirated directly from "The Massive Dev Chart" at http://www.digitaltruth.com. They are good as starting points and will get you printable negatives. It is very likely that you'll have to make some adjustments to find your optimal times. Be sure to use at least 100ml of stock XTOL regardless of dilution. I use 150 ml. to be on the safe side.

EI Time in minutes
Xtol 100-200 5.75
Xtol 400 6.5
Xtol 800 7.25
Xtol 1600 8.5
Xtol 3200 9.5
Xtol 3200 6.75

Xtol (1+1) 100-200 8
Xtol (1+1) 400 8.75
Xtol (1+1) 800 9.5
Xtol (1+1) 1600 10.75
Xtol (1+1) 3200 12.5
Xtol (1+1) 3200 9.25

Xtol (1+2) 100-200 9.5
Xtol (1+2) 400 10.5
Xtol (1+2) 800 12.25
Xtol (1+2) 1600 13.75
Xtol (1+2) 3200 16

Xtol (1+3) 100-200 12.25
Xtol (1+3) 400 13.5
Xtol (1+3) 800 15
Xtol (1+3) 1600 17
Xtol (1+3) 3200 20

I prefer X-Tol 1:1 stand for 30 minutes at 72F or 20 minutes at 90F. I'm comfortable doing 3200 this way. Microphen at the times as posted in digitaltruth also works well--same shadow speed, slightly worse grain and sharpness, significantly better highlight control, although the dilute X-Tol provides pretty good highlight control itself, much better than a push in D-76 or T-Max-RS.