Some Kodak T-MAX100 - 120 help

/dev/null · Nov 3, 2011

I'm an analog newbie and the weekend I am going to shoot some landscapes, trees and stuff with the T-MAX100. Probably a bit of cloudy weather. I am looking for contrast rich results and did some reading on development, so probably will do it in Rodinal.

Any thoughts on the preffered ISO setting for this film? Like they say the Ilford 3200 goes on 1600 for instance. I just measure ISO100? Thanks.

Mackinaw · Nov 3, 2011

If you're new to film and processing, I'd experiment some first. Exposing Tmax-100 at an E.I. of 100 is a good starting point. As for developers, Rodinal is OK too. If you want to impact contrast, you can do that in the development process by extending the development time 10% - 20%. Shoot a roll and see what happens.

Jim B.

markbarendt · Nov 3, 2011

If you haven't used a combo, any combo, the best place to start IMO is with the box rating and normal development. You can adjust contrast when you print.

Printing is the real test, adjusting the negative's contrast really only makes sense when you are trying to make your printing easier.

One of the big mistakes I made when coming back to film was trying to make pretty "contrasty" negatives, because I wasn't printing yet and I wanted something to look good.

Yes, those early B&W negatives are "prettier" to look at directly but they are really much tougher to print. In contrast to that my early C-41 negatives, which were developed "by the book" are quite easy to print. My current B&W negs which are now generally shot and developed pretty much "by the book" print much, much easier.

Rick A · Nov 3, 2011

Start with the basics. As Mark states, shoot it at box speed. Developing is a different story. There are many good developers, Rodinal is one, Kodak D-76(or any cloned D-76) will do well. Follow the recommended developing time for the film. Don't concern yourself with experimenting or choosing someone elses time/combo for now, stick with basics until you are comfortable shooting and processing.

markbarendt · Nov 3, 2011

Michael R 1974 said:
To start, get yourself some D76, not Rodinal. Rate the film at 100 and develop it in D76 diluted 1:1 with water as per Kodak's time/temperature/agitation recommendations. Start there. Ideally you'd do a few test rolls for practice and to fine tune things. Evaluate your negatives by printing them, not by visual inspection of the negatives. It is difficult to evaluate a negative by visual inspection, particularly if you're new to this.

+1

Here's the Kodak tech pub.

Actually any developer listed in this document would do fine. The info here if followed carefully will get you negatives that are easily printable. When you get this well practiced and know how you want to change your prints then you can refine your process in a meaningful direction.

/dev/null · Nov 3, 2011

Yes, I will shoot some rolls and test with several ISO settings, just to make sure there is nothing 'special' about this film like 'has to be at ISO 50' or so.

I don't print, but will scan the negatives. But like to have a bit of contrasty negative before...

Colin Corneau · Nov 3, 2011

Mackinaw said:
If you're new to film and processing, I'd experiment some first. Exposing Tmax-100 at an E.I. of 100 is a good starting point. As for developers, Rodinal is OK too. If you want to impact contrast, you can do that in the development process by extending the development time 10% - 20%. Shoot a roll and see what happens.

Jim B.

Exactly what he said.

Jeff Kubach · Nov 3, 2011

Just stick with the basics and have fun!

Jeff

Konical · Nov 3, 2011

Good Morning, /dev/null,

Box rating, Kodak T-Max developer 1:7, 10 minutes as a starting point should give excellent results.

Konical

markbarendt · Nov 3, 2011

/dev/null said:
Yes, I will shoot some rolls and test with several ISO settings, just to make sure there is nothing 'special' about this film like 'has to be at ISO 50' or so.

I don't print, but will scan the negatives. But like to have a bit of contrasty negative before...

Adjusting the Exposure Index or EI (ISO is a labratory tested rating of the film in a specific developer) adjusts where the shadows fall on the film curve. Using a lower number EI generally indicates using less development to "fit" the larger scene contrast range onto whatever output media you happen to use, and vice versa.

You ought to get a fair feel for this after about 10 or 20 rolls at each EI.

deleonjayson · Nov 3, 2011

Start and do it by the book. Learn the rules first, then you can eventually break them by experimenting on other developers. I started with D-76 and Kodafix (all kodak products) for neutral results.

removed account4 · Nov 3, 2011

on a web forum you're going to get suggestions from conservative to off the walls as to what you should do
shoot a roll in similar lighting conditions and develop.
bracket your exposures by 1 fstop each way ( over - normal - under )
after you process your film, look at your negatives, notice which of the exposures "worked " for you ...

then use that information for your next roll ..

good luck !
john

L Gebhardt · Nov 4, 2011

I hate to disagree with the others here, but I would start out shooting it at 50 and developing about 15% less than the manufacturer recommends. I usually find that this gives better shadows, and easily printable (and scanable) negatives. I would then adjust from there.

If you can, I would try to workout the exposure and development for good wet printing, even if you are scanning. This way you have the option of either. I find my scanner can yield good results with a range of negatives. Wet printing is harder if important shadow details fall on the toe of the film curve (as will most likely happen at box speed). With a scan you can fix this somewhat with a curves adjustment, but why not get it right to start with.

chriscrawfordphoto · Nov 4, 2011

L Gebhardt said:
I hate to disagree with the others here, but I would start out shooting it at 50 and developing about 15% less than the manufacturer recommends. I usually find that this gives better shadows, and easily printable (and scanable) negatives. I would then adjust from there.

If you can, I would try to workout the exposure and development for good wet printing, even if you are scanning. This way you have the option of either. I find my scanner can yield good results with a range of negatives. Wet printing is harder if important shadow details fall on the toe of the film curve (as will most likely happen at box speed). With a scan you can fix this somewhat with a curves adjustment, but why not get it right to start with.

The kind of overexposing and underdeveloping films shot under normal (not contrasty) light is common among large format photographers, but doesn't work well with 120 and 35mm films. Tmax 100 in D-76 1+1 for Kodak's recommended time at EI-100 is perfect for 120. Rodinal does lose a stop of speed with this film, so I shoot it at 50 for Rodinal developing.

Tmax 100, 645 format, EI-100, D-76 1+1

DREW WILEY · Nov 4, 2011

Unlike many other black and white films, TMX 100 generally works best at the rated speed of 100.
Over or under exposure can cause problems. So try this speed first until you get the dev times right.
You want to be most concerned about the placement of deep shadows and those max highlights in
which you wish to be able to print some detail. I have no experience with Rodinal. My preferred dev
is PMK, but I have done TMX in 76, Perceptol, TMRS, HC-110 too. Most developers work well.

chriscrawfordphoto · Nov 4, 2011

DREW WILEY said:
Unlike many other black and white films, TMX 100 generally works best at the rated speed of 100.
Over or under exposure can cause problems. So try this speed first until you get the dev times right.
You want to be most concerned about the placement of deep shadows and those max highlights in
which you wish to be able to print some detail. I have no experience with Rodinal. My preferred dev
is PMK, but I have done TMX in 76, Perceptol, TMRS, HC-110 too. Most developers work well.

Drew,

What developing time are you using for PMK and Tmax 100? I love PMK for Tri-X but haven't had a chance to try to work out a developing time for Tmax 100.

pentaxuser · Nov 4, 2011

Interestingly and backing Drew Wiley's point is that Ilford do not even quote a time for TMax 100 or 400with Perceptol at less than box speed.

pentaxuser

pentaxuser · Nov 4, 2011

Let me preface the following remarks by stating I have never used Perceptol with TMax but we seem to be building a picture on APUG that Perceptol always needs a one stop reduction or even more for any film.

This may be the case but it just seems significant that for D100 Ilford gives a time at EI 50 but not for TMax 100.

So did Ilford make a mistake with TMax 100 and 400 or simply not bother to try it at lower than box speed?

Seems poor marketing to curtail tests on other makers' films. For the sake of a short saving on testing time Ilford gives the impression that no reduction in box speed is necessary and yet if it clearly is, the user then decides that Ilford can't be trusted on other makers' films so users move away from Perceptol and Ilford loses users.

It just doesn't sound like the kind of Ilford that the vast majority of APUG puts its trust in

pentaxuser

wblynch · Nov 5, 2011

/dev/null said:
I'm an analog newbie and the weekend I am going to shoot some landscapes, trees and stuff with the T-MAX100. Probably a bit of cloudy weather. I am looking for contrast rich results and did some reading on development, so probably will do it in Rodinal.

Any thoughts on the preffered ISO setting for this film? Like they say the Ilford 3200 goes on 1600 for instance. I just measure ISO100? Thanks.

Something else to consider... You can change the look of your photos by a greater degree with the use of colored filters. I think a red filter on the kind of pictures you describe might give you some pleasing results.

markbarendt · Nov 5, 2011

wblynch said:
Something else to consider... You can change the look of your photos by a greater degree with the use of colored filters. I think a red filter on the kind of pictures you describe might give you some pleasing results.

+1

Maybe keep a polarizer handy too.

Jeff Kubach · Nov 5, 2011

Of course a yellow or orange filter could be good also.

Jeff

/dev/null · Nov 5, 2011

So, thanks for all the info. I had to decide eventually, so chose the ISO100, shot a few rounds and developed in HC-110, as per Massive Dev Charts.

Negatives look nice, but the scans will tell me what I want to know really. 1 down, 2 to go

hobbes · Nov 5, 2011

Mackinaw said:
If you're new to film and processing, I'd experiment some first. Exposing Tmax-100 at an E.I. of 100 is a good starting point. As for developers, Rodinal is OK too. If you want to impact contrast, you can do that in the development process by extending the development time 10% - 20%. Shoot a roll and see what happens.

Jim B.

Sorry Jim, you may be a bit wrong. What you're saying is to underexpose by one stop and overdevelop by half stop. standard Rodinal 1:50 will get down a box iso by up to one stop (tried it with Efke 25@12 & 50@32, Foma200@80 and 400@160, Tx400@160)! Hence, the right thing to do using rodinal is to expose tmax100 at most @64! otherwise, shadow details will be gone especially in overcast conditions As the others wrote, I'd recommend D76 1:1;

@dev/null

/dev/null said:
So, thanks for all the info. I had to decide eventually, so chose the ISO100, shot a few rounds and developed in HC-110, as per Massive Dev Charts.

Negatives look nice, but the scans will tell me what I want to know really. 1 down, 2 to go

If you really want to evaluate the quality of you negs, remember to get a raw linear scan w/ all the scanner features&bells&whistles turned off, otherwise the scan won't tell you anything.

/dev/null · Nov 5, 2011

hobbes said:
If you really want to evaluate the quality of you negs, remember to get a raw linear scan w/ all the scanner features&bells&whistles turned off, otherwise the scan won't tell you anything.

I know, I use the Epson V500 and read some really weird things on that ICE add-on. Windows in houses being replaced and stuff

Damn, developed already 7 films, did 3 C41 in between and just found another TMAX, hope it's the last for tonight

/dev/null · Nov 6, 2011

Is there a forum part where you can post pictures if you want technical feedback on developing?

Some Kodak T-MAX100 - 120 help

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