Tmax Developer - Made in Germany now!

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 25, 2014

A couple weeks ago, I bought a new bottle of Kodak Tmax Developer at the local camera store. It was in the familiar round bottle, and it was marked "Made in USA." It was the last one they had in stock. Today, I went back to get more, and they had it back in stock. This time, the bottle was rectangular, had more developer in it (1liter; the old bottles were smaller), and it was marked "Made in Germany for Kodak, for distribution in the USA."

Price was higher too, $20 for the bottle. The old bottles were $12. Even accounting for the fact that the new bottle gives more chemical, I think the price has increased a bit for it.

dehk · Jun 25, 2014

Interesting.

MattKing · Jun 25, 2014

All of the Kodak chemistry that was formerly made by Champion Photochemistry for the US market appears to now be made either in China (colour chemistry) or by Tetenal in Germany.

Champion were one of the largest unpaid creditors in the Eastman Kodak bankruptcy.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 25, 2014

MattKing said:
All of the Kodak chemistry that was formerly made by Champion Photochemistry for the US market appears to now be made either in China (colour chemistry) or by Tetenal in Germany.

Champion were one of the largest unpaid creditors in the Eastman Kodak bankruptcy.

I'd seen it mentioned here before that Champion lost a lot of money in the Kodak bankruptcy, so I figured that was why they were now importing chems from Germany. I wonder why the color chemistry is from China? Tetenal makes color chemicals too.

hdeyong · Jun 26, 2014

My last bottle of HC-110, bought in Toronto, was made in Germany, but the one before was made in the US.
It's one of the few things I can get cheaper here in France than in North America, (usually), probably because of the shorter, overland shipping and the lack of a currency exchange cost. But the difference is very small.
And, they dropped the European concentration, even though it's made in Europe.
Isn't it all good fun?

MARKNABIA · Jun 26, 2014

I bought Tmax last year before winter,

Xmas · Jun 26, 2014

Shipping water is expensive raw powders should be cheaper in US?

cmacd123 · Jun 27, 2014

if you can ship by container load, it is really volume that counts. All the Kodak B&W chems seem to be sourced from Germany now. As are all the Ilford chems for that matter. no doubt that will mean another building can be repurposed at Kodak park.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 28, 2014

MARKNABIA said:
I bought Tmax last year before winter, View attachment 90224

That's the bottle I just got. The old-style one I got a couple weeks ago had an expiry date of next month, so it must have been the last one the store had left. I think its interesting the German version says, as your photo shows, "Made for Eastman Kodak Sarl, Geneva." What's Eastman Kodak Sarl?

MattKing · Jun 28, 2014

SARL is the designation for a corporation is Switzerland, so I expect that the Swiss version of Kodak is referred to as "Eastman Kodak SARL"

Now why that bottle is made for the Swiss version of Kodak, I do not know.

The bottles I have seen around here of HC110 just say made in Germany for Eastman Kodak. So far I haven't seen anything that refers to Kodak Alaris.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 28, 2014

MattKing said:
SARL is the designation for a corporation is Switzerland, so I expect that the Swiss version of Kodak is referred to as "Eastman Kodak SARL"

Now why that bottle is made for the Swiss version of Kodak, I do not know.

The bottles I have seen around here of HC110 just say made in Germany for Eastman Kodak. So far I haven't seen anything that refers to Kodak Alaris.

Matt, thanks for the info on the Sarl name. I have also not seen anything that says Alaris, but I haven't bought any Kodak film in a while. Been using a lot of Ilford the last year or so.

Truzi · Jun 28, 2014

Wasn't there a thread like this a few months back, or was that for HC-110?
At least it is still being made, which is important.

Ektagraphic · Jun 28, 2014

Slightly old news, but alas still interesting. I think this is much better than seeing these choices fall off the map.

benjiboy · Jun 28, 2014

The U.S.A isn't the only country in the World who can make quality products.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 28, 2014

I just bought a bottle of Photo Flo at Adolph Gasser's in San Francisco yesterday. No longer sold in the round, squat "HC-110-type" bottle but sold in the taller, square (rectangle?) and smaller mouth bottles as in the photo above of the new Germany-made Tmax developer. Sure enough on the back: Made in Germany. So photo flo is the same now.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 28, 2014

benjiboy said:
The U.S.A isn't the only country in the World who can make quality products.

But Germany is!

benjiboy · Jun 28, 2014

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
But Germany is!

No but the inference is that if the product isn't made in the U.S. it's inferior.

trythis · Jun 28, 2014

benjiboy said:
No but the inference is that if the product isn't made in the U.S. it's inferior.

I didnt see it that way at all. Sometimes change in manufacturer is just change in manufacturer.

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 28, 2014

benjiboy said:
No but the inference is that if the product isn't made in the U.S. it's inferior.

Yeah, I don't see that inference either. And I doubt most would think a chemical now processed in German vs US would be an issue. China maybe but it's more about quality control than where it's made.

lxdude · Jun 28, 2014

Most Americans think of German products as first class.

cliveh · Jun 28, 2014

Why does Tmax need it's own developer?

MattKing · Jun 28, 2014

cliveh said:
Why does Tmax need it's own developer?

It doesn't, but the T-Max developers were introduced at or near the same time as the T-Max films to both take advantage of some of the characteristics of the new films and to benefit from some of the marketing "buzz" that the introduction of new technology creates.

Both versions of the developer are very good, and are particularly strong when you need to enhance speed.

EDIT: And for clarity, both versions of the developer work well with all sorts of films - not just T-Max films. END EDIT

On the subject of German vs. US manufacture, I think the concern isn't that the manufacturing is now being done in Germany - Germany has a long and storied history of quality photographic manufacturing. What raises concern is the potential loss of photographic manufacturing in the US, which also has a long and storied history of quality.

cmacd123 · Jun 28, 2014

MattKing said:
So far I haven't seen anything that refers to Kodak Alaris.

the German supply route started up a month or two before the Alaris sale.

US tax laws may make it worthwhile for them to keep the money from sales of this stuff in Europe and elsewhere outside the US in there Swiss Subsidiary. Of course the new new owners may do something else when it is time to reorder a container load from Germany.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 29, 2014

cliveh said:
Why does Tmax need it's own developer?

As MattKing said, Tmax Developer has been made for 25 years now. It was designed to give better speed when pushing Tmax 400 and Tmax 3200, and is also a nice general purpose developer for anyone who wants to standardize on just one. I use it mainly for developing Ilford Delta 3200, which is works great with, and had used it for Tmax 3200 for many, many years when that film was still made. I've tried a bunch of developers for the Kodak and Ilford 3200 films, and none came close to giving the tonal quality and shadow detail that Tmax Developer gives when pushing these films to 1600 and 3200.

Ektagraphic · Jun 30, 2014

MattKing said:
The bottles I have seen around here of HC110 just say made in Germany for Eastman Kodak. So far I haven't seen anything that refers to Kodak Alaris.

I thought of this too. Are any of the film boxes and packaging going to ever say Kodak Alaris?

Tmax Developer - Made in Germany now!

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