Tmax Developer - Made in Germany now!

[MattKing]

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

In Canada, film used to say Kodak Canada (or before that, Canadian Kodak).

So it may be that the products will show the local company's name, rather than Kodak Alaris'.

 

[cmacd123]

In Canada, film used to say Kodak Canada (or before that, Canadian Kodak).
.

Of course in those days it was made (or at least packed) in what is now known as "camera heights"

I worked in a place who sold some "grey market" Kodak film back then and it was marked "Kodak Limited London"

The trend that Kodak _Was_ following seemed to be to try to have the same packaging for all markets, now that the manufacturing for a given product has been reduced to generally one source. Recent 400TX packages have text that indicate the importer for the Brazillian Market among other things. Of course international companies also worry about stuff intended for one market being sold in another. I have gotten Grey Market Kodacolour in the past that was marked "proof of Purchase Japan" and had radically different graphics than the North American version.

(I am also guessing that is the only reason for the existence of "Ilford Pan 100 and 400)

Anyway, I would expect that alaris will start to get mentioned on a stock turnover basis, but the current batches are probably over 6 months stock.

 

[Roger Cole]

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.

This. T-Max developer is superb with Delta 3200 though to be fair I have not tried DD-X (yet.)

 

[Roger Cole]

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.

Have you tried DD-X with Delta 3200? (I have some TMZ remaining in my fridge, in date from the last batch probably.)

I'd like to standardize on something I feel more confident about, as well as supporting Ilford.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Have you tried DD-X with Delta 3200? (I have some TMZ remaining in my fridge, in date from the last batch probably.)

I'd like to standardize on something I feel more confident about, as well as supporting Ilford.

I haven't, because Tmax Developer works so beautifully. Trying DDX would be a pain because I'd have to order it online and pay the high shipping for heavy liquid developer that I may decide I don't like anyway. The local camera store sells only Kodak developers. If it ain't broke, no need to try fixing it. If Kodak ever quits making Tmax, I'll try DDX. They're said to be very similar anyway.

 

[OzJohn]

Of course in those days it was made (or at least packed) in what is now known as "camera heights"

I worked in a place who sold some "grey market" Kodak film back then and it was marked "Kodak Limited London"

/QUOTE]

It's becoming easy to forget what a multi-national company Kodak was and how many manufacturing facilities they had. Back around 1999-2000 here in Australia they made most of the chemical range, consumer colour film and Edge colour paper but we got professional Ektacolor paper in rolls from Brazil, most of the pro colour films, black & white films and sheet Ektacolor paper from Rochester, black & white paper from Canada and Ektachrome from France. I'm not sure where the Kodachrome came from as I rarely ever used it. About the only thing that came from the UK was gelatine filters. There was also a cheapo pro film called Pro Image that came from China. How times have changed. OzJohn

 

[cmacd123]

most of the pro colour films, black & white films and sheet Ektacolor paper from Rochester, black & white paper from Canada and Ektachrome from France. . OzJohn

Right arround that time Kodak's Canadian Plant was in a bit of an upset also. It had been built to mostly provide the Canadian Market behind what was at the time a rather large Tariff wall. So Popular items were made there and smaller items were packed and final assembled there.

It was hard to tell what was imported, for example I used to use Plus-x bulk film, which came in a Canadian Kodak Box, but was edge printed KODAK S'AFETY FILM, while individual rolls of Plus-X were edge printed KODAK SA'FETY FILM. (the Kodak Limited stuff was edge printed KODAK SAF'ETY FILM) WHo knows where it was actually coated.

In the grey market stuff Eaton's sold, it all said made in England, except the High Speed Ektachrome which said it was made by Eastman Kodak in USA and Packaged by Kodak Limited in England.

When NAFTA came in The Canadian Plant with it's lower volumes was adrift, and the business news said that it in different years had a mandate to produce (1) Colour paper, (2) _ALL_ colour Motion Picture Negative film, and I think finally all B&W paper. I was still playing with Movie negative for stills at that time using short end film and sure enough I did see more of the SA'FETY film markings. But they disappeared when the KeyKode system came out, and I suspect that also meant Movie Neg went back to Rochester.

The LAST package of Kodak B&W paper I ever bought said it was Made for Eastman Kodak by Kodak Canada. I suspect that Nafta also resulted in a lot of US market stuff suddenly being labelled in Both English and French. (and possibly Spanish)

 

[GarageBoy]

This is regular (non RS) Tmax dev?
B&H doesn't stock it... only newly packaged TMAX RS- where is everyone getting this?

 

[snapguy]

Whut

Exactly just what is a "local camera store." Is this a new invention?

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Exactly just what is a "local camera store." Is this a new invention?

Jeff

 

[MattKing]

Exactly just what is a "local camera store." Is this a new invention?

This is one of my local sources - Beau Photo

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Exactly just what is a "local camera store." Is this a new invention?

I bought it at Sunny Schick Camera Shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I've been shopping there since I was a kid, when it was owned by an old man who was my grandfather's age. He passed it on to his son a few years before he died, and the son's own son works as a salesman there, and will probably take it over someday. I don't buy as much as I used to there because they've had to cut down their film and chemical offerings in the last few years because so few people here are using film anymore, but I did buy two digital cameras from them as well. Good people. Its a small shop where they know all their customers by name.