Tmax100 ready load and Pyro Cat

shinn · Jul 22, 2004

Any one using or tried this combo? This is a new film to me and I did some searches through the forum and came up with little.

I'm looking for a starting dev time in Pyro cat. The film was exposed at 100 and will either be printed in Ziatype, enlarged or scanned and enlarged for Ziatype or another Alt process, it all depends on what I get. I tray develop 4-6 sheets at a time.

I understand there is a magenta dye that is difficult to remove or does it remain and how does this affect the print? Thanks everyone.

Happy Days
Mark

mikewhi · Jul 22, 2004

Hi:

I just shot my first TMAX 100 developed with P-HD. I did rotary processing in a JOBO for 12 minutes. The meter indicated a 5-stop contrast range in the subject. I used 1:1:100 dilution. I got a very beauitful negative with enough density range to take Azo Gr. 2 to the limits of the paper. There is a noticable stain to the negatives from the developer. They have a seipa-like color to them. The fils did come out with a magenta stain that didi not go away after extended washing in an archival washer. It added only a tiny bit of extra densith to the base density of the film, which was like .03.

In all, I am very happy with the results. But, it's an expensive film ($75 for 50sh of 5x7) and there may be more economical alternatives out there. I also shot EFKE 25 on the same day but developed it Rodinal 1:50 instead - man are they great looking negatives, too!

-Mike

Tom Hoskinson · Jul 22, 2004

To get rid of the magenta dye, fix the film, then soak it for about 5 min in a solution of sodium sulfite solution (2 tablespoons in a liter of water). Then wash the film and the magenta dye should wash out.

I've shot and developed a lot of Tmax 100. Personally, I strongly prefer Efke 100 developed in Pyrocat-HD to Tmax 100 (developed in anything). Efke 25 in Pyrocat-HD is great too.

TMY 400 is also great in Pyrocat-HD (if you like its somewhat weird tonal response characteristics).

sanking · Jul 23, 2004

Tom Hoskinson said:
TMY 400 is also great in Pyrocat-HD (if you like its somewhat weird tonal response characteristics).

Tom,

I wonder if you might comment further on this. From the curves there does not appear to be anything particulary unusual that would suggest that its tonal response is that much different from other films, other than the fact that it has excellent straight line with very little toe or shoulder.

Sandy

clay · Jul 23, 2004

My UV densitometer indicates that the newer Tmax100 film base blocks UV light effectively - my b+f is about 1.1, which makes the film useless for UV sensitive alt printing processes. Caveat emptor.

sanking said:
Tom,

I wonder if you might comment further on this. From the curves there does not appear to be anything particulary unusual that would suggest that its tonal response is that much different from other films, other than the fact that it has excellent straight line with very little toe or shoulder.

Sandy

shinn · Jul 23, 2004

Thanks guys, I'll try the sulfite bath and will try an alt process, but sounds like these may end up being enlarged??

Happy Days
Mark

sanking · Jul 23, 2004

clay said:
My UV densitometer indicates that the newer Tmax100 film base blocks UV light effectively - my b+f is about 1.1, which makes the film useless for UV sensitive alt printing processes. Caveat emptor.

Sorry for any confusion. I now see that the original message was about TMAX-100 but for some reason I changed the topic to TMY.

You are of course absolutely right about the UV blocking of TMAX-100. It is virtually useless for alternative processes unless you like really long exposures.

Sandy

Tom Hoskinson · Jul 23, 2004

sanking said:
Tom,

I wonder if you might comment further on this. From the curves there does not appear to be anything particulary unusual that would suggest that its tonal response is that much different from other films, other than the fact that it has excellent straight line with very little toe or shoulder.

Sandy

Sandy, I like TMY's response curve characteristics and find them very useful. I was just obliquely commenting on the fact that some users have stated that they are bothered by the straight line response characteristics of TMY.

I have encountered critical comments like "artificial looking" and "needs filtration." I'm sure it greatly depends on individual tastes and artistic vision - but I like it as it is.

sanking · Jul 23, 2004

Tom Hoskinson said:
Sandy, I like TMY's response curve characteristics and find them very useful. I was just obliquely commenting on the fact that some users have stated that they are bothered by the straight line response characteristics of TMY.

I have encountered critical comments like "artificial looking" and "needs filtration." I'm sure it greatly depends on individual tastes and artistic vision - but I like it as it is.

OK, thanks for the clarification.

Another thing about TMY is that it is very responsive to changes in time of development, which is of course one of the reasons it is so good for expansion and contraction development. I suspect that the reason many people prefer films such as TRIX-320 and HP5+ is because they have such a wide latitude in time development so it is hard to make a really huge error. But for my money when you nail down development time for TMY it gives outstanding results and is much more versatile than other high speed films. Just too bad we can not get it in ULF size.

Sandy

Tmax100 ready load and Pyro Cat

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency