TMY-2 (new TMAX 400) really is an incredible film

philosomatographer · Jul 29, 2011

TMY-2 continues to astound me in what it can do in 35mm - it really is almost as good as Pan F in diluted D-76/ID-11 developer! This is a moderately-sized example to show the complete lack of visible grain, and rendition of fine detail in low-contrast areas:

Bridge of river Gwaing

(Olympus OM-3Ti, Zuiko 90mm f/2.0 Macro, TMY-2 400 film)

For 35mm, I am basically using only this now - with a roll of Ilford Pan F here and there.

Newt_on_Swings · Jul 29, 2011

I like Tmax too, good stuff to push in Xtol. Nice camera and lens setup!

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 29, 2011

It's my go-to film as well. When I use it, I never feel a need to use an ISO 100 film on account of sharpness, grain, or tonality.
I regularly make 16x20" prints from 35mm TMY-2 and I've had people look at them wondering what film I used with my Hasselblad.

erikg · Jul 29, 2011

Best B&W stuff Kodak has ever made. I love it in pyrocat. What developer are you all using?

c6h6o3 · Jul 29, 2011

I'm still shooting my stash of TMY original. It's pretty good, too.

bwcolor · Jul 30, 2011

Like it at EI 800 in TMax Developer. It looks great from EI: 200 - 1600. I probably will shoot more at EI 320-400 once I use up my 150 rolls of Legacy Pro 400.

Harry Lime · Jul 30, 2011

I've been a diehard Tri-X user since high school and I have to admit that TMY-2 is the first film that has been a serious contender to lure me away.

The grain is astonishingly small for a 400asa film. Basically it's as good as a traditional 100asa stock. Truly amazing.

Basically I have settled on Tri-X for bright sunny days. The shoulder roll off holds highlights forever and I still think it's one of the best looking film stocks around. There is something about the contrast of TMY-2 in bright sunlight that I don't like. I use Barry Thornton's 2-bath to keep the contrast under control.

But I prefer the linear nature of TMY-2 for shooting in the dark. I suspect that the linear toe holds shadow detail better than the s-curve of Tri-X. That combined with the finer grain makes it superior for push processing IMO. TMY-2 @ 1250/1600 in XTOL looks really good.

Jeff Kubach · Jul 30, 2011

I also think that TMY-2 is great. I use the 120 size which is wonderful.

Jeff

2F/2F · Jul 30, 2011

It's a great film, indeed!

But even Tri-X 400 is amazingly low in grain now. I don't see grain in anything less than 8x enlargements, unless I stick my nose in the prints. I think Efke 100 tends to look much more like the classic "Tri-X look" than Tri-X does!

I tend to use Tri-X, as it is cheap right now as Arista Premiun 400. It is good enough, and I generally prefer the look of traditionally-grained products. However, I use T-Max 400 for pushing in very flat and low light, and when I need to minimize grain when shooting a 400 film.

jgjbowen · Jul 30, 2011

c6h6o3 said:
I'm still shooting my stash of TMY original. It's pretty good, too.

Ditto. It will be a couple years before I get to my TMY-2 stash

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 30, 2011

c6h6o3 said:
I'm still shooting my stash of TMY original. It's pretty good, too.

Oh yes. I'm sure you can measure differences between them. Funny story - I had ten rolls of the old TMY stored among my newer TMY-2, and I forgot that I did. So I happily fired off the frames, processed and printed, and it wasn't until I actually looked at the film rebate that I noticed that I was using the older film. The differences are, to me, fairly subtle, and even an A/B comparison doesn't tell me much between prints. I consider the old TMY and the new TMY-2 to be equals.

- Thomas

Mark Layne · Jul 30, 2011

I prefer the tonal rendering of Tri-X in X-tol
Mark

Pasto · Jul 30, 2011

I've been using TMY-2 exclusively in 120 for 2 years now. I shoot at 320 and develop in Xtol straight for 6:15 in a Jobo. The negatives are truely beautiful. At 6x magnification the grain is very very small, and tonality is great. I've been using TMX in 4x5 and I can't say the same thing about it. I'll be switching to TMY-2 in 4x5 in the next few weeks.....

TareqPhoto · Aug 4, 2011

This film was my first and most used film for tests, i've got really nice results out of TMAX developer, D-76 and Ilfosol 3 did great job as well but not as TMAX, but i hope to test it with HC110 and XTOL and see.

Hal Reiser · Aug 4, 2011

I shot Tri-X 120 for many years souped in D-76 1:1 and later in Xtol replenished. I finally tried TMY-120 in Xtol replenished almost a year ago. Incredible stuff. I still have a large stash of VP120 I use for sunlit shots. When that goes I'm going to shoot TMY exclusively.

MP30
Hudson Division

paul ron · Aug 4, 2011

The one thing tha has gotten better in time is the film. T-grain films are amazing and TMax is wonderful stuff to use. Shame papers stink now, bring back AGFA Record Rapid adn we'd have it all.

The other reason I like TMax other than its fantastic sharpness n lack of grain it is for the thicker base material it is made of. Tri=X, my old favorite, seems so thin n flimsy compared to TMax films. Anyone else notice this?

.

jp498 · Aug 4, 2011

Harry Lime said:
Basically I have settled on Tri-X for bright sunny days. The shoulder roll off holds highlights forever and I still think it's one of the best looking film stocks around. There is something about the contrast of TMY-2 in bright sunlight that I don't like. I use Barry Thornton's 2-bath to keep the contrast under control.

Nothing wrong with the Tri-X if you like that. I've found a way to make TMY-2 work in bright sun though. PMK tames highlights quite differently than most developers and it's my favorite all around developer now for TMY2 (exposed at iso 320) except for overcast/rainy/snowstorm shooting when I go back to xtol.; I haven't tried the Thornton 2-bath.

Shawn Dougherty · Aug 4, 2011

Great film! The extra fixing time is definitely worth while.

I shoot TMY2 in 120 at ISO 200 and develop in Rodinal (Adonal) 1:100 for 15 minutes. I always make one extra exposure a stop faster. It seems like the negative I print is usually the faster neg... which means I'm getting box spead out of this combo and that surprises the hell out of me. (Other films are usually half box speed (and sometimes I open up the aperture) so do not believe it's a shutter issue...)

Harry Lime · Aug 5, 2011

jp498 said:
Nothing wrong with the Tri-X if you like that. I've found a way to make TMY-2 work in bright sun though. PMK tames highlights quite differently than most developers and it's my favorite all around developer now for TMY2 (exposed at iso 320) except for overcast/rainy/snowstorm shooting when I go back to xtol.; I haven't tried the Thornton 2-bath.

PMK is a pyro developer if I am not mistaken. If this is the case than it is too toxic for my taste (but apparently delivers great results.)

Barry Thornton's 2-bath is a variation of the old Stoekler 2-bath, that has been reformulated for todays thinner emulsions. Works very, very well with high contrast scenes (and TMY-2) and is quite fool proof. Very simple to make.

Barry Thornton's 2-bath

Bath A
80 g sodium sulfite
6.5 g metol
Make up to 1 L with water

Bath B
12 g sodium metaborate (Kodalk)
Make up to 1 L with water

3-4 min in each bath

infundibulum · Apr 11, 2013

Is XTOL better than Tmax RS developer? How is it different?

StoneNYC · Apr 12, 2013

infundibulum said:
Is XTOL better than Tmax RS developer? How is it different?

Certainly not BETTER, but it's better for the environment

~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

StoneNYC · Apr 12, 2013

I still haven't quite gotten a feel for it, and it's certainly NOT the same as PanF+ sorry to disagree OP but that's just crazy talk, maybe in terms of grain but it's totally different in tones and gradients and everything.

I just can't get TMY to really shine like I want.

I'll keep working on it, perhaps someday I'll figure it out..

~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

Mactitan · Jul 19, 2015

400TMY-2 120 Roll film dev. in Kodak TMax 1:4

I like this film done in TMax @ 21° for 6.5min.

LarsAC · Jul 19, 2015

erikg said:
Best B&W stuff Kodak has ever made. I love it in pyrocat. What developer are you all using?

What developing scheme and time do you use?

Lars

Richard S. (rich815) · Jul 19, 2015

I find it a phenomenal film too, when I want it's look. I will say though that sometimes the Tmax films almost look too sterile and almost digital to me. But I use them and and find them gorgeous films most of the time.

TMY-2 (new TMAX 400) really is an incredible film

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