Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]
At 9:40 AM -0800 12/7/03, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:
>To make matters worse, when T-max came out, I was shooting in the Palm
>Springs-Indio area at least 3-5 times a month. All middle of the day shoots.
>That's where I learned to go one stop over on exposure, with flash fill, and
>pull back 20-30% in the processing.
>But more importantly was the issue of consistent temperature controls. I
>found that if my stopbath was more than 2-3 degrees over the developer temp,
>the highlights would blow out. Then of course, if one is using daylight
>tanks, the dev. temp. would go up 2-3 degrees, adding that much more
>aggravation to the whole experience. In hot weather, I use water jackets to
>maintain a semblance of temp. control.
>Slobodan Dimitrov
>
I've tried Tmax at various times since it came out, and have varied
development and exposure over a wide range. I am still not very happy
with it. It just doesn't have a proper shoulder, and the toe isn't
too good either. For me, these areas define the 'user-friendliness'
of a film. In a studio situation, where things like lighting and
contrast ratios can be well controlled, T-max is an excellent choice,
but in field work, where lighting ratios often are what they are,
T-max has proven to be an unending pain.
I'd shoot a range of interior architectural shots, and I'd come home
and have 3-5 different development conditions if I wanted really good
negs. With FP4 or HP5, I would have 2, at the very most. No contest.
And the FP4 and HP5 would still be easier to print. True, if done
right T-max definitely had finer grain, but for me the easier
solution by far was to go up one format size, or down one film speed,
and use a conventional film.
Tri-X I like, and HP5 gives me almost an extra useable stop for a
very little additional grain. For finer grain I turn now to Delta
100, which, while not having as forgiving a nature as FP4, has about
a 2 stop advantage when developed for the same grain. The Delta film
have a lot less problem with blown highlights than T-max, and have
almost the same acutance and grain. X-tol has saved these films for
me!
So if T-max fades from the planet, I couldn't care less. I do very
little studio work, and the real world out there responds much better
to other films.
- --
* Henning J. Wulff
/|\ Wulff Photography & Design
/###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
|[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html