I freely admit, I love TMax. I love TMax 100, TMax 400, TMax 3200. must be the Oregon spring runoff I use for my water, but all the trials I have run ... TMax rises to the top. the winner for me, has been TMax 100 in TMax RS. perfection. tonality that I adore, consistency, has a patina that scans marvelously and glows off the light-table. my question? can I improve perfection? has anyone else had similar experiences with a different developer that brought out the fine qualities of this film. there is so much bad press regarding this film, that I often wonder if I have stumbled onto something grand or am too blind to see its not-so-obvious flaws.

Xtol had never worked for me with this film. and to address the commentary about not messing with a good thing .. its human nature. to take one last leap .. towards the unknown, in hopes of reaching just a little farther.

-- daniel taylor (aviator@agalis.net), July 30, 2000

Answers

I have found that Rodinal 1:50 works well with TMax100 in 4x5 ; at EI80, try 13 minutes at 20oC. For something like N-1, rate at EI50, and process for 10.5 minutes. Rodinal will also take out all the anti- halation dye.

I have not obtained good results with TMax100 and PMK Pyro.

I've never tried TMax RS ; can you share your EI's / developing times?

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), July 30, 2000.

In testing a large number of 35mm film/developer combinations last year, I found that TMax100 in Rodinal 1+50 (@EI125) gave the best detail of all, even finer than Tech Pan in Technidal. The grain was slightly better than with TMax developer (not RS).

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), July 30, 2000.

TMax 100 in Rodinal 1:50 gave me the best tonality, and had few other flaws. The stuff definitely removes the purple dye too. It gave me the best apparant sharpness of any developer, but the grain stood out a bit more than I thought it should. IMHO, TMax is suited to certain subjects and lighting, but I get better overall results with other combinations. Never willing to give up however, tell us your processing and the type of subjects you shoot (esp. the usual lighting).

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), July 31, 2000.

Along the lines above, Delta 100 in Rodinal 1:50. Compare side by side with Tmax 100 in Rodinal 1:50. Choose one over the other. The former's my choice.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), July 31, 2000.

Try Xtol again. Works great for me.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), August 02, 2000.

every six months, I mix a batch of Xtol and give it one more go. I really want this developer to work well, but it just doesn't. consistently underdevelops, to the point, that I wonder how anyone can judge it positively. I have been blaming it on my Oregon water.

-- daniel taylor (aviator@agalis.net), August 02, 2000.

always use distilled water with Xtol

have been happy with it and Tmax

-- John M Jones (rentavet@pathway.net), September 16, 2000.