David wrote:
>I've shot a roll or two of T-Max B/W neg film, and there's only one lab
>in Toronto that processes it in T-Max-specific chemicals and equipment.
>I've had them do the job before, and their work is first-rate - but
>they're quite out-of-the-way. Now, I'm told that T-Max can be processed
>in more conventional B/W chemistry and without special equipment, but
>that the very best results will be obtained with T-Max specific
>chemistry and equipment.
>So ... how valid is this advice? I've never had T-Max processed by the
>"conventional" route so I have no standard of comparison. Is there much
>of a visible difference between the results achieved by the differing
>methods? Or are the differences negligible? I doubt that any of these
>shots are going to end up as enlargements any bigger than 8x10, so does
>it really matter?
David,
Take a look at my web site, under the film and developer test page. I
created this comparison site specifically to help folks like you get an
idea of what happens when you experiment with films and developers. The
reproduction work (high magnification shots of the negs) was done with a
Nikon F2, Pk13 tube, bellows and reverse-mounted 28mm MF. Please read the
introductory page for details.
In my experience, T-Max developer is not the optimum developer for T-Max
film. It does have it's uses, though, such as for push processing. If you
want fine grain, there are other developers that will produce much better
results.
The data presented on my site is not a true, scientific study, since I
don't have all the required instrumentation for such work, but it will give
you a good idea of what to expect from various developers. I hope it causes
you to do your own experimentation to find out what works best for your
photos.
Best regards,
Stew
--
Photo Web pages: http://www.inficad.com/~gstewart
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