On 24 Dec 1998 17:39:16 GMT, ernreed@aol.com (ERNReed) wrote:

>>>Tmax 400 is an awesome film! Try that out. You are right...plus x is VERY
>>>contrasty!

>>Huh?!?!
>>My experience with some B&W films:

>>T-Max 400 in D-76 1:1 has virtually no shadow detail, and rather
>>contrasty highlights (I chased this film down to 25ASA once
>>[with developer compensation] and NEVER got shadow detail from
>>it!) - and a useable speed of around 200...
>
>(snip)

>Have you tried T-Max film in T-Max developer?
>Perhaps D-76 isn't ideal for everything!

You are right - but I did, and I did not like the result...
I even put T-Max 400 in Acufine to see if that would fill
out the shadows and tame the highlights - it did, but the
result was no faster than Tri-X in D-76, with other
characteristics that were not up to the Tri-X/D-76
combo. The T-Max films have seemed to me to be little
more than sales-gimmick for general use, though for
VERY specific uses the quirks of these films can
be useful... Kodak tried to make silver-poor film
seem like an advantage rather than (generally...)
a disadvantage - they are more difficult to process
with consistency, and they trade off good tonal
characteristics for slightly better sharpness and
finer grain (and their speed ratings are somewhat
humorous...).