>Bob> In article <44f6fl$c1r@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, johnmw4@aol.com says...
>>> I need to know how grainy T-Max 3200 is. Is grain obvious on a 3.5x5
>>> print? On a 5x7?
>
>Bob> Depends on how it is exposed and developed. In D-76 at 800 ASA, it is
>Bob> very fine-grained and smooth in 5x7's. In Acufine at 1200 ASA, it is
>Bob> good, but beginning to show grain. At any speed approaching 3200 in any
>Bob> developer that can produce useable density and reasonable contrast, it
>Bob> is very grainy, and not very sharp. Hope this helps.
>
>Does this mean that you wouldn't recommend using the T-MAX developer? I'd
>be interested to hear -- if you are so inclined -- as to what can be done to
>reduce grain on all three TM[XYZ] films.
---TM dev. was, er, developed to get some speed out of otherwise overrated ---films. In D-76 (an excellent general purpose dev.), the speed (with normal ---contrast) of TMX is 40, TMY is 200 (or less), TMZ is about 650. These are
---true speeds, not "pulled" ratings.
>If one were to shoot TMZ (T-Max 3200) at 800 ISO, do you adjust developing
>time at all? I've never "pulled" film. Do you think you could get
>reasonable looking 8x10's out of TMZ at 800? (These are sports-type shots
>in a poorly lit room.)
---You can probably get away with boosted contrast in this situation, so ---800-1000 is not unreasonable with adjusted times for D-76. If you can stand
---a noticeable increase in grain and loss in sharpness, Acufine or TM dev.
---would be fine at about 1600-2000 ASA - just don't expect high quality.
>The reason I'm asking about this is that I tried shooting 100 at 200 ISO.
>Those negatives seem mostly okay. I also shot 400 ISO at 400. Those
>negatives seem a bit thin.
---TMY is the worst offender in terms of missrated true speed.
>Any suggestions on developing process to reduce grain? Does using a lower
>(slower) developing temperature help reduce grain?
---No. As long as all processing liquids (including water) are at the same ---temperature, you have not over or underexposed or developed (for the
---desired density), you keep wet times as short as possible (don't overwash,
---skip the Hypo-clear, and briefly use a very dilute Photo-flo solution
---(distilled water helps avoid water marks), and use a fine-grain dev. like
---D-76 (NOT Microdol!), you have done the best you can.
>I'd appreciate any info you'd be willing to share.
---Hope this helps.
David Ruether