Tag: TMax

Review: TMax 400

The 400 ASA films that I’ve tried enough to have an opinion about include: Kodak’s Tri-X and TMax 400 and Ilford’s HP5 and XP2 Super. At this point, TMax has become a pretty clear favorite. It is without a doubt my most used B&W film in 35mm and in 120, though I explore more films more often in 120, it is the film I go to for consistent performance. While I do try to explore more and more films all the time, it is difficult to replace the flexibility and acutance of TMax 400 when it comes to shooting 35mm B&W.

Tone

If I’m being completely honest, this is where I feel TMax 400 disappoints me the most. It’s hard to explain why, though. Over every other film I’ve tried like it, I love the sharpness of this film and lack of pronounced grain. What’s different about this stock that I don’t love is the amount of middle grey and overall lack of contrast that photos have when taken in strong, daylight scenarios. In dimly lit (tastefully lit?) situations, the contrast is upped enough though to really hit the sweet spot for me.

Portraits

I’ve tried this film a bit in the studio but I’ve not loved the results. That is for sure my fault and not the fault of the film. I prefer the lower speed of TMax 100 so that I can have more dependency on the strobes and stop down a couple extra stops where for 400 ASA, I lose some of the control because of the speed of the film. I suspect that with some practice in the studio, I will come to love this film a lot too but when you’re able to completely control the amount of light, why not go for the lower ASA? Using the film in natural light settings, I still don’t care much for the film in strong, daylight settings without some curves adjustment. In natural light when the light is very low, contrast is high and this film finds its stride.

Pushing and Pulling

I can honestly say that I have more experience pushing/pulling this film that any other film stock. I’ll start with saying that I don’t like the results from pulling this film. I can’t even imagine a context when someone would want to do it. Why did I do it then, you ask? Great question – I pulled it because I was in a pinch, wanted some 100 ASA film but only had TMax 400. So I pulled it and found the results to be far too bland.

I do not know how this film retains so much dynamic range when pushed. Though I don’t know if this is true, I wouldn’t be surprised if TMax 400 performs just as well if not better than TMax 3200P at 3200 ASA. It can be pushed more and more without having many if any faults. It is because it can be pushed so much without seemingly any repercussions that it has become my go-to B&W film.

Conclusion

Similar to TMax 100, my first experience with this film stock was on our Banff trip in 2019. I actually only brought it for the 35mm as a back up film and it produced some of my favorite frames from the entire trip. I was pretty skeptical to try it before then but after that trip, I bought a few more rolls in 35mm and when I finally got around to shooting them, I was pretty amazed with the results. I’ve continued to try it more and more and I have found my go-to B&W film.

Last thing I’ll say is that I recently picked up a Tamron lens with vibration control which allows me to shoot as slow as 1/13th of a second and still get tack-sharp photos. This, paired up TMax’s ability to be undersexposed and work out just fine, made for opportunities to shoot well into the evening and late at night. I love it.

Banff (In Monochrome): New City, New Film – Acros & T-Max 100/400

This article shows off some of the black and white negative film I tried out on my vacation to Banff, CA in April2019. To see some of the color negative work, please follow this link. Several of this films in this article have exposure tested and compared to other B&W negative films – this article is located here.  

The Canadian Rockies were calling and we answered. In a moment of spontaneity and luck finding round-trip tickets for only 18k points, we got our tickets and booked a hotel within a couple hours and I immediately started thinking about what film I was going to take. For ease (and out of pure laziness) I needed to make sure everything was ASA 400 or slower so I didn’t have to have the film hand-checked.

For black and white negative film, I ended up taking a pro pack of T-Max 400 120 and 1 roll of 35mm. A few rolls of T-Max 100 120 and a couple rolls of Acros 120.

Acros

Of all the films I shot on this trip, I would say Acros was hands down the most interesting. I thought the clarity and the distinct transition from the darkest darks to the brightest brights combined to be such an interesting mix. I only ended up going through one of my two rolls I took and I honestly wish I shot more of it. I honestly wish they still made it…

T-Max 100

I liked this film but thought the shadows were not quite dark enough for my taste. I would have liked for a little more contrast. Nevertheless, I got this film in hopes of making some quality darkroom prints and I think they’ll do that splendidly.

T-Max 400

So this film – oddly enough – was only shot on my F100 (35mm format) even though I took an entire pro pack of it in 120. I just never got around to using it. The shots from it were fantastic and produced some of my favorites from the trip. Brittany was handling the F100 for half or so of the roll and despite typically disliking B&W film, I think she really enjoyed using the F100 and liked the results.

Review: Kodak TMax P3200

One of my favorite things about B&W film is in its simplicity and not needing to worry about filters when the conditions are anything other than daylight for purposes of white balancing. Often times, when I’m shooting indoors, I don’t have much if any natural light. More often than not when I’m shooting indoors, I can’t count on a lot of natural light and 400 speed film is too slow. In comes 3200 speed film. It’s great. I always have some in the freezer.  

The only downside is the fact that it’s only available in 35mm. And even then that’s not that big of a deal. finger’s crossed they eventually come out with it in 120 Between this stock and Illford Delta 3200 in 35mm, I couldn’t suggest this stock more. While the grain is a bit more than I would expect from a 400 speed film, it’s far and away better than Illford’s alternative in terms of grain and feel.

At this point, I almost always have a roll of it in one of my two Nikon F2s. While I’ve experimented with it outdoors for a few frames of each roll, I’ve never really been that impressed. I had a difficult time getting the shots to not be too bright and it loses some of the texture I have to love it for.