Labs That Develop P3200 Properly...???

Does anyone here know of a B&W lab that can properly develop P3200 in T-Max developer? It may be 6 months until I can have my own darkroom again. Gotta sell our old house first and then buy a new one LOL.

 

Thanks for any replies and comments.

You don't need a darkroom for film developing, but a sink helps a lot.

 

When I was young, I did it in the bathroom. Use a changing bag to load film into the tank, then everything else is in room light.

 

A darkroom is really nice for printing, but these days scan and print from the digital image is more usual.

I tried a changing bag decades ago to load a 100' film roll onto reusable cartridges, and I didn't like it one bit. I'll stick to using a good B&W lab (if I can find one) to develop my P3200 film until I can get my darkroom up and running again.

Get a changing bag and tank and you are done. Don’t need a darkroom

I now use a bulk loader inside a changing back for loading from 100 foot rolls.

 

But loading a reel inside a changing bag is much easier.

TMAX3200 was always a problem for labs, even the few that did a good job on normal speed films. Maybe think again about using a changing bag or maybe a really dark place at night, maybe a closet, for loading into your tank. Then you can adjust your processing to suit your self.

Fotoimpex I'd rather get a changing bag or changing tent though. - I never had any in film terms dark enough darkroom all my life but printed in the fishy alternatives.

I managed a really good fine art b/w dept and we were pretty good at handling custom times for oddball b/w film's. Still, tmz presented unique problems and we eventually had to send customers elsewhere.

 

Biggest problem was processing time. Tmz at EI 3200 is really finicky about developers and requires obnoxiously long developer times. Twice as long as tmy 400 as i recall. It also requires suitable developers to keep fog low, and while tmax developer is near ideal for tmz its not a common commercial developer because of its high price. No big deal if you run it by hand, but a pain in the neck if 99% of your customer base is using tmy/tmx, youre running d76 1:1 or a clone, and now you have this roll of tmz that requires it's own run.

 

I don't like changing bags either. Closet or bathroom works fine, and then wait for night to turn adjacent room lights off as well which insures it will be really dark. No rule that says your changing location has to be daylight proof. Wind at night.

Changing bags are fine as long as you get a large one. The only issue I've had is in hot weather, with sweaty hands making the film sticky in a plastic reel. Working fast or a stainless reel solves the problem.

 

Closets and waiting for a moonless night and asking the local authority to switch the street lights off isn't really a viable option.

Changing bags are fine as long as you get a large one. The only issue I've had is in hot weather, with sweaty hands making the film sticky in a plastic reel. Working fast or a stainless reel solves the problem.

 

Closets and waiting for a moonless night and asking the local authority to switch the street lights off isn't really a viable option.

With changing bags you can never be sure if they are completely light tight, and aside from polar locations it gets night every 24 hours in the geographic U.S.

 

Turn the bathroom light off, turn the hallway light off, throw a towel under the door, and wind your reels in comfort. Not sure why that's difficult.

Twice as long as tmy 400 as i recall. It also requires suitable developers to keep fog low, and while tmax developer is near ideal for tmz its not a common commercial developer because of its high price.

 

I have shot one roll of the new stuff, and keep a bottle of TMAX developer on hand even though I don't shoot that many TMAX films(and often do them in D76 or HC110 when I do).

 

With that said, I've been too lazy to develop the roll I've shot so far because the 12 minute processing time seems a real pain. I want to wait until I have at least two rolls ready to go before I process it.

The bottle of T-Max developer costs about half the price for a bottle of HC-110.

 

But I am a home user, not a production lab.

 

I mostly bought HC-110 because it is recommended for older film, which I have a lot of.

 

I think I will try T-Max developer on other films, though. Just ones that aren't so old.

 

(For those not following, I have some Panatomic-X with a develop by date in 1941, and

FX410 develop by a date in 1961.)

 

Delta 3200 also has times for T-Max developer, so I might also try that.