My first experience with TMAX 100

[gaoyan_xie]

Hello everybody,

 

I just got my first roll of TMAX 100 back. I shot with it my family in

the open shade at about 6:00pm of a sunny day (washington state).

Well, I have to say that I am not satisfied with the final prints, and

I donot know whom I should complain: the film or the photo lab?

 

1)I've heard many people saying TMAX 100's very fine grain. But I

cannot see it since people's skin in the final prints looks really

dingy (not that kind of smooth and soft look I expected, maybe I

should complain my bad skin? ~-~)

 

2)In many prints, most part(I mean the background, my wife's face, her

dark cloths..etc.) are well exposed, except that my baby's bright

shirt with some silver decorators is totally washed out. Is the

exposure latitude of TMAX 100 so poor? or is this a destined output of

an incompetent photo lab? BTW, I shot the same scenes with my little

digital camera(Canon A70) at the same time, and the exposure of the

digital pictures turned out much better than my TMAX 100 prints.

 

This is my second contact with B&W phtographys (My first was with TMAX

400, and had the similar results), and I'd really like to hear your

opinions if you have experience with TMAX 100, thanks for any input.

 

GX

[mendel_leisk]

Here's a few TMax100, self-processed in HC110, dil. B, shot at rated ASA, scanned on Scan Dual II:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=257593

[tom_menegatos]

This is why many people choose to process and print their own black and white film.

[Aoresteen]

It's your lab. Find out what developer they are using. They soup everthing in the same developer. Then match the film to the developer and adjust your exposure index.

 

Why not develop it yourself? With a change bag and a daylight tank it's easy. Chemidtry is cheap. For $75 you could be set up easily. Or less if you buy via ebay.

 

I've used HC-110B since 1976 and you can't go wrong with it.

[harry_seldon_____aka____fl]

Tmax has pretty decent latitude. It is probably the most popular B&W film on the market. It is the staple for almost all photography classes becaust it is consistant, easy to find, and it's pretty good film. Unless the film was damaged, like by sitting in on the dash of a hot car for a week, the problem was unlikely to be the film.

 

How long has the lab been doing B&W film. My guess is that if they have been at it for more than a week or two, they probably have the basics down for developing Tmax film. After all you are talking about the black and white film that they see the most of.

 

The other factor would be the camera or the operator. Since the dark areas came out OK and the light areas were blown out it sounds like it was over exposed. It is easy to find advice to de-rate the film to about 1/2 and expose one stop over manufacturers ratings. This only works if you adjust the developing times. Stay with the manufacturers ratings until you are sure you have a handle on things. After you are getting consistant results and you have a good relationship with the lab, you can experiment with the ratings.

 

The fact that the 400 came out with similar problems indicates that your equipment or the operator may be the cause of your distress. Shoot some color film and see if the relults come out ok. For a real test shoot color slide film. There is zero room for error when exposing color transparencys. There is no print process to correct mistakes. If a roll of color slide film comes out OK you are shooting OK and the camera is working OK.

 

You are looking at three possible areas, the lab, the film, or the camera/operator. Which of the three has the least proven track record? That is the first place to look for problems.