I was recently looking through my film archives and found a number of photographs shot on Kodak T-MAX 100. I used T-MAX 100 when it was first introduced back in 2002, but for some reason, I got lured away to work with PMK Pyro and ILFORD HP5 PLUS. I think I may have made a hasty decision and not spent enough time to really learn this film, and I hope to revisit this film sometime in the future.

T-MAX 100 is known for its extremely fine grain that is nearly invisible. It also has excellent reciprocity characteristics which means it maintains speed at long exposures. T-MAX 100 also is effectively a faster film than Tri-X 400 at long exposures. This is something I am discovering as I recently started working on a long exposure project with Tri-X.

When comparing the two films at a meter reading of two minutes, Tri-X requires a 6 minutes 40 seconds exposure whereas T-MAX 100 requires a 4 minute 40 seconds exposure when using Howard Bond’s recommendations.

Although T-MAX 100 has many excellent qualities it requires diligence in your processing technique to ensure consistent and repeatable results, so monitor your developer temperature regularly.


The photographs above were taken with my beloved Linhof Technika V, which is now in hands of a photographer somewhere in Japan. Images were developed in Kodak Xtol and Kodak T-MAX RS.

~ Antonio Lastoria

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3 responses to “5 Frames… With Kodak T-MAX 100 (EI 100 / 4×5 / Linhof Technika V)”

  1. Love those photos, I think TMAX of 100 or 400 variety generally receives less attention than it deserves, I remember the TMAX party and there was much dissatisfaction expressed with how unforgiving etc. it all was, but looking back there was some great results achieved with it.

  2. I’m a big fan of TMAX film as well. I switch between TMAX developed in F76+ and HP5 developed in PMK Pyro depending on the image characteristics I’m looking for. I also found that my results with TMAX became more predictable when I became more disciplined with my development. I use a water bath held to a fixed temperature using a fish tank heater. Typically develop between 72-75 F using the times in the Massive development chart. I use a pre-rinse for three minutes. All of these things together have made a difference for me.

  3. Lovely photos BUT the shorter reciprocity times does *not* mean it’s “faster” than Tri-X! ISO 100 vs 400/320.

 

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