Old vs. New Tmax

[paulr]

I'm guessing this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it in the archives.

I just bought my first box of tmax 100 4x5 film in many years (last time I bought it I stocked up). The packaging and the notch code is different. What am I in for?

[Eric Brody]

Not much.

As best I can tell, the film speed and developing times are unchanged. Unless you're the type of zone system person who measures rather than photographs (and I've been there so I know whereof I speak), I suspect you'll do fine.

[Joe Smigiel]

The film has been changed to incorporate a new UV absorbing layer. This makes the new film emulsion a poor choice for doing alternative process printing (Pt/Pd, cyanotype, van dyke brown, etc.) that are exposed using UV sources. Tests show the new films may require 3 stops more exposure than previously. (What would have been a 10-minute print exposure using the old film now requires 1 1/3 hours with the new.) There have been several threads on this topic in the past year on various internet groups.

The change presents no problem if you just do conventional silverprint enlarging/contact printing but is disasterous for alternative process printing.

[paulr]

ahhh, thank you.

[Stephen Longmire]

There most certainly are changes to the processing times between old and new TMAX 100, Paul. Check with Kodak via their website or their 800# (800-242-2424 x19) for details. They maintain there's a modest increase in speed too. Best of luck!

[paulr]

Thanks, Stephen,
I called kodak ... they told me the emulsion changed more by accident than by design. their film manufacturing equipment got too old and had to be replaced with brand new models. This caused unavoidable changes, and the new times are just the results of their retests. The change in the UV absorbing dyes was to assist in manufacturing and also to reduce in-camera static. It applies to TMX 100 and plus X, but not to TMY or tri X.

The changes in developing time are very strange. with some developers, the time is slightly reduced (HC110), with others it's significantly reduced (D-76 full strength) and with some it's actually increased (xtol). I use my own formula, so the guy just suggested to do what I was doing, and use that as a jumping off point.

Seems like every time i take a nap for a minute the world gets turned upside down.