Working with Kodak TMax 400
Nov 21, 2023 14:09:49 #
The Kodak TMax family (ISO ratings 100, 400, and 3200) use a tabular grain (T-grain) similar to virtually all color film types. Both the 100 and 400 versions were released together in 1986 and have been updated a couple of times since then.
Sunflowers from Chicago by Paul Sager, on Flickr
This series of images looks at my own TMax 400 results dating from 2013 through 2022, presented in time-sequence order. The images beginning in late 2015 are processed and scanned to roughly 17MP, then edited in Adobe Lightroom v6. Slightly larger versions can be viewed on the host Flickr pages via the URL links of each image title.
Sunflowers from Chicago
When I look at images prior to say 2018, for the most part, I can't say 'why' I picked any specific B&W stock over another. I'm surprised to see the frequency of TMax 400 used often in the early years, and then a long gap between 2015 and 2019, for no specific reason.
Wave Swinger
When people think of Kodak black and white film, they probably first think of Kodak Tri-X not TMax. Kodak T-Max 400 film was revised in 2007 to the fine grain film that we know today. 3 years earlier, in 2004, Kodak celebrated 50 years of Tri-X which was first released in 1954. Kodak Tri-X has been around a lot longer than TMax and was popular with photo journalists and amateurs alike.
The Bean in B&W
For most of the images selected for this presentation, there is virtually no grain. Where there is some visual grain, I consider this an error in my exposure technique rather than the film. Beginning around the trip to Arches National Park in December 2015, below, I started a more determined effort to 'learn' to shoot film. After the Arches trip, I started adding colored filters and looking for recommendations on how to over-expose certain film types. I now give all film at least +1/3-stop EC, where some recommendations say to load TMax 400 as ISO-200, just overriding the canister DX code in the camera.
Arches National Park
All the images presented have the "EXIF" data merged into the scanned JPEGs. Shooting with an EOS 1v and using a third-party product, I can extract the shooting data from the camera and write into the JPEGs. Loading the images into Lightroom lets me analyze and compare the exposure technique of various images.
Snow Storm
These 2015 snowstorm images represent the 'end' of my earliest TMax 400 use. And then, there's a 4-year break. Again, I don't know or remember why.
waiting for Spring
When I returned to TMax 400, I started adding colored filters to the mix. This view of the St Marks lighthouse likely used an orange filter.
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
Fort Gaines skips a filter, returning to a +1/3 EC adjustment, as in an effective ISO-320 when shot.
Fort Gaines
I really like the grain-free low(er) light results of TMax-400, here in the Ft Gaines latrine, and earlier in the gloom and after dark of the Chicago blizzard.
Latrine
The grain in this image causes me to wonder if I was using a filter but not enough exposure. Reading online, some authors say the camera(s) should be able to meter correctly with a yellow or orange filter. Others, say you need to manually over-expose. My experience and results agree with the human needing to get involved. I now religiously add 1-stop for yellow, 2-stops for orange, and 3-stops for red, on top of overriding the DX code of the ISO rating.
Lincoln Park Conservatory
People rate TMax 400 as 'medium to high' contrast, fine-grain, and very sharp. This view of Chicago, below, is representative of this general assessment.
Chicago Skyline
The next two images show the fine-grain, but to me, in an unacceptable way. Both likely used a yellow filter, but with no added exposure compensation.
Momma wood duck
Is part of the 'fun' of shooting film the unknown aspect of what happened? You don't know until hours, days, even months later. But, when they come back as not what you expected, that's when I really appreciate digital, where one review of the peony on the digital LCD, and I'd be immediately adjusting the exposure and taking more frames.
Peony in B&W
Beginning with these images in the winter of 2021, we start to see experiments with the ISO override to ISO-200.
Snowy Cloud Gate
Returning to the idea of 'fun', here it is fun to see a black and white image come out successfully. I marvel at all the fine details in rider, as well as, even the texture of the snow below the sled.
Snow Day Jan 2021
The snow flakes in this image also begin to show some of the limitations of going too far over-exposed. Shot at an effective ISO-125 due to +0.7EC on top of the ISO-200 override, it may show the flexibility of the film, but also a loss of sharpness in the details for no good reason on my exposure settings.
Chicago in Snow
My sharpest lenses tend to show the best results from TMax 400.
Canal Street railroad bridge
This final image merges all the ideas of the nearly 10-year journey of shooting film, B&W, and filters, with TMax 400 loaded as ISO-320, a deep red filter and then +3 EC. Just the slightest bit of grain in the shadows where out of focus. At the pixel-level details of the light tubes, the details are amazing, something you don't always expect to see in film, until you do.
Central Camera
Sunflowers from Chicago by Paul Sager, on Flickr
This series of images looks at my own TMax 400 results dating from 2013 through 2022, presented in time-sequence order. The images beginning in late 2015 are processed and scanned to roughly 17MP, then edited in Adobe Lightroom v6. Slightly larger versions can be viewed on the host Flickr pages via the URL links of each image title.
Sunflowers from Chicago
When I look at images prior to say 2018, for the most part, I can't say 'why' I picked any specific B&W stock over another. I'm surprised to see the frequency of TMax 400 used often in the early years, and then a long gap between 2015 and 2019, for no specific reason.
Wave Swinger
When people think of Kodak black and white film, they probably first think of Kodak Tri-X not TMax. Kodak T-Max 400 film was revised in 2007 to the fine grain film that we know today. 3 years earlier, in 2004, Kodak celebrated 50 years of Tri-X which was first released in 1954. Kodak Tri-X has been around a lot longer than TMax and was popular with photo journalists and amateurs alike.
The Bean in B&W
For most of the images selected for this presentation, there is virtually no grain. Where there is some visual grain, I consider this an error in my exposure technique rather than the film. Beginning around the trip to Arches National Park in December 2015, below, I started a more determined effort to 'learn' to shoot film. After the Arches trip, I started adding colored filters and looking for recommendations on how to over-expose certain film types. I now give all film at least +1/3-stop EC, where some recommendations say to load TMax 400 as ISO-200, just overriding the canister DX code in the camera.
Arches National Park
All the images presented have the "EXIF" data merged into the scanned JPEGs. Shooting with an EOS 1v and using a third-party product, I can extract the shooting data from the camera and write into the JPEGs. Loading the images into Lightroom lets me analyze and compare the exposure technique of various images.
Snow Storm
These 2015 snowstorm images represent the 'end' of my earliest TMax 400 use. And then, there's a 4-year break. Again, I don't know or remember why.
waiting for Spring
When I returned to TMax 400, I started adding colored filters to the mix. This view of the St Marks lighthouse likely used an orange filter.
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
Fort Gaines skips a filter, returning to a +1/3 EC adjustment, as in an effective ISO-320 when shot.
Fort Gaines
I really like the grain-free low(er) light results of TMax-400, here in the Ft Gaines latrine, and earlier in the gloom and after dark of the Chicago blizzard.
Latrine
The grain in this image causes me to wonder if I was using a filter but not enough exposure. Reading online, some authors say the camera(s) should be able to meter correctly with a yellow or orange filter. Others, say you need to manually over-expose. My experience and results agree with the human needing to get involved. I now religiously add 1-stop for yellow, 2-stops for orange, and 3-stops for red, on top of overriding the DX code of the ISO rating.
Lincoln Park Conservatory
People rate TMax 400 as 'medium to high' contrast, fine-grain, and very sharp. This view of Chicago, below, is representative of this general assessment.
Chicago Skyline
The next two images show the fine-grain, but to me, in an unacceptable way. Both likely used a yellow filter, but with no added exposure compensation.
Momma wood duck
Is part of the 'fun' of shooting film the unknown aspect of what happened? You don't know until hours, days, even months later. But, when they come back as not what you expected, that's when I really appreciate digital, where one review of the peony on the digital LCD, and I'd be immediately adjusting the exposure and taking more frames.
Peony in B&W
Beginning with these images in the winter of 2021, we start to see experiments with the ISO override to ISO-200.
Snowy Cloud Gate
Returning to the idea of 'fun', here it is fun to see a black and white image come out successfully. I marvel at all the fine details in rider, as well as, even the texture of the snow below the sled.
Snow Day Jan 2021
The snow flakes in this image also begin to show some of the limitations of going too far over-exposed. Shot at an effective ISO-125 due to +0.7EC on top of the ISO-200 override, it may show the flexibility of the film, but also a loss of sharpness in the details for no good reason on my exposure settings.
Chicago in Snow
My sharpest lenses tend to show the best results from TMax 400.
Canal Street railroad bridge
This final image merges all the ideas of the nearly 10-year journey of shooting film, B&W, and filters, with TMax 400 loaded as ISO-320, a deep red filter and then +3 EC. Just the slightest bit of grain in the shadows where out of focus. At the pixel-level details of the light tubes, the details are amazing, something you don't always expect to see in film, until you do.
Central Camera
Nov 22, 2023 01:41:20 #
Very informative and excellent shots. It seems from your experimentation that TMax at ISO 320 and developed normally is the best combination. Any idea which developer was used? TMax? Looking at these on a laptop screen, the resolution and noise rivals digital. The one thing I don’t understand is the additional exposure when using filters. DSLRs meter the light after the filter, so no idea why the additional exposure is necessary. Yellow (-1 stop) orange (-2 stops) and red (-3 stops all attenuate blue, darken skies and add contrast, so what are you thoughts on this? Is it because the light meter is not linear with respect to color or the extra contrast makes the image darker? Or…?
Thanks so much for this photo essay and documentation - very useful to those of us that shoot film.
Thanks so much for this photo essay and documentation - very useful to those of us that shoot film.
Nov 22, 2023 08:34:30 #
Nov 22, 2023 10:00:07 #
These are really good images. I really like the sharpness, the contrast, and the tonality from black to white.
Nov 22, 2023 11:11:05 #
TriX wrote:
Very informative and excellent shots. It seems fro... (show quote)
Thanks Chris. I don't know on the metering. I think I have a link in my notes collected for these topics that said only the dark red is difficult for camera meters. All I know, at this point, is my experience and the resulting ugly under-exposed grain across various film types when I don't manually adjust the exposure to match the mounted filter.
Nov 22, 2023 11:12:45 #
Thank you Chris, John, Kathy! I'm moving onto Ilford films in the next few posts. Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 22, 2023 11:53:35 #
CHG_CANON wrote:
Thank you Chris, John, Kathy! I'm moving onto Ilford films in the next few posts. Happy Thanksgiving!
Looking forward to the contrast between Ilford and TMax.
Dec 3, 2023 17:08:45 #
pj81156
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
Twenty five years I lived in Chicago. Loved it. But you have a way of making it more beautiful than I ever saw!
Dec 5, 2023 09:59:35 #
pj81156 wrote:
Twenty five years I lived in Chicago. Loved it. But you have a way of making it more beautiful than I ever saw!
Thank you pj81156! I'll cross 33-years in Chicago myself this coming summer.
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