Response to TMax-isms?

I may have said something similar, or at least I believe the statement. TMax 400 looks pretty normal to me and I couldn't pick it out of a crowd. TMax 100, OTOH, has a unique tonal signature in common developers. A smooth appearance, with visual sharpness less than what you'd expect from the lack of grain. Highlights tend to lack separation of values. I got much better results using Rodinal, but the increase in grain gave the combination no real advantage over similar speed conventional films. Remember, all this is MHO, and you have to match the film to what you're trying to accomplish. If the look of TMax and Rodinal was what I thought I needed for a particular shot, that's what I'd use. I don't find TMax films any less contrasty than conventional, in fact keeping the contrast under control is the more common problem.

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