I have just been out taking pictures in overcast weather with a friend of mine. I used New Ilford 400 120, rated at 800 and developed in Ilfotec-DDX. He used Tmax 400 120 rated at 640 and developed in Tmax developer. We took almost identical shots, at almost identical times. The comparison in results is very interesting.(posted 8346 days ago)The Tmax results were very "punchy" - by which I mean there was plenty of contrast, but excellent detail was retained in dark areas and highlights. The negatives have a very lively feeling, and have been easy to print with a good balance of contrast and detail.
The Delta results were also good, but were very different indeed. The negatives had much less contrast, and much less "punch", but detail was also retained in dark and highlight areas. They were harder to print with a balance of contrast and detail.
Both combinations yielded good results, but the Tmax seemed to deliver negatives with a better mix of contrast and detail. I have always been very keen on Delta, but these results are making me wonder about using Tmax.
I would be interested in hearing your views on this. Does it match your experiences? Perhaps there is some way that I can get similar results from Delta (which I certainly like for its sharpness and lack of grain) - other developers, other techniques, am I under developing? Any thoughts? I must admit, I don't think I am under-developing, because further development seems to increase contrast at the cost of losing detail. But I would be interested in hearing what you think...