I read/heard someplace that Kodak's T-Max developer and Acufine are basically the same formula. Does anyone know if this is true?

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), January 23, 2001

Answers

Acufine is a powder which is prepared into a stock solution and can be replenished. It is said to be similar to FX-4, which contains Metol, HQ and Phenidone. T-Max developer is a concentrate, which is diluted 1:4.

E.g. Powders usually contain sodium sulfite, while liquid concentrates require potassium sulfite, which dissolves in higher concentration. So their formula should be different.

I use FX-4 for speed increase/push 1 to get 800 ASA from e.g. a TMY, tones are good but grain is increased compared to 400 in Xtol. T-max dev. is mostly used for Push 2 of TMY and HP5+.This grain is usually finer than a Push 1 in FX-4.

So I think there is a difference in formula as well as in performance.

Regards

Wolfram

-- Wolfram Kollig (kollig@ipfdd.de), January 24, 2001.

I shoot a lot of fast films (quite often they were pushed up to 6400) for subjects dimly lighted such as contemporary dance and I felt that Acufine serve my interest better because it gave to me a lower contrast on the negative (which I prefer) compared to T-Max developer. So, if it is the same formula, my answer would surely be: I don't think so. Their components are not the same and if they were, their relative quantities will differ. Those scenes I just mentionned are well known for their high contrast (live contemporary dance)

-- Claude Villemur (photodada@hotmail.com), February 11, 2001.