T-Max 400 & HC-110

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Hi! The last month I´ve been shooting some rolls of T-Max 400 and developed them in HC-110, following Kodaks recommendations. I´m not pleased with the results though the negatives are overly grainy. Did I do anything wrong or is the film/developer combination a bad one?

-- Lennart Åström (lennart.astrom@kommun.kalix.se), November 22, 2001

Answers

I've shot Tmax 400 for some years and the best developers seem to be ( surprise, surprise ) the Tmax developer. Microphen is really good as well. As long as you aren't pushing the film dramatically ( past 1600 asa ) you should not experience large grain. If you rate the film at 400 or 200 and develop to suit your enlarger ( which is a matter or trail and error ) you should not have to much of a problem. A diffuser enlarger will give you less defined grain. If you want a fast film without grain use a C41 processed black and white film like ilford XP2 that has minimal grain. Hope this is of help.

-- paul postle (paul@paulpostle.co.uk), September 19, 2002.

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