Yep, that's a LOT of developer at once. Definitely commercial. Here labs have recently been using Xtol for their dip n' dunk machines. I've always done b&w film dev myself, one little batch at a time.
Yep, that's a LOT of developer at once. Definitely commercial. Here labs have recently been using Xtol for their dip n' dunk machines. I've always done b&w film dev myself, one little batch at a time.
Hello everyone,
Just reviving this as in John Sexton’s latest newsletter, he indicates he has been doing some preliminary development tests using the current/latest reformulation of the regular TMax developer (ie the non-RS version) with TMax films and so far he is not seeing dichroic fog issues.
Of course these are preliminary tests/evaluations but this is certainly something you might want to test for yourself if you have been impacted by the discontinuation of TMax RS.
I still have an unopened bottle of concentrate of the original RS. Wonder if it's still any good. For those relatively few lab applications I actually needed that, I simply settled on a tweak of HC-110 instead, which isn't going to deliver quite the same linearity to the characteristic curve, but seems close enough, and is a lot more practical. Problem is, HC-110 has now been reformulated, and I don't know if any performance variable has been affected in the transition. I still have enough of older formula to sustain me awhile. The concentrate seems to keep well a very long time in a partial bottle, at least in the traditional version.
I was about to reply along these lines.Originally Posted by Michael R
Anyway John Sexton's newsletter may be read here: http://www.johnsexton.com/newsletter07-2021.html
Note that he describes the tests he and his wife did as PRELIMINARY (the caps are his).
Thank you Michael for saving me from typing quite so much.
David
Hmmm.... thanks for the link. But on John's site, I also stumbled onto a link to the background story behind, Yosemite and Range of Light, my very favorite AA book. I'll try to watch the whole flick later in the day. But I find it strange that the re-formulators at Kodak never kept John in the loop as per exactly what they intended to do, since he was so instrumental in promoting the whole TMax concept to begin with. A generational gap, I suppose. Things always seem to get out of step that way.
Drew, I had three unopened bottles of concentrate of the original RS that expired 06/2018 that I tested and it was still good. I used it on a project I shot at my late father-in-law's house April 2021- June 2021 and the negatives turned out good. My dilution was 1:7 from the concentrate so depending on its expiration date your bottle may still have some life in it.
I only used TMax RS for developing very nitpicky precisely matched color separation 8X10 TMax100 sheet film negatives. So before trusting that bottle, I'd have to do a critical test and check it with a densitometer first. I'm sure this bottle is at least a decade older than yours. But I don't have time for that kind of project now. All my recent color to black and white conversions have simply involved TMax or FP4 internegatives from LF chrome film shots, for sake of ordinary silver b&w printing, a much less critical application which HC-110 is plenty competent for.
Hello, Phil -- did you find a way around this problem? I had to leave film photography for a while, and when I came back I discovered T-Max RS had left permanently. So I'm trying to find a replacement...
Many thanks,
Chris
T-max rs has been long gone now, so I imagine all of us have moved on. In my case, I made the switch to Ilford ddx and use it one shot diluted 1:9 similar to the way I was using tmax-rs. I have slowly been weaning myself off of t-max film also. $20+ per sheet for 8x10 is getting ridiculous! I have been using more Ilford Delta 100 and fp4, I also find myself shooting 4x5 more than I was. The cost of Kodak sucks, but life goes on!
T-max (non -RS) is available and works well. Since the early 2000s I never had an issue with dichroic fog in my prints.
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