after hearing so many professional photographers claim their preference for TriX 400 I decided to give it a try. I had a bottle of TMAX developer and developed according to the instructions at 24C. However the prints when enlarged to 8x10 seem way too grainy. Is that a carachteristic of the film or the combo TriX and TMax doesn't work well?

-- herbet (herbetb@yahoo.com), October 06, 2000

Answers

Herbert, about 12 year ago, when taking a university photo course, I was deeply 'into' T-Max developer. I diluted it 1:6 [don't recall the time/temp chart for that] and developed EVERYTHING in it.

I think I even put it in my coffee,

Anyhow, the professor who said he hated Tri-X, was ecstatic over the way my Tri-X prints {11x14) looked. He said he had never seen such smooth prints. Looking back at them now, I agree. Sure don't see any objectionable grain.

So, what does all that prove.............?

Cheers,

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), October 06, 2000.

TriX does have a bit of grain, but that is one of the things that makes the film work. Some shots and work just require some grain.

THat said, I have never done TriX in Tmax. I do TriX is D-76, and coming soon Xtol.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), October 07, 2000.

_The Film Development Cookbook_ by Anchell and Troop gives a very thorough treatment of the relationship of films and developers. I recommend it highly. The "look" of Tri-X can vary quite a bit with different processing. At EI 400 or below, I like D-76/ID-11 1+1. At higher speeds, up to at least EI1600, Xtol 1+1 does it for me. I used to use HC110, but I am more comfortable with the longer development times and somewhat greater solvent action of the D-76.

Your mileage may vary.Tri-X can be a great film to experiment with, and to get to know well.

-- Paul Harris (pharris@neosoft.com), October 07, 2000.

If you overexpose and/or overdevelop a film like Tri-X it will be (more) grainy, regardless of the developer.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), October 08, 2000.

Thanks to all that contributed with answers. I got a piece of each added up with Kodak tech-sheets and here's what I came up with: As I'm using a condenser enlarger that increases contrast and grain Kodak recommends reducing development time by 30%, but that would lead to very short times over the risk of uneven development. So, I diluted Tmax in 1:6 and not 1:4 (30% weaker) and developed at the suggested time at 20C. Bingo! The negs printed beautifully in Ilford RC Multigrade paper! Then, I toned the prints in Kodak Selenium toner 1:20 to increase the DMAX and give extra protection. I just thought it would be worth telling. Maybe someone is having the same problems.

-- herbet (herbetb@yahoo.com), October 20, 2000.