"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
gy.com...


I've been slow to start but now have accumulated 20 rolls
of T-max 100 that
were shot as zone tests and well documented. I'm trying
to decide which
developer to marry. My thought is to thoroughly explore
one film/developer
combo at a time. I've found that while I'm in the
darkroom, people leave me
alone, so...


The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the water.
D-76 works well and is reportedly the developer used at
Kodak for testing during the development (no pun intended)
of T-Max emulsions. D-76, however, tends to produce images
which do not have good visual sharpness even though measured
resolution is very good. My experience has been mostly with
D-76 diluted 1:1. I've gotten good results but find 100T-Max
has a tonal rendition which can look a little muddy in it.
Other developers like T-Max RS and Microphen are noticably
grainier than D-76 or Xtol. Overall my recommendation is
Xtol but mix it with water which has been filtered with an
activated charcoal filter to remove trace metals. For
additional advise on T-Max and on developers generally see
Ryuji Suzuki's web site at http://www.silvergrain.org


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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA