Great for what it is
By Matt
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2022-09-12
I love TMAX and most all Kodak films, but as this is 3600 iso/asa it will be quite grainy, yet good for 3600. Use in low light. Not super worth it to pull this film, better to push 400 or 800.
Lots of fun with low light!
By Chloe
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2022-07-16
I used this film while on a road trip just to try it out and see how I like it. I ended up using it in quite a few sunny or overcast outdoor areas. When I buy this again, it will be for portrait photography and I'll avoid having a lot of subjects in the frame. Most of my photos look like something I'd dig out of my grandparent's attic, which is a fun effect, but undersells what this film is capable of.
My favorite film, Graphic and beautiful
By Nicholas
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-12-26
I love this film. I use it for everything. Day time, night time, shade, sunlight ETC. Doesnt Matter.
The real film speed is 800-1000 ISO depending on developers you use. XTOL or Tmax will give you a film speed of 1000 ISO. something like d76 will give you 800 ISO for normal speed.
Everything else above that speed, is PUSHING this film. It is NOT a 3200 ISO film. the P3200 stands for - PUSH UP TO 3200 ISO.
See Kodak's data sheet for information.
Even in the sun, I use it, with a yellow-red filter to get into usable exposure speeds. In New England, its not super bright, so most of the time it is fine.
I have heard people complain about the highlights being blown, especially with TMAX developer. Kodak wouldn't make a Tmax film, and a Tmax developer, and have them be unusable together, this is nonsense.
The biggest problem people have with film these days, is a lack of calibration and testing, to their supplies and their methods. You need to test a film, run different speeds for your camera, calibrate it to your enlarger, Work out max black testing in the darkroom, and then adjust your development times based on highlight printing tests, also in the darkroom. That way you know for the camera you use, to the film you use, to the developer you use, to the agitation you use, to the enlarger you use, what your EXACT film speed ratings are for your camera, development times, etc to get great prints under an enlarger.
Testing and calibrating things takes only a few hours. We didn't jump about from film to film like young folks do now, we tested and calibrated to get the BEST prints. If you use many cameras, you need to do this test for each and every camera, to evaluate adjustments in the mechanical shutters not being the same exact speeds, etc.
If you don't do these things, don't complain about bad pictures, blown highlights, etc, bad shadow detail, on this amazing film. That is user Error, and its usually from shooting 10 films at once, and using 40 different options for scanning, developing, etc, and never ever learning your tools.
If someone doesn't know how to do this, contact me and I will send you detailed instructions on calibrating your chosen film, camera, developer and enlarger, for free, in a DM.
We were taught this in photography school and is a MUST.
