use tmax developer several times

polpo · 2007-01-29T16:53:12+00:00

liebe leute habe eine menge kb tmax 400er filme geschenkt bekommen, große pressekisten, damals hießen die noch tmy. jetzt werde ich auch eine menge zu entwi...

polpo

Dear all, I’ve been given a whole load of KB TMAX 400 film in large press boxes – back then they were still called T-MY. Now I’ve got a lot of developing to do. So far, I’ve been happy to reuse the TMAX liquid developer (1:4) several times, rather than using it just once as the instructions say. For the second batch, I added 20% to the development time; for the third, 40%. I seem to recall that the developer was still quite clear afterwards and the results were, of course, fine. What do you think? There are those handy conversion charts where you can calculate the extension factor. The extension factor can only be a rough guide, after all, every developer is different in the details, isn’t it? Looking forward to your reply p

skahde

What do you think?

I think you should switch to a cheaper developer instead of playing this game of chance. TMY comes out better rather than worse in a nice 1+1 D76 than in TMAX developer. With those extension factors, you’re always teetering on the edge, because at some point the developer is completely spent; you can keep extending it as much as you like, but the negatives will remain too thin. Testing that limit reliably will cost you more than the savings are worth. Penny wise, pound foolish, as the saying goes. Best regards Stefan

piu58

I develop TMY in Tetenal Ultrafin Plus 1+6 as a single-use developer. I’m a firm believer in this combination because it delivers consistent results (as it’s a single-use developer), fine grain and makes the most of the film’s speed and push capability. I’ve measured out my bottle and need 36 ml of concentrate for one roll of film. That’s quite a cost. Ultrafin Plus and TMax developer are practically identical.

polpo

Oh, right, I thought as much. So, ultra-frugal again, then. I’ll go and have a look straight away, and then I’ll be able to compare it with my previous attempts at saving. When it comes to saving, I was thinking more about reducing waste than about the financial side of things, but you’re right – saving is never fun. Thanks for the replies p

GeorgK

Hello. The Tmax developer is really very robust. If there are only a few days between development sessions (or if everything is developed in one go anyway), you can use it as a multi-use developer without any worries. After all, even a batch of D76 changes its properties over several months. Best regards, Georg

Christoph

Hello, I’ve had Kodak send me a German-language data sheet/instruction manual (whatever you want to call it), which states exactly how long a used T-Max developer solution will keep, and how the development times need to be extended. Chris