[LargeFormat] Kodak Film Changes!

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Atherton" <tim@KairosPhoto.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 12:51 PM
Subject: RE: [LargeFormat] Kodak Film Changes!


> Interesting article in the new Photo Techniques. They only
tested 35 mm (and
> not Tri-X 320), But found that:
>
> there was almost no difference in dev times in the
emulsions they compared -
> old and new
>
> Curve characteristics old and new were almost identical.
>
> Biggest difference was grain - most emulsions were
improved grain wise.
> Especially Tri-X. The Exception was T-Max400, which was
now MORE grainy. In
> fact Tri-X had improved so much, it was now less grainy
than T-Max400..
>
> Testing was done by the ex-kodak product developers who
developed Xtol and
> other things.
>
> Be interesting to see if this holds true for sheet film
>
> BTW - they couldn't figure out where Kodak got there new,
and sometimes
> wildly different development times from.
>
> Their advice was to stick with what you've always done for
a said film, and
> then see if there are any big differences.
>
>
  I think I've read this before somewhere.
  Keep in mind that apparently T-Max film has been made in
the new coating facility for some time now so there should
not be any difference in the emulsions.
  I am generally skeptical of magazine tests on anything.
They tend to be limited (by budget and deadlines) and are
often not very well controlled.
  Grain, or granularity (not quite the same thing) is not
the easiest thing to measure. How did they measure it and
how did they reduce the data? Did they use a
microdensitiometer? If so, what was its aperture size?
  What developers were used? And other questions that I'll
bet aren't addressed.
  It would be interesting to hear from others who have
actually tried both films to see if their results agree. My
personal experience with the older versions is that T-Max
400 is decidedly finer grained than Tri-X 35mm film, at
least visually. I use D-76 1:1 for both.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com