Kodak TMAX 100 - Film Review

Low grain, high sharpness, high contrast with plenty of mid-tone detail. My go-to B&W when shooting with Mamiya RB67.

I was for many years an FP4 devotee oin 35mm; when I moved to medium format about 15 years ago I tried several films, including Delta 100, Acros 100, BW400CN, Neopan 100 and PanF, all in D76 (which had been my main developer for years) and Xtol. Tmax100 in Xtol produced exceptional results, way better in my view than any of the other combinations I tested. Since then it has been my principal film for both medium and large format.

Tri-X was my go-to film during my college days. TMax came out a year after I graduated college. Tri-X was always okay but my results were mixed. When I first tried TMax I couldn’t figure out what the hype was about. TMax, in my opinion, was different but no improvement over Tri-X. Living in a small town, there were’t many film choices. I stuck with Tri-X, but still was never thrilled with it.
I eventually gravitated to Kodak HIE b&w infrared. Even with the extra care needed in handling, it became my black and white film of choice for many years. The images produced were high contrast and unusual. A far cry from run of the mill and totally boring TMax.
Today, with online ordering, my choices are so much better than 35 years ago. There are much better films out there…such as Bergger.