TriX400 in TMax-Dev, anyone?

DGA

DGA

Well-known
Local time
9:57 PM
Joined
Jul 23, 2007
Messages
213
Location
Israel
View My Gallery
TriX 400 is my favorite film and I use to soup it in Rodinal (either 1:100 or 1:50).
Now, it is hot here, very hot, so hot that is would probably be difficult to maintain
the required 20ºC for too long.
I've heard that TMax Dev can easily be developed in higher temperatures (24ºC for example).

Is this correct?
What do you say about the TriX400 & TMax-Dev combination?
I shoot 35mm, by the way.

Thanks.
 
I think i did develop at 24ºC once before but with TMax film and not Tri-X, so i can't tell, but i am sure it will be fine as there is a temp compensation for this developer ay higher temp.

Another idea, keep some bottles of water in the fridge or freezer, and pour it with hot weather to reach below 24-26C, i do that with no issue, Ilford has a table where you can check what the process time you need at 24ºC with TMAX for Tri-X opposite to 18ºC.
 
I always have a bottle of ice in my freezer as part of my method for getting instant cold water,
So reaching 20ºC is not the problem, keeping it there is the one 🙂

Since Rodinal takes relatively long time to develop, I thought TMax will be better.
(shorter times + higher temp).

BTW,
Having a half full bottle of frozen water in the freezer is an excellent way of getting very low temperatures in very short time.
Simply open the frozen bottle, pour some room-temperature water in, agitate for several seconds
and there you have some 3ºC-5ºC water.
 
Firstly, Rodinal at elevated temperatures will increase grain so your decision to use Tmax developer seems a good one. However, it also seems likely that high temperatures risk larger grain no matter what film/developer combination you use and so I'd agree that temperature control is the best option of all.

You can do this at various levels. The simplest is to use chilled water to mix the developer as Tareq has suggested. However, the temperature is going to rise during the development time just from ambient heat so you might want to go a step further.

The second step is to have a water bath/bucket/dish of water chilled to 20C into which you place your development tank to rest between agitations, thus maintaining the temperature of the combined mass of tank, reel, solution and film.

In very hot conditions you might want to go to the third stage and that is to have a supply of ice cubes ready out of your freezer and constantly monitor the temperature of the bath in which you are resting the tank. If it starts to rise, pop some ice cubes into the bath to hold the temperature down.

Development times are 6 mins or 10:30 mins, depending on dilution of the Tmax developer - that's not too long to keep watch on the temperatures.
 
Thank you, Leigh. Kodak's charts (and the Massive Dev Chart) suggest 6 minutes for box speed and ,as you mentioned, maintaining low temp for that time will not be such a big problem (I hope).
I already have experience with your suggested second step, but only with a two-reels tank.
This time it will be a long, five-reels one, so that might be a little bit more tricky.

Paul, what is the temp you use in your TMax-TriX dev combo?
Thanks.
 
I would say, you can confidently try this, as well as try Rodinal at 24 deg C. Best of all, you should try Tri X in DD-X at 1+9 - this way it is more convenient and development times are also more controllable. Try 1+9 EI 400 in 24 deg C for 8 mins to begin with.
 
DGA said:
I already have experience with your suggested second step, but only with a two-reels tank.
This time it will be a long, five-reels one, so that might be a little bit more tricky..
Click to expand...

It will be hard to immerse a five reel tank in a water bath without it trying to float up out of the bath. And allowing it to float horizontal risks uneven development and agitation.
Off the top of my head, how about a cylinder (jug, pipe with sealed base etc) standing in a dish so any overflow from displaced water in the pipe goes into the dish, and the dish contains water at the desired temperature. Then put a weight on top of the tank to hold it down in the pipe.
I made such a pipe once (for another purpose) out of standard plumbing PVC pipe of a suitable diameter and length and was able to buy a PVC cap that fitted and was glued in using plumbers PVC glue. I got it all at the local hardware/irrigation store. Just needed a hacksaw to cut the pipe to length and a throw-away brush for the glue.

So, a basin to contain the main body of water which is temperature-controlled with ice cubes. In the basin stands a fabricated tube, sealed at the bottom, with some more of the water in it and the developing tank is lowered into this tube between agitations and held there by a weight. Keep it all clean and you can use the cooled water for a stop bath or for part of the film washing after fixing.
 
he he he...
Once I put my hands on such a PVC cylinder, I'll, first, make me a decent tubular film drier. 🙂
Regardless of my wishes, this is a very good idea. Thanks.
 
here's a pix

here's a pix

hi,

I switched from developing at 20C to room temperature water which is around 29.5 - 30.5C here in the tropics.

Attached file is a resized image from a roll of tri-x developed in Tmax developer.

Exposure Index is 1600
Dilution is 1+9 or about 30ml of syrup in 300ml tank
Developed it for 6.5mins at 30C .
Lens is the screwmount 90/4 Elmar.

Negative was scanned at 2400 dpi, and contrast and brightness adjusted.

Image here is 100% crop.

firestation100crop.jpg
 

Attachments

  • firestation.jpg
    firestation.jpg
    51.8 KB · Views: 0
I use TMAX developer, but not with TRI-X, at 24C. Haven´t bothered trying 20C, the shorter developing times do make the whole process more tolerable. Results aren´t bad from what I can discern. No pushing or pulling, EI=box speed.
 
raytoei@gmail.com said:
hi,

I switched from developing at 20C to room temperature water which is around 29.5 - 30.5C here in the tropics.

Attached file is a resized image from a roll of tri-x developed in Tmax developer.

Exposure Index is 1600
Dilution is 1+9 or about 30ml of syrup in 300ml tank
Developed it for 6.5mins at 30C .
Lens is the screwmount 90/4 Elmar.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is a brave deed!
The results are looking OK, nevertheless.
1+9 seems like a good dilution to begin with at high temperatures, hey?
 
Now, it is hot here, very hot, so hot that is would probably be difficult to maintain
the required 20ºC for too long.
Click to expand...
Easy to keep temps low. I do a good bit of 64 degree development in order to reduce grain. Ice cubes to cool and my hand, or tap water to warm. I don't do much 35mm Tri-X, but do use TMax Dev. for other films in 1+9 dilution. 1+9 times get rather long, I'm guessing that 20 degree Tri-X at EI 320 would be on the order of 24 minutes. I'm not sure because my only roll was for 20 minutes and it was a good bit underdeveloped. Freestyle has a temperature/development chart on their site. I generally use this for changing temperatures. The main problem with TMax Dev 1+9 is in finding starting times. Most postings are for other dilutions.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=all&q=T-Max+1%2B9+tri-x&m=text

Some of the TMax times given in link above are closer to 9 minutes. So, your mileage may vary.
 
Last edited:
I've non-scientifically and non-systematically tried a lot of film/developer combinatons in the past couple years, I liked the Tri-X/TMax the most:
Tri-X in TMax 1:4 6mins @ 68F, taken in San Francisco with an OM-4Ti/Zuiko 85/2.0


U25736I1280289768.SEQ.0.jpg
 
Last edited:
inside-job1.jpg


iron-bathtub.jpg


Both Tri-X in Tmax 1+7, 9 minutes, 68 degrees. EI-320. For higher temps I'd say try it at 7 minutes at 75 degrees (24c).

By the way, Rodinal doesn't get grainier at high temps, I have used it at temps as high as 80 with no increase in grain. You just have to use the correct dev. time.
 
Thanks, marc.

I'm trying to figure out the ratio between 1+4 and 1+9.
It looks like, roughly, double the time. Isn't it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom