fomapam 400 or tmax 400?

[takeda72]

Hi all,

Maybe you can help me.

I found two bargains in BW film...

20 rolls of Fomapam 400 expired in 2004 or 20 rolls of Tmax 400 expired in 1999. Both were keeped in the fridge and the price is a bargain.

I dont have any experience with both films, since today I am shooting with Ilford XP2 and for "real BW film" I prefer Tri X.

Any toughts?

Thanks so much.

André

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I don't know about film that's been expired nearly a decade, even if kept cold. Even the 2004 stuff is pretty old...it better be dirt cheap or I wouldn't buy any of it. I know people are gonna come here and say it doesn't matter, BW film works just fine outdated. My experience with higher speed films is that it gets grainier and loses speed. As for the merits of the films if they were not so old...Tmax 400 has a lot finer grain than Fomapan, but I like Fomapan 400 tonality a lot. The old version of Tmax 400 was a very beautiful film though. If it was real cheap I'd probably prefer it.

 

[titrisol]

Takeda, can you get both?
the old Tmax was not an animal I liked but the Fomapan is not bad.
Use both as 200 or so films and you'll get good results... specially in Puerto Madero

 

[hjagis]

Why not Foma. It is a very special film. It needs a delicate handling in developement. dont wipe it, put a drop of liquid soap in a bowl of water run it through and hang it up to dry. Hjagis

 

[aparat]

Since the films have been kept in cold storage, I would not worry about them being expired. If you like the look of XP2, the T-MAX is much more similar to it than Fomapan 400. I love Fomapan 400 because of its tonality and grain. The grain is larger and coarser than T-MAX in D76.

 

[mh2000]

If the film is good and you don't somehow shoot yourself in the foot developing it (I never have) you might just hate how much you love Tmax 400 over anything else... and TMY-II is even better!

Psychologically I still love Tri-X... but I haven't shot it in years... TMax films are just so damn good.