I have put my use of TMY-2 on the the back-burner until I find the right developer for it. Clearly Xtol/DDX is not it, unless you want beautiful tonality but no acutance at all.
I was thinking Rodinal, but also pyrocat HD (similar to PMK of course but with less softening of contrast when wet printing with VC papers). Your enthusiasm for PMK means I will have to give it a go soon. I like the idea of being able to shoot handheld with a reasonably fast 120 film and having the performance of a 100 speed film.
How have you found the PMK combo looks compared to what you used before?
I've used TMY-2 in D-76 1+1 and Tmax Developer 1+7, as well as PMK. I'm still experimenting with PMK to get the absolute best developing time, but I did this one at 11 minutes at 75 degrees, exposure was at EI 200. I've only shot a few rolls of the film that I've developed in PMK so far, compared to many, many developed in D-76 and Tmax Developer. So my comments are kind of preliminary.
I get, with my technique and meter, a EI of 320 with this film in D-76 1+1 or Tmax 1+7, and its perfectly usable at EI 400 in either developer. PMK cuts speed a lot with every film I have tried, and I'm getting best results at EI of 250 or 200.
Results in PMK are a bit grainier than in D-76 or Tmax Developer. I've only used PMK to develop 120 film so far, so I don't know how it would look in 35mm, but I think the grain is still a bit less than you get with Tri-X in D-76.
Tonality-wise, I get good results with all three developers, but I think that gradation is a little harsher with Tmax Developer than it is with D-76 and D-76 is a little harsher than PMK. Its not a matter of overall contrast being too high with those developers. If that was it, a reduction in developing time would fix it. Microcontrast, or tonal transitions are harsher. PMK controls highlight contrast very well, with subtle tonality in white tones that sometimes get lost with D-76 and Tmax Developer. Reducing developing times to control that also reduces midtone contrast, while PMK keeps midtone contrast high enough without losing detail in light tones.
The price is that you lose almost a stop of speed, but shooting with a Hasselblad, speed is not important. In 35mm handheld work is sometimes is. I shoot A LOT of Tri-X in 35mm, because I bought a ton of it from Freestyle under their name when it was $2 a roll. I shoot it at 200 in PMK and 320 in D-76 1+1 (my previous favorite developer for Tri-X). I still use both developers so that when I need that little extra speed, I can use D-76, otherwise I use PMK and shoot at 200.
I am scanning my negatives in a Nikon LS-8000ED scanner, not wet printing, so I do not know if my developing times for PMK would work well for traditional printing. My developing times for regular developers work perfectly for scanning and wet printing, but since the stain prints differently on VC papers than on graded, I imagine it may scan differently too.
Here's some other Tmax 400, 120 size, PMK images.