TMZ - Kodak T-Max 3200 Test Roll

I was very lucky a couple of weeks ago to buy a brick of new-old-stock TMZ, or Kodak T-Max 3200 film. This ultra-fast film (actually about 1000 ISO but designed to be push processed) is one of only two emulsions designed with that amount of light sensitivity, the other being Ilford Delta 3200. I like T-Max films and I really like the grain in TMZ, but it generally is too expensive to shoot casually. The 20 rolls I got were priced right though. I shot a test roll in my F4 Friday night to try it out.

For this roll I used ISO 1600, but developed it as rated for a normal 3200 metering. This suggestion was one I found on many forums and has garnered good results in the past. Because I'm a cheapskate, rather than use T-Max RS developer I used Kodak XTOL at 1:1 since XTOL is so cheap.

Here is a quick selection of images from the roll, all taken in downtown Valdosta at dusk or later. The grain is obvious but pleasing. I was able to shoot in virtually no light (the wedding figurines photo was taken at f/1.4 and 1/15, which for normal ISO 100 film and a standard f/2.8 zoom would be a 4 second exposure!). All photos were taken with either a 28mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4D, or 85mm f/1.8D. I used my Photoshop Action to give a subtle brown toning to these and also did a bit of perspective correction on a couple: