# Tmax 400 development



## LaserSailor

I need a few questions answered so bear with me,

I'm a college student and though I've been into photography for nearly 10 years now I have very little actual experence in the darkroom. I've always used Tri-X but yesterday I accidentally bought some TMax 400. 

My questions are if I shoot at ISO 200 (is this called pulling?) instead of the films rated speed of 400, how does the development time change? According to my research (DigitalTruth.com) TMax 400 should be developed in D76 for 12 min at a 1:3 ratio when shot this way. 

I'm thinking this means that I dillute 9oz of D76 into 15oz of water and develop normally for 12 min. I'm pretty sure about that.

What about stop and fix? Do those times change? We usually stop for 30 sec (constant agitation) and fix for 5min (constant agitation) but that's with Tri-X 400 pulled to iso 200. Would using TMax change that? 

I'd hate to have to shoot a sacrafice roll just to figure out the dev times, so I'd appreciate some input.

Thanks!


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## ann

rule of thumb would be to reduce developing time about 10-15%, but as everything else it is good to test for your equipment.  

the stop and fixer time does not change. there is no need to agitation constantly, just agitate every 30 secs. tmax is very hard on the fixer and you may find it will be better to fix a bit longer, or be sure you have fresh fixer.


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## compur

LaserSailor said:


> ... I accidentally bought some TMax 400.
> 
> My questions are if I shoot at ISO 200 (*is this called pulling?*)



Yes.  Shooting & processing a film at a lower ISO than its mfr's rating is called
pulling.


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## Dwig

LaserSailor said:


> ...
> I'm thinking this means that I dillute 9oz of D76 into 15oz of water...



No, that would be a 1:1.6 dilution. A 1:3 dilution to yield 20oz total (quantity required for many common plastic tanks) would be 5oz of stock solution to 15oz of water. A 1:3 dilution to yield 24oz total (what your 9+15 yields) would be 6oz stock solution to 18oz water.

As to your other question, the stop and fix times would not change simply because you pushed (overdeveloping underexposed film) or pulled (underdeveloping overexposed film) the film in the developer.


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## LaserSailor

Wow I'm horrible at math when I'm tired  thanks for the correction.

Thanks to everyone for you help.


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## Torus34

Don't push or pull a film unless there is no other good option.  The ket to success is standardization.  The simpler the process, the better.


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## DSPhotography

Digitaltruth Photo: The Massive Dev Chart

Fantastic website. Put in film and developer type and it gives you a full list of times, temperatures, ISO (including push/pull), and usually will give times based on dilution strength (stock, 1:1, etc.) of each developer.

edit: Cuz I'm nice: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=TMax+400&Developer=&mdc=Search


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## LaserSailor

I had thought pulling resulted in less grain and a smoother contrast curve. Is this true?


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## compur

LaserSailor said:


> I had thought pulling resulted in less grain and a smoother contrast curve. Is this true?



It often results in less grain and contrast, yes.  

Depends on the film and developer though.


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