I love TMAX 400 (TMY) B&W film for general shooting; it’s a great film. Lately, I’ve been dialing in my TMY development process using developer HC-110 , which provides fine grain, high acutance and excellent tonal contrast control. Also, HC-110 comes in a liquid concentrate that is easy to work with and has an unbelievably long shelf life; it’s very economical to use. I mix Dilution-B (1:31) directly from the syrupy concentrate, and use it one-shot. I typically like to process at 68°F; however in late August my cold tap water is almost exactly 72°F which I use and adjust my processing time accordingly. With this developer, I shoot TMAX 400 at an exposure index of 200, which gives me great shadow detail and negatives that print and scan well.
Density Plot (click for detail)
A sample photo scanned from the test roll:
Popokikeiki (a.k.a. flame-head) shot on TMAX 400 (EI 200) developed with HC-110-B @ 72F for 5.5 minutes (Nikon F100, Nikkor 50mm 1.8D)
