Kodak T-MAX – from T-Grain to Coffee granules

Published by dirk on

Some may be surprised that it took me so long to try out Kodak TMAX 400 in caffenol, but that’s how I am, always wanting to try out something new, something different.

A friend of mine gave me a roll of TMAX 400 because he said he really likes it. It’s a Tabular-grain-film like the Delta films from Ilford where the silver halide crystals are more flat and tabular.

Kodak says it is the sharpest, fined grained ISO 400 film and it pushes up to EI 1600. So why not taking it to the Construction of the Oktoberfest in Munich and shoot at dusk with a slow Lens, a Tamron 28-80 f3.5-5.6

Developed in the Delta recipe with doubled amount of Vitamin-C

Enough reading, here are the results.

As usual, you can look up all films in the Film Database to see what you can expect from development in caffenol.


dirk

Dirk Essl is the founder of caffenol.org And has done a tremendous amount of coffee development in the past.

14 Comments

Valken · October 12, 2010 at 11:41 am

Excellent result.

Stay creative. 😀

nedford · November 29, 2010 at 12:39 pm

I followed each instruction exactly, and doubled the vitamin c, content for the Kodak T Max, and even made the developing time a longer 13 minutes, and had the developer a warm 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and still had under developed film…., any suggestions to what could be happening.
P.S. I had every step exactly in order, and every measurement right.

    Rudy · July 30, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    A common mistake is using the wrong type of washing soda (apologies if you already know this). It’s all about the water content, which you can compensate for, just google it

      Rudy · July 30, 2012 at 1:19 pm

      …and I forgot to check the date. Sorry for the extreme thread necromancy. Hopefully it’ll be useful to someone

Tobias Mann · August 27, 2011 at 7:29 pm

I really want to try this recipe however I want to know what the difference between Tri-X 400 and Tmax 400 are going to be.

I have had great luck with Tri-X but my distributer doesn’t ship it currently so I can only get Tmax 400. I could also get Tmax 100 however I need the higher ISO.

My recipe for Tri-X 400 uses 500mls water
8tsp instant coffee
3.5tsp washing soda
3/4tsp Vitamin C
1/4tsp Iodized Salt as a restrictor
Developed For 15minutes

Result Linked Below Tri-X
Diana + Shot On Tri-X 400tx

Thank you.

    Chris · May 30, 2019 at 3:53 pm

    And your agitation time/schedule for this recipe?

    Christopher Hobel · May 30, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    Ur agitation times too?

Karinthia · September 23, 2011 at 8:22 pm

Free info like this is an apple from the tree of konwldege. Sinful?

Kevin · September 12, 2012 at 1:54 am

Hi there! I have been a follower of your blog for some time! But only until now then have I the time and effort to try it. Before I start, I have one question. I am residing in Singapore where the ambient temperature is about 30 degree Celsius (approximately 86 degree fahrenheit). With such a temperature, how should I go about tweaking the development time? Do I increase or reduce the development time? Thanks!

    dirk · September 12, 2012 at 6:41 am

    Kevin,
    the ambient temperature doesn’t matter. Just make sure that the developer solution has 20-22 centigrades.
    But ingeneral, if your developer is warmer, you decrease development time.
    cheers,
    dirk

fabrian · March 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm

hi dirk, is there a need to use iodized salt for 400 and above films?

    dirk · March 23, 2013 at 7:43 am

    I have never used salt in my recipes so far, but can see the benefit it brings from pictures of people that use it. I guess on ISO 400 films it doesnt make much difference, but it might on higher ISO films or on longer developments to reduce fogging

My Fav Caffenol Recipe – Let's Bring Film Back · August 1, 2017 at 9:04 am

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