Topic: Caffenol-C-L dev time for TMax 400 @ box speed?

[02Pilot]

I've read most of what I can find on developing TMax 400 in Caffenol, and it seems like C-L is preferred over C-H. No problem there, but I'm having trouble finding info on how much time the film will require when shot at box speed; most of the listed times are for a two-stop push. Any thoughts about this (or any other relevant aspects of the process)? Thanks.

[imagesfrugales]

Not so much experiance (none!) with TMax400 at boxspeed here, I would start with 30-40 mins in C-C-L, 0.5 g/l pot. bromide, 20 °C and semi-stand development. To hear about your experiance would be highly appreciated. Best - R.

[Ezzie]

I've tried Neopan 400, Delta 400, and Rollei Retro 400 at box speed. C-L semi-stand. 1gr/l KBr, and 50-55 mins.  They turned out OK, but maybe a bit overcooked, so Reinhold's recommendation of <40mins sounds closer to the mark. I started off with 3-4 inversions initially. 1 at 2min, then 1 at 4, 8, 16, and 32mins.

[02Pilot]

Thanks for your thoughts. Once I get the roll finished (it's a 36 exposure roll in a half-frame camera, so it won't happen overnight) I'll try it and see what happens. Stay tuned....

[imagesfrugales]

I never have the patience to wait until a roll is finished, exept I shoot it in 1 or 2 days. So mostly I cut off the exposed strip in the darkroom, develop it and reload the rest. Works only with 35mm film of course. Also a good way to test new films/developers without wasting too much film or much worse to spoil great shots. I would never ever shoot 72 pics and process with an unknown film/dev-combo and risk a total fail. There are much better ways to waste film, money, time or fun imho.

[02Pilot]

Well, I considered cutting the roll short and developing part of it, but I'm not only testing the film/dev combo here. The camera required some repair to the shutter, so carrying it around and using it in normal circumstances (rather than just bench testing) is useful in this situation. So far it seems to be working properly, so that's encouraging. There are only a dozen or so frames left, which I intend to finish off tomorrow. I'll see what happens and go from there; if it's a total failure, I certainly won't go through another full roll before the next attempt.

[Indofunk]

I never have the patience to wait until a roll is finished, exept I shoot it in 1 or 2 days. So mostly I cut off the exposed strip in the darkroom, develop it and reload the rest. Works only with 35mm film of course. Also a good way to test new films/developers without wasting too much film or much worse to spoil great shots. I would never ever shoot 72 pics and process with an unknown film/dev-combo and risk a total fail. There are much better ways to waste film, money, time or fun imho.

There is someone who does this! I mentioned this to Peter a while ago and he pooh-poohed me. I may do this now, if only to piss him off!

[02Pilot]

OK, I've finally got some results. I did C-C-L for 40 minutes @ 18C with agitations at 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 minutes. Negatives look very good. Once I got them scanned, it looked a bit grainier than I would have expected, but then I've never worked with TMax 400 before (I have used TMax 100, so maybe I set my expectations for lack of grain a bit too high). Here are a few samples, all straight off the scanner with no adjustments other than dust removal and edge cropping. Remember that they are half-frame; I scanned at 2400dpi.







Thanks again for the advice. You guys were pretty spot-on.