Tmax 3200

peter826

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I am very new to black and white film (and still pretty new to film in general), having only shot a few rolls of Delta 3200 in my Fuji GA645zi last year. Headed to Paris and I wanted a black and white film I could shoot handheld at night, I was looking for a lot of contrast -- I wanted to photograph bright signs, stuff like that.

I shot 3 rolls of Tmax 3200 in a Nikon FG using both a 50/1.8 and 28/2.8. I set the ISO to 1600 as I had read this film was really more of a 1200-1600 ISO film. I used program mode and let the camera pick the shutter speed and aperture. I didn't ask for anything special in development or scanning (I send everything out to a lab), so I assume that means it was developed as if it were shot at 3200 ISO.

Wow, lots of grain! I don't dislike it, but I have nothing to compare it to, either.

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Wondering if this is a typical look for Tmax 3200 shot under those conditions. If I wanted to minimize the grain in the future, what would I change?
 
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Denoised using Topaz

--
Gary
 
Seems par for the course. TMAX 3200 is my go to for night time concerts. It is best at iso 1600, but you would need to let the lab know at what ISO you shot it on.

It is grainy, but adds grit and character imo.

Here are some samples from a music festival in California and around New Orleans. First 2 were shot and processed at 3200, and last 2 were at 1600 IIRC.

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--
...in matters of grave importance, style not sincerity is the vital thing - Oscar Wilde
 
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It looks a bit more grainy than when I’ve used it, but tbh my experience of lab scanning is that it tends to have the sharpness turned up a bit too much, which might not be helping.
 
Thanks, I tried Topaz on it but the sky was really awful looking (splotchy), you seem to have the settings dialed in for a better result.
 
Thanks for showing some of your results, they look great!
 
Thanks, I tried Topaz on it but the sky was really awful looking (splotchy), you seem to have the settings dialed in for a better result.
Try DxO, l found that better than Topaz. Free 1 month trial.
 

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