[Leica] Bad test big no-no

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>
In my experience Tri-X seems to last forever. I've used MUCH older stuff

with no  problem.

Ken Wilcox
<<<


And, in our experience, it's not much subject to heat damage, either.
Long ago I read a test report by a photographer who was worried about
heat. He left some Tri-X, exposed and unexposed, in his trunk in the
Nevada desert at the peak of summer for several weeks, along with a
recording weather thermometer. Temps got up to 180 degrees F. Neither
the exposed roll, when developed, or the unexposed roll, once shot and
developed, showed any adverse effects.

He stopped worrying about heat after that, and so did I.

One of the very great advantages of Tri-X is its toughness. It is not
very susceptible to age, not very susceptible to heat, prints fine even
when showing high levels of fb+f (even chemical fog), and is not
affected by long hold times.

A "hold time" is the amount of time that elapses between exposure and
development. If you want to see something interesting, shoot a roll of
your favorite b&w film and develop it immediately--within the first
hour. Keep an identically-shot test roll hanging around the house for a
year. Develop it, than make comparison prints. Your eyebrows will
probably go up! Most films show slight hold-time deterioration within
the first six hours after exposure, and then stabilize for relatively
long periods before beginning a gradual process of image deterioration.
Tri-X is relatively immune to this--it looks virtually the same whether
processed at six hours or at six months (although it does look slightly
better when processed immediately).

To name two films of which this this not true, try developing a roll of
Agfa 400 or Kodak T-Max P3200 at one hour, and at one year. They look
like entirely different films. The grain gets much larger and mealy,
sharpness is much worse, and tonality suffers. It's so bad with P3200
that if I find on old, unprocessed roll, I don't even bother to process
it. (P3200, more than any other film, should be purchased fresh and
processed promptly for best results. Many photographers who have
"tested" P3200 have come to WRONG conclusions because they're not even
aware of what a "hold time is, and they've kept the film hanging around
for months before using it and then wait weeks or months before
processing it. Then they get on the internet and spout off about what
they're "sure" it looks like. Bad test, big no-no.)

This is a hidden reason why pros often get better-looking results than
amateurs--they tend to use films closer to optimum emulsion ripeness,
and then process immediately, no matter what film they are using. It
helps.

I'll say one thing. The more you know about film, the easier it is to
love Tri-X.

- --Mike J. / _PHOTO Techniques_ magazine