Kodak T-Max 400 Professional film offers high speed, very high sharpness, extremely fine grain, and high resolving power. It's especially useful for shooting fast action, for dimly lit scenes where you can't use flash, for subjects that require good depth of field combined with fast shutter speeds, and for hand-holding telephoto lenses for fast action or in dim light. This film is also useful for scientific and biomedical work, especially when fluorescent photography is required.
1 A Versatily, beautiful film, with a lot of "snap"
As a long term Ilford user, I was reluctant to even try the Kodak TMax and determined not to like it. After 2 rolls it became my favorite film. The latitude is great.It was highly versatile even when over or under exposed.The contrast is like nothing I've ever seen in an amateur film. My negatives looked great from the get go, reducing the need for contrast corrections during print processing. I've never used a fi;m (as a serious student, not a professional) with better contrast and clarity. I found it has much better contrast and finer grain structure than the Ilford HP5, which was the film I used previously. It's versatility makes it a good film for point and shoot, but it's also a great film for the more advanced amateur or serious student. I LOVE it! The only negative is that it seems ot be a higher contrast film and you on't get as wide a range of grays as you would get with other fi;ms, but for an amteur, this fi;m is usually sufficient, and it more than makes up for it with ease of use. If I get more grays, but have to make the print grainy because I need a 4+ filter, then it cancels out any impact getting more grays would give me, in my experience.
2 New technology loser
Traditional black and white films are still around (Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5+) at least for the time being. Either choice has better latitude and produces better results--dependent on the processing, of course. There is a learning curve to T-Max film to make good-looking pictures. Be forewarned.
3 Ugh...
I hate this film. Yes, the grain is fine, but Kodak Tri-X grain just looks better to my eyes. Either film is fine for 8x10" prints, but the grain gets a little large if you blow it up more than that. T-Max is definately easier to find at places like Wal-Mart, but do yourself a favor and find some Tri-X.
4 Kodak's Finest High Speed Black and White Film
Kodak T-MAX 400 black and white film is a versatile, fine grain high speed black and white film still widely used by professional and amateur photographers. Although there are other films in its speed and price range that may be better, most notably the new Ilford Delta 400, T-MAX 400 still holds its own because of its fine grain and rich contrast. I will occasionally use it, and am still quite impressed by the fine negatives it produces, especially when it is developed in T-MAX developer. If one wishes to buy a high speed black and white Kodak film, and is not interested in pushing it to ISO 800 or higher, then T-MAX 400 should be your first choice.
5 take it for what it is
Many peope who write these film reviews are high school students who think they know everything from what they learned in a class or two. This film is perfect for what it is. It's not made for the professional photographer. If your going to shoot from an old point and shoot camera then this is perfect. If you just want to play around with black and white then there is no better. If you think that you want to go pro, then get professional kodak film(which at some places don't cost too much more). Pro film will have more grays and greater contrast blah blah blah, but with that kind of thinking, go ahead and buy medium or large format. Otherwise, take it for what it is.
6 very good for beginners
I'm in a photography class at my school, and I find that this film is very good for it. Most of the things I have to photograph must be outside, so this film is very good for the outdoors. For indoors with this film, you need bright lights. Normal light usually doesn't do the trick, and flashes can flatten the image, so I highly recommend getting some extra lamps, just for photography purchases. But anyways...good film for beginners, or someone who develops their own film.
