The developing process makes a big deal in how the negatives turn out fwiw. I use HC110 1:31 for HP5 and it's not nearly as grainy or low contrast as they look in your conversions. Interesting comparisons and thanks for doing this! Edit: ha I made this comment right before you said the thing about the Canon shutter speeds and lenses, the HP5 looked overexposed and the studio shots are much closer to what I experience with HP5
I stumbled across this video looking for a basic photography answer about hot to shoot for more contrast. I'm so happy I found this channel. What a fun video! Technical, funny and entertaining.
Could the TMAX be lying about its speed? The high contrast and blocked up shadows makes it seem like it's a bit underexposed. It would be interesting to see the same comparison but with TMAX shot at 250...
Thank you thank you thank you!!! Just recently finished a roll of pushed 2 stops TMax 400. Never done before and cautiously optimistic about those images.
As someone who shot a lot of film forty years ago, it was obvious to me that you had exposure differences as soon as I saw the color charts. It can be difficult to do these comparisons for the sheer number of variables you need to consider. You discovered the differences that can exist between two film cameras (made worse, undoubtedly, by age). But there are huge differences in chemistry as well. Different films are optimized by different chemicals (usually optimized for the manufacturer’s chemicals). While no one can afford keeping a huge variety of products, you might consider using T grain chemicals with T grain film and vice versa. Traditional B&W films will behave more similarly but even those benefit from finding the ideal chemistry for the look you are trying to achieve (grain, contrast, etc.).
Thank you for an insightful comparison, Ramsey. I'm just beginning my film journey and this is a really helpful video. I've been shooting a lot of different Ilford films. I'm definitely going to put some Tmax through my cameras now.
I agree, my two favorites were always Tri-X and Plus-X. I must have developed several thousand rolls of each over the past 40 years, in addition to a wide variety of other films (developing 50 rolls a weekend was not unusual). I am mostly digital now, but I found this comparison quite interesting.
Great video and timely for me. I'm in the middle of comparisons between HP5+ and T-Max (pushed specifically) developed in different developers (Microphen and DD-X respectively). What Fuji developer was used here?
So far in my film photography journey i’ve found fuji acros II to provide some really good results. It’s an awesome film to shoot landscape with and i’d highly recommend it if it’s in stock near you.
wow thanks for this video! i just shot two rolls of HP5 and was really unimpressed with my images because of how grainy they ended up being. I was looking at some of the Lomo b+w films but that TMax looks really appealing to me!
HP5+ is a great film. You can push it up to iso 1600 or pull it to iso 200 and you'll still get great results. So it's in a way the most universal film. For medium format grain is also a lot less important. So you can get fine grained HP5+ 6x6 prints, if you want. It's also half the price of TMAX 400.
@@stefan_beckerIt is very developer specific. Something like XTol or D76 gives way less grainy results than Rodinol or HC110. I can make hp5+ look like delta 3200 or as smooth as Acros. Just push/pull and different developers.
Tmax is a bit too dark in the shadows for me yet I like its grain structure more, so I just meter for midtones, overexpose 1 stop and pull a small amount in development and make final adjustments in post after scanning. Looks fantastic every time!
I have to say this is the best comparison ever! Great video and really easy to understand for ppl like me that we're beginners with film. Also really objective, I really liked it!!!!!!!!!
Howdy! Great video! I'm curious about the developer used by Fuji, since developing chemicals can make a big difference when it comes to black and white. Hp5 in stand development using a 1:50 rodinal solution is a different beast than a five minute dip and dunk developer used by minilabs. I think t-max (and nost other tabular grain films) are optimised for faster development by labs. But then again: most people use labs instead of home development, so there's no point in meticulously diving into dev processes. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of t-max vs delta 400, since they are more likely to undergo the same development process at the lab.
This was a well presented, no-nonsense comparison. Well, okay, a little nonsense that was amusing without getting in the way of the presentation. I'm old enough to remember when TMax came out - and that was about the last time I used it. Almost bought some today, but instead got Ilford XP2, which I've never used, and a roll of CineStill DoubleXX. Yes, grain is part of the film experience. Remember, that was all there was for almost a hundred years.
I'm new to film photography.. I'm confused why people change the iso on their camera to push/pull? couldn't they just use their light meter and use SS or fstop to under/over expose? I thought the iso setting on cameras just change the light meter readout
Never shot T-max but I'm kinda liking the look. Never was the biggest fan of HP5 myself and prefer to stick to Fomapan since it's dirt cheap and delivers results I like.
What you show at 3:22 is why I *never* liked HP5+ - it doesn't differentiate colors! At least not nearly as good as the T-MAX 400 shown here. It is especially obvious with the blue-green-red patches on the left of the second bottom row (and you have to compare images of similar contrast). And what a great idea to just use a big color chart for this test … hmm, I only have the pocket one, which would be badly suited for my 4x5 pinhole camera … well, well, it looks that I have to buy a large one. What has to be said in favor of the HP5+ is that it has a rather high sensitivity for the shadows and reacts very well to strong highlights (in my experience), reacting quite good to under- and overexposure. The T-MAX on the other hand has much (as in dramatically) less reciprocity failure with long exposures. (To get the color differentiation I like, the HP5+ needs a green filter - which makes it effectively an ISO 100 film, or perhaps ISO 200 if pushed one stop - I might try two stops at some point, as the HP5+ can handle it.)
Yo Capn’ Keef, appreciate and love the video and the sound effects. That samurai sword sound when the M6 appears ! Costs are everything to most film photographers who justify HP5’s price in comparison to Kodak B&W stocks. Kodak B&W film stock is head and shoulders above Ilford stock. Its just the grain quality, better blacks and overall image quality. My Top 2 ? Tri X 400 and T Max 100 ! If both of these aren’t available, FP4+ is decent. Great image there Capn’ ! T Max just destroys the competition !
I have both of these in my fridge right now plus 68 more different film stock! I really like both films and I shoot them regularly. I am always going for the different look of each, pretty fun to see the final images, CHEERS!
Interesting comparison, and great presentation but of course the film/ dev combination can change the outcome significantly, particularly with respect to gradation, and contrast.
tmax would definitely take a bit longer to get a good print in high contrast lighting maybe pulling out some techniques like split grade printing, dodging, burning etc.. but definitely very achievable
Nice comparison and I think it really nails down the two basic types… Acros is fine but the blues are lost in darkness. I usually prefer T-Max and develop it in the T-Max developer which really squeezes out (so to speak) the fine grains to max. HP5 was used by professionals back in the Eighties when newspaper prints couldn’t handle the fine grain and it was obviously easier to correct. If you overexpose T-Max by one stop you get a lot of details in the dark areas. I find T-Max comparable to Delta, which is a tad cheaper here. Recently I had the chance to shoot some 20 year old Agfa APX - man, the amount of silver in this film hits you in the face, negatives are glowing (medium format), same as old efke… pity these are gone. (Nice music btw.)
How about over exposing the tmax 2/3 stop to add detail to the shadows then cut development 15% to preserve the highlights. Of course, sometimes I want blocked up shadows a la film noir and pushing the tmax one or 2 stops would give you that.
The differences between these films are the grain size and the sharpness. Much is also made of the relative density and contrast, however those are more characteristics of the developer used (effective film speed) and the developing times (contrast). It appears that he had a lab develop these films in some mystery sauce from Fuji, so without any calibration for either film/developer combination, the outcomes for both films are just whatever the lab did with them. It's fairly easy to match the shadow density to exposure, and you might find that T-Max shoots more like a 320 film than a 400. Thereafter, the contrast of the negatives is just a matter of degree of development. These two films will not track identically, but properly exposed and developed, they will be far more similar than shown here.
I'd love to use Tmax but here in Europe the price is way higher than HP5. Even HP5 has a high price and most people are starting to buy things like Kentmere, specialy if bulk loading
The jello was excellent for the film comparison.
Agreed. This was great.
I personally like my grain a little thicc. When I want "perfect" looking photos, I'll shoot digital. When I shoot analog, I was some CRONCH to it.
Beautifully said
Need to give the TMax a shot.
Man your editing is top-tier! Great comparison, you’ll have a huge audience one day 🤝
Thank you duuuuude!! Fingers crossed
Another fun and informative video. Nicely done.
You are awesome. Managing to keep a straight face amongst all the dry humor has earned you a follower. Oh, and the film comparison was great.
The developing process makes a big deal in how the negatives turn out fwiw. I use HC110 1:31 for HP5 and it's not nearly as grainy or low contrast as they look in your conversions. Interesting comparisons and thanks for doing this!
Edit: ha I made this comment right before you said the thing about the Canon shutter speeds and lenses, the HP5 looked overexposed and the studio shots are much closer to what I experience with HP5
Awesome video! Love the jello comparison... Creative and extremely visual. True Artist. Also, enjoyed the brother vibe.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I stumbled across this video looking for a basic photography answer about hot to shoot for more contrast. I'm so happy I found this channel. What a fun video! Technical, funny and entertaining.
Could the TMAX be lying about its speed? The high contrast and blocked up shadows makes it seem like it's a bit underexposed. It would be interesting to see the same comparison but with TMAX shot at 250...
Great vid dude! Love the comparison!
Thank you thank you thank you!!! Just recently finished a roll of pushed 2 stops TMax 400. Never done before and cautiously optimistic about those images.
Hey, this is exactly what I needed right now, thank you!
👌🏼❤️
As someone who shot a lot of film forty years ago, it was obvious to me that you had exposure differences as soon as I saw the color charts. It can be difficult to do these comparisons for the sheer number of variables you need to consider. You discovered the differences that can exist between two film cameras (made worse, undoubtedly, by age). But there are huge differences in chemistry as well. Different films are optimized by different chemicals (usually optimized for the manufacturer’s chemicals). While no one can afford keeping a huge variety of products, you might consider using T grain chemicals with T grain film and vice versa. Traditional B&W films will behave more similarly but even those benefit from finding the ideal chemistry for the look you are trying to achieve (grain, contrast, etc.).
HAVE YOURSELVES A GREAT DAY 🎉
Thank you! You too!
Thank you for an insightful comparison, Ramsey. I'm just beginning my film journey and this is a really helpful video. I've been shooting a lot of different Ilford films. I'm definitely going to put some Tmax through my cameras now.
Good luck!
Best video to date! Very informational
Absolutely great video. Thank you
RS. Canada
I'm recently comparing some Monochrome films myself so this is really interesting to me. I'm not a big Tmax fan but I found I really like Tri-X.
I agree, my two favorites were always Tri-X and Plus-X. I must have developed several thousand rolls of each over the past 40 years, in addition to a wide variety of other films (developing 50 rolls a weekend was not unusual). I am mostly digital now, but I found this comparison quite interesting.
I don’t have much experience with that film. I gotta check it out. Thanks for watching.
@kqschwarz Plus-X was my all-time favorite.
I’m fascinated. Never knew there could be such a huge difference
Such a fun, creative and informative video!
Great video and timely for me. I'm in the middle of comparisons between HP5+ and T-Max (pushed specifically) developed in different developers (Microphen and DD-X respectively). What Fuji developer was used here?
I’m not sure. It was my local lab that did the developing and when i called to get the details, all they said was Fuji black and white film developer.
Looks delicious! Did you make any extras?
Keep up the good work man!!
We need more of this 🎉
Great video, there’s something special about film. And that’s learning the art of knowing which stock to use in certain situations. HP5 all the way 😆!
cool example with the fruits 🎉
It only took 7 tries to get it right haha
Amazing and fun video! You got a new subscriber! Can't wait for more videos!
Awesome Video man. Thanks for that. And probs to your brother, he looks fantastic
Tmax 100 is a beautiful film stock too. In 120 it’s amazing
Really interesting. Thanks for putting so much effort in it.
Thank you so much for informative video!
Photos are good also))
So far in my film photography journey i’ve found fuji acros II to provide some really good results. It’s an awesome film to shoot landscape with and i’d highly recommend it if it’s in stock near you.
That booth shot is sweet.
I’m sure Hen had an aneurysm when he realized you weren’t shooting at T Bell. Interesting video! (Need more Billy)
Contrast filters for darkroom prints are very helpful. I always use filters when printing a softer film stock like HP5 or Kentmere.
I’ll give ‘em a try! Thanks dude!!
Juiciest Strolls yet 🔥
Hi, can you provide the colour chart images for download? You’re the only one I know who shot both films with +/- exposures throughout.
love the video from beginning to end! makes me want to pick up b&w
wow thanks for this video! i just shot two rolls of HP5 and was really unimpressed with my images because of how grainy they ended up being. I was looking at some of the Lomo b+w films but that TMax looks really appealing to me!
HP5+ is a great film. You can push it up to iso 1600 or pull it to iso 200 and you'll still get great results. So it's in a way the most universal film. For medium format grain is also a lot less important. So you can get fine grained HP5+ 6x6 prints, if you want. It's also half the price of TMAX 400.
@@stefan_beckerIt is very developer specific. Something like XTol or D76 gives way less grainy results than Rodinol or HC110. I can make hp5+ look like delta 3200 or as smooth as Acros. Just push/pull and different developers.
@@DeeB1345 Yes, it's a very flexible film.
Tmax is a bit too dark in the shadows for me yet I like its grain structure more, so I just meter for midtones, overexpose 1 stop and pull a small amount in development and make final adjustments in post after scanning. Looks fantastic every time!
Awesome video, I subbed on your personality, oh and the info hahaha
This was such a great comparison. Solid images too✨
Thank you! I appreciate that!
@@ramseykiefer 🙌🏾✨
Hi, at the 3:24 mark what does the "-2" means? Cheers
Those numbers refer to how many stops I exposed over or under by. The -2 being 2 stops under exposed.
duuuuuuuuuuuude I missed this one. So so good!!!
thank you gus!!
Keep it up, these videos are incredible
Thanks dude!!!
Very informative video! Appreciate it!
Respectfully, little brother is a handsome man
My subconscious choice has been confirmed with this video 🤟🏻 thank you! Great work
🤘🏼
if you want a vintage look go for the hp5 and just general black and white the tmx
Such an awesome video thank you❤ I just wish you compared more film stocks 🎞️👍🏻
Jello is a great explanation you could tell Canon lenses were different just from the first side by side of the cameras?!
Love your videos. Curious what settings you used in NLP? Lab standard?
It’s always changing. Maybe someday I’ll do a deep dive in that process. But we’ll see.
I have to say this is the best comparison ever! Great video and really easy to understand for ppl like me that we're beginners with film. Also really objective, I really liked it!!!!!!!!!
Thank you dude!!!
Howdy! Great video!
I'm curious about the developer used by Fuji, since developing chemicals can make a big difference when it comes to black and white. Hp5 in stand development using a 1:50 rodinal solution is a different beast than a five minute dip and dunk developer used by minilabs.
I think t-max (and nost other tabular grain films) are optimised for faster development by labs.
But then again: most people use labs instead of home development, so there's no point in meticulously diving into dev processes.
I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of t-max vs delta 400, since they are more likely to undergo the same development process at the lab.
I am a Kodak 5222 fan but mostly shoot color 35mm film. Anyway, thanks for the video!
This was a well presented, no-nonsense comparison. Well, okay, a little nonsense that was amusing without getting in the way of the presentation. I'm old enough to remember when TMax came out - and that was about the last time I used it. Almost bought some today, but instead got Ilford XP2, which I've never used, and a roll of CineStill DoubleXX.
Yes, grain is part of the film experience. Remember, that was all there was for almost a hundred years.
Subbed purely due to the ingenuity of explaining film with jelly and fruit.
Good comparison, although every film has its best developer. I love the HP5 for the grain and the dynamic range.
I'm new to film photography.. I'm confused why people change the iso on their camera to push/pull? couldn't they just use their light meter and use SS or fstop to under/over expose? I thought the iso setting on cameras just change the light meter readout
Never shot T-max but I'm kinda liking the look. Never was the biggest fan of HP5 myself and prefer to stick to Fomapan since it's dirt cheap and delivers results I like.
Is Fomapan t-grain?
Cool video.
I shoot and develop HP5 film to capture low contrast images on film. I scan and/or print my images to create high contrast artwork.
HP5 for studio, Tmax for street.
I'll go with the cheaper option as limited by price and the difference is significant. Great job on thins one.
What you show at 3:22 is why I *never* liked HP5+ - it doesn't differentiate colors! At least not nearly as good as the T-MAX 400 shown here. It is especially obvious with the blue-green-red patches on the left of the second bottom row (and you have to compare images of similar contrast). And what a great idea to just use a big color chart for this test … hmm, I only have the pocket one, which would be badly suited for my 4x5 pinhole camera … well, well, it looks that I have to buy a large one. What has to be said in favor of the HP5+ is that it has a rather high sensitivity for the shadows and reacts very well to strong highlights (in my experience), reacting quite good to under- and overexposure. The T-MAX on the other hand has much (as in dramatically) less reciprocity failure with long exposures. (To get the color differentiation I like, the HP5+ needs a green filter - which makes it effectively an ISO 100 film, or perhaps ISO 200 if pushed one stop - I might try two stops at some point, as the HP5+ can handle it.)
It qould be cool to see how tmax would react being exposure pushed a bit to match hp5's higher brightness.
I like the tmax out of the box much better. Id be very interested to see the hp5 with some added contrast in post to match the tmax
The cowboy hat took this video to the next level
Just what I needed to know
Yo Capn’ Keef, appreciate and love the video and the sound effects. That samurai sword sound when the M6 appears ! Costs are everything to most film photographers who justify HP5’s price in comparison to Kodak B&W stocks. Kodak B&W film stock is head and shoulders above Ilford stock. Its just the grain quality, better blacks and overall image quality. My Top 2 ? Tri X 400 and T Max 100 ! If both of these aren’t available, FP4+ is decent. Great image there Capn’ ! T Max just destroys the competition !
good video - also wtf there’s so many stocks at the beginning lol - makes me feel like I’ll stick with hp5 for that grained out look
It is a nice look!
I have both of these in my fridge right now plus 68 more different film stock! I really like both films and I shoot them regularly. I am always going for the different look of each, pretty fun to see the final images, CHEERS!
Interesting comparison, and great presentation but of course the film/ dev combination can change the outcome significantly, particularly with respect to gradation, and contrast.
Very true. I had my local lab handle all the developing to get very consistent professional results.
tmax would definitely take a bit longer to get a good print in high contrast lighting maybe pulling out some techniques like split grade printing, dodging, burning etc.. but definitely very achievable
I think you can easily edit HP5 to give it more contrast in post ... Darkroom or Lightroom...
A really helpful video
used to pull t-max by -2/3 for best results when it was still affordable
love a "this vs that" video, new series coming?🤔
I’m always up for New ideas 😉
Really cool video man! How do you scan it using your Sony a9?
I’m using the negative supply gear to do it
You got a sub from me brother! Love this stuff
🤘🏼🤘🏼 thanks dude!!!
You could raise the contrast of the hp5 by one point and do a split toning so as not to lose the highlights.
Kinda sounds like a secret language. But I’ll give that a try.
Neither would be my first choice but of those I would probably choose Tmax. Would love to compare to Delta 400 and TriX for high speed.
Kosher gelatin by choice?
maybe...maybe not 😉
Nice comparison and I think it really nails down the two basic types… Acros is fine but the blues are lost in darkness. I usually prefer T-Max and develop it in the T-Max developer which really squeezes out (so to speak) the fine grains to max. HP5 was used by professionals back in the Eighties when newspaper prints couldn’t handle the fine grain and it was obviously easier to correct. If you overexpose T-Max by one stop you get a lot of details in the dark areas. I find T-Max comparable to Delta, which is a tad cheaper here. Recently I had the chance to shoot some 20 year old Agfa APX - man, the amount of silver in this film hits you in the face, negatives are glowing (medium format), same as old efke… pity these are gone. (Nice music btw.)
The Jello analogy gave major Bill Nye vibes
Film rules
Great video. HelloJello
Came to the same conclusions you have years ago. You can get better sharpening on hp5+ using pyrocat hd
How about over exposing the tmax 2/3 stop to add detail to the shadows then cut development 15% to preserve the highlights. Of course, sometimes I want blocked up shadows a la film noir and pushing the tmax one or 2 stops would give you that.
If I wanted sharpness and good local contrast, id shoot digital. But I like film, classical film. Rough, analogue grain. Just dirty shit. Love it.
👍👏
The differences between these films are the grain size and the sharpness. Much is also made of the relative density and contrast, however those are more characteristics of the developer used (effective film speed) and the developing times (contrast). It appears that he had a lab develop these films in some mystery sauce from Fuji, so without any calibration for either film/developer combination, the outcomes for both films are just whatever the lab did with them. It's fairly easy to match the shadow density to exposure, and you might find that T-Max shoots more like a 320 film than a 400. Thereafter, the contrast of the negatives is just a matter of degree of development. These two films will not track identically, but properly exposed and developed, they will be far more similar than shown here.
Why no pull? Thinkin about tinkerin
Came here for the film photography, stayed for the jello
And neither of them turned out very good.
Ilford 800. I rest my case
I'd love to use Tmax but here in Europe the price is way higher than HP5. Even HP5 has a high price and most people are starting to buy things like Kentmere, specialy if bulk loading
I shot digital-I’m here for the humor.
It is the more convenient option.
Geez you two are like the Harte wrestling brothers.
😂
You are something awesome.
I love the grain