TRI-X vs. TMAX
The story of Kodak black and white films and their digital simulations
At the outset, all the images shown here were acquired digitally using a 40MP black and white-only sensor. They were rendered using the Kodak TRI-X 400 or TMAX 400 profile in Nik Silver effects.
The digital comparison of these two films should nevertheless be instructive and permissible for several reasons. (a) I did not have the guts to shoot actual film. So, we can ignore variation due to processing. (b) The Leica M10 sensor has no color filter, so we can abstract from the different color sensitivities of the two film emulsions (see below). (c ) We can dial out the amount of grain, which is a crucial difference between the two. This helps us understand how the characteristic tone curves translate into aesthetic form.
What is the aesthetic form of TRI-X? The “classic” look is a combination of grain, strong contrast across the middle, and non-linear (blow-out) highlights. A particular detail either jumps out or seems visually suppressed.
Notice that the classic look, as above, also includes early, i.e., non-aspherical optics, which were sharp only in the center of the frame and had strong vignetting (see photo above using a Trioplan lens).
