Originally Posted by
Jay De Fehr
Dave,
there is no advantage to Pyrocat HD over Gainer's MC version. Both developers do the same thing, but the MC does it much better. Gainer's MC is a modern staining developer formulated to be made up in glycol instead of water, and contains no sulfites, bromides or iodides. It is very similar in concept to the original Hypercat, but Hypercat used phenidone instead of metol, because I didn't know how to dissolve metol in glycol. Gainer's MC is more complicated to mix than Hypercat, due to the metol, which must be mixed with TEA, ascorbic acid and water to make it glycol-soluble. The improved Hypercat contains only catechol, a tiny amount of ascorbic acid, and sodium carbonate, and does not require a secondary reducer. It is much simpler, and sharper than any of the Pyrocats, including Gainer's MC version, and is made by simply adding the catechol and ascorbic acid to room temp glycol and heating with stirring until dissolved, which requires about 125-150F, and a minute or two of stirring. Hypercat stains extremely efficiently and requires far less alkali than the Pyrocats. I use a 20% solution of sodium carbonate as the B solution, at ratios as low as 1:1 for extreme contraction development, or as high as 1:10 for extreme expansion development, with very high image stain and very low fog/general stain throughout that range, and a teaspoonful of sodium sulfite/liter of working solution converts Hypercat to a very active, and very acute non-staining developer, making it extremely versatile.
Pyrocat HD is way down on the list of good staining developers, behind 510-Pyro, Hypercat, Gainer's MC, and others, despite the affection many have for it. Good luck.
Jay
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