Has anyone compared these two different versions of Pyro developer ?
According to Sandy King's article, the formulas are different: Pyrocatechin versus Pryogallol. I am wondering if others have found the same differences that Mr. King has suggested. Illustrative photos would be very helpful, but any insights would be greatly appreciated.
I scan my negatives.
Hi Ken. I was so impressed with Sandy's article and had been fighting stain troubles with PMK especially in jobo 2500 tanks that I ordered the chems and mixed up a batch. Grain structure is super fine. Like PMK was. The big difference is that the stain is 100% in the silver areas. No FB + fog stain AT ALL. The negs look more like traditional PQ MQ developed negs with almost no color cast at all. Brownish though. Don't know how the different color will affect enlargements as I always kind of counted on the yellow green to offset contrast in my highlights before. The picture included was done with the 7X11 back on my Deardorff during Per Volquartz' recent Mt. Shasta workshop. Middle falls on the McCloud river. BTW this was done on Photo Warehouses 125ASA film that they special cut to the 7X11 format. Nice film. I'm enthused about the Pyrocat HD. My times tend to be running longer than what Sandy spec'd in his article.
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Well, Jim, it must have been beautiful there, but you've clearly got some burned out highlights. I thought PMK was supposed to prevent this. Is that the difference with Pyrocat?
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
The secret is really out now! I have yet to hear anyone say anything negative about Pyrocat-HD. It's ideal for my Pd/Pt work because the brownish stain adds strong UV density with minimal base fog. Best of all, no uneven development or streaking, which would often happen to me with PMK and/or Rollo pyro. Catechol has replaced pyrogallol in my darkroom.
Photographers call in this case Bill. The falls and lower walls were in shade and the upper area where the trees are was in direct sunlight. I allowed those areas to go high so I could have the seperation I wanted in the main part of the pic. I don't think PMK would have handled that much different but I'm still getting my feet wet with the new developer.
Bill, you cant judge the "burned" out highlights from a scan. I am willing to bet the print has detail in the highlights, it is just not visible in the monitor.
I used PMK for some time but have found Pyrocat HD to be better for my purposes. Specially for alt printing. I did not do as careful a comparison as Sandy but my empirical observations support what Sandy documents in his article.
Nice shot Jim, I dont know what paper did you use to print this, but if it was azo, you might find that the negative will work just as well in pt/pd. If it is on a "regular" silver paper, you can still print it in pd/pt if you add some sodium platinate as contrasting agent. BTW, I hope you have gotten away from the evil #2 solution and are using pot dichromate contrasting agent in the developer.
If you printed this on Azo, you would not have burned out highlights nor blocked up shadows (those on the right next to the water). Azo paper (as will platinum). will easily handle an enormous range of tones--a range that no enlarging paper can accomodate. You can expose for the deep shadows, as you did, and you will still get your highlights in.
In looking at many photographer's work, to date, I have only seen one negative that could not easily be printed with highlight detail on Azo.
Pyrocat is used specifically to hold that highlight detail. I bet you do have it on the negative, but that you are just not getting it in the print.
Hi Jim,
Pay no attention to the criticisms. It's a beautiful photograph and probably looks even better in person than on the computer screen. On my screen, I see a slight sense of texture in the high values and in the dark areas. Keep up the good work.
I've just been trying Sandy's recipe and finding that the general stain is way down over my pyro negs, just image stain. I'm a convert. Thanks again to Sandy for all his hard work and great articles.
Sandy's article is the most researched, well written and dimensional work to date on pyro developers and kudos are due to him for his hard work. That aside, Pyrocat deserves a hard look as very likely the best all around pyro choice for guys like me that desire to explore the alternative processes as well as good old silver. I am greatly pleased with the results.
By the way, anybody want a great deal on some unused PMK and the Book of Pyro?
Cheers!
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