Roll Film Developing Times - Pyrocat HD

[Michael Kadillak]

Can anybody give me some starting times to process Ilford Pan F+ and Ilford FP4+ roll film in Pyrocat HD. I use a JOBO CPP2.

Thanks in advance!

[Frank Lahorgue]

G'morning Michael --

I've begun working with Pyrocat HD for both 4x5 and 35mm FP4 and HP5. After about six rolls of 35mm, I am settling on 8 minutes at 70 degrees with the 2-2-100 dilution. I load film into my old Nikkor stainless tanks which I roll around in my darkroom sink slowly and continuously. It is low-tech but my results are very consistent.

For 35mm, I am now shooting at FULL ISO -- I've never before been able to do this with any other film/developer combination.

I use the old eyeball method to make judgments since I do not have access to a densitometer. Obviously, your mileage is likely to vary. Please let us know about your experience with this very interesting chemistry.

Good luck.

[sanking]

For FP4+ I recommend 10:30 seconds at 70 degrees F, using the 1:1:100 dilution. For Pan-F try about 8:15 using the same dilution and temperature. These times are for rotary processing and projection printing with silver gelatin papers.

If you are making negatives for scanning reduce develoment times by about 15%.

[Michael Kadillak]

Thanks guys. In retrospect, I should probably have asked this question in the Medium Format forum. Will make the mental adjustment next time.

Cheers!