Pyro in the May/June "Photo Techniques"

[Francis Abad]

Efke PL100, Pyrocat HD, and AZO - easiest combination. And you do not even need a darkroom!

[Michael Kadillak]

It is really humerous that rhetoric has such a pervasive root in our society. If pyro were not "adding" something to the final product, I would find it nearly impossible to believe that it would be more than a passing fancy.

Fact is that pyro has been around for a hell of a lot longer than most of the current "packaged" offerings. If you are one that is happy with the standard materials and the images that they create, by all means leave pyro alone.

If however, you are going to give it a "go" either journalistically or practically, at least be fair and use a sufficient film sampling to make an honest comparison. Only then will you know what it can do for you.

Cheers!

[Andre Noble]

Even though this is the LF forum, I want to note my first test ever with pyro was recently shooting a high contrast scene (white church, clear suuny sky) on six different traditional 120 roll films and developing them in Wimberly WD2D+, and enlarged onto Ilford MG IV. The results were immediately clear. I had never until that moment been able to print with such superior highlight gradation. I had been struggling with the bright Southern California sun and burnt out highlights in all outdoor shots for 7 years. Wimberly pyro made these negatives print so beautifully and so easily that I'm glad I stuck to photography. Highlights had become my achilles heal. Wimberly pyro did not just give better highlight control but rather the difference was a revolution in highlight control/gradation.

The key to effective WD2D+ use is to first find the effective film speed (I found it to be slightly less than half the box speed) and to really agitate for the 50% of total development time Wimberly suggests in the instructions that come with the Photographer's Formulary packaging.

In my experince with 120 and 35mm format, Pan F (rated @ 20 ASA) , FP4+ (@40 ASA), and APX 100 (@40 ASA) become superior films in WD2D+ for outdoor situations under direct sunlight.

[jerry brodkey]

I don't understand why people don't believe that T-max 100 doesn't stain well with pyro. I just posted the following in answer to another question. Here it is in case you missed it: ______________________________________________________________________________

I would like to clear up a misconception about T-max and pyro. Here are some recent results. The same scene was taken with 2 films of 5X7 T-max 100 shot at ASA 64. The SBR was only 5. The film developed with T-max RS 1:9 for 8 minutes at 75 degrees had a fb+f of 0.11 and a density range from .22 to 1.65. The sheet of film developed with pyrocat 1:1:100 at 75 degrees for 8 minutes had an ortho fb+f of 0.07 with a density range from 0.16 to 1.07. Using a 361T densitometer set to measure uv, the fb+f was 0.23 with a density range of 0.33 to 1.63.

I haven't printed them yet but they both should do well in Pt/Pd.

I should add that my solution B of pyrocat was a 100% solution rather than a 75% solution, thanks to Photographer's Formulary.

I think that it is a misconception that T-max doesn't stain well with pyro. In fact my first attempts with T-max and Rollo Pyro gave such bullet proof negatives that I never went back to the Rollo Pyro. That is when I started using T-max RS with John Sextion's published numbers and have been generally quite satisfied with the negatives it produces.

Jerry

[sanking]

Jerald,

You wrote: "The sheet of film developed with pyrocat 1:1:100 at 75 degrees for 8 minutes had an ortho fb+f of 0.07 with a density range from 0.16 to 1.07."

This is not correct, right? I can not understand how Pyrocat-HD 1:1:100 gave this much less density range than T-Max RS (.22 to 1.65.)

[jerry brodkey]

Sandy,

One can hold up the two films up to light and it appears that the pyro developed negative is just seemingly alot "thinner" than the RS developed one. I'm certainly happy with its development because of the good density range that I get with uv testing.

What I can not understand is why people say that T-Max 100 doesn't stain well with pyro.

Jerry

[Brian Ellis]

Sandy - I know that Michael Smith doesn't use PMK. I didn't say he did. His statement here or in the other group was that he saw no benefit to PMK but thought there was a benefit to ABC. I also know from attending his workshop and from his writings that he uses ABC. I didn't say anything about the benefits or lack thereof of ABC, I've confined my statements about pyro to PMK because that's the only form of it with which I have any experience.

[sanking]

Jerald,

Are you aware of the fact that the coating of current generation Tmax 100 film has a UV filter than eliminates a very high percentage of UV radiation in the 350 nm to 420 nm range? The result of this UV filtration, which amounts to about log 1.0, or over three stops, is that exposures for Tmax 100 negatives are much longer with Tmax 100 negatives than with other films.

[jerry brodkey]

Sandy,

I'm quite aware of that problem. Actually when Kodak announced that it was no longer going to supply Tmax 100 in 5X7 size, I found a dealer who had a stash and basically bought a lifetime supply of the stuff. I keep it frozen and will probably have to leave some in my will. :-) I'm doing more and more 11X14's and that has created a problem trying to find a decent film-developer combination. I think PL100 with pyrocat may be the answer and I'm into my first box now.

wrt a developer for Tmax 100, I'm not sure that pyro is any better than RS for contact printing onto Pt/Pd. I'll have to see, but at this point I have been quite happy with the results with RS and wouldn't know what to wish for with a new developer.

Jerry

[Bill Bartels]

To all: I stopped reading the how to magazines long ago. I do read the Azo forum because it has good info on the tools that I use. What Howard Bond or any other photographer thinks of a particular film dev. combo is pretty much meaningless. I think you must do you own testing and draw your own conclusions to see if it fits into your own way of working. For me and many others, shooting with an 8x10 camera, developing the negs. by inspection in pyro and contact printing on Azo paper is the system which I have been using for four years now. These tools allow a clear vision and most direct route to the finest prints I have been able to make. I love being able to go into the darkroom with a new neg. and have a finished print in 30 to 45 minutes with very little if any dodging and burning. I would never want to slave over a negative for hours,days or weeks to get a good print. I am sure that unsharp masking, split filter printing and other such techniques must work for some but I am glad I don't have to resort to such tools. This is my personal system and I'm stickin to it. Common sense rules when using pyro or any other chemicals in the darkroom