Palldium or Platinum ?

[Fred L]

Have a question for those who make Platinum and/or Palladium prints.

During an alt process workshop, we worked with Palladium.

Since the workshop, I've only been working with Platinum and was wondering why one would choose Palladium over/instead of Platinum. Is it more a question of tone/colour or is there something more subtle such as range of tones ? I'm very happy with Pt but just wondering what others are doing and why.

fwiw, I prefer neutral looking tones and am not really a warm tone person.


tia,
freddy

[BrianShaw]

Tone/color and cost

[Pete Roody]

Na2 Method for Contrast Control

[Fred L]

Na2 Method

haha, I was looking at this as well. What's the advantage over trad Pd or Pt ? I understand the Na2 can be more cost effective as one doesn't need very many drops.

[Pete Roody]

haha, I was looking at this as well. What's the advantage over trad Pd or Pt ? I understand the Na2 can be more cost effective as one doesn't need very many drops.

Replacing some of the Palladium Drops with NA2 gives you fine control of contrast. Helps allot if your negs aren't perfect.

[Vaughn]

I use about a 2/3s palladium and 1/3 platinum mix (no contrast control agents). Develop in warm Potassium oxalate.

The mix, paper and developer all affect color and contrast. Have fun!

[Alan9940]

I use about the same mix as Vaughn and develop in 110F PO. I like warm prints. Printing with only platinum is fine, but it does produce a cooler more neutral image, is grainer, and requires longer exposure for a good print. Back in the "good 'ole days", many alt printers (myself included) used mostly palladium because it was significantly cheaper than platinum. Therefore, I could print more. But, nowadays, the cost of palladium is about the same as platinum, so it comes down to personal preference. One caveat is that if one uses Na2, you cannot have any platinum in the mix.

Good luck and have fun printing!

[Fred L]

I use about the same mix as Vaughn and develop in 110F PO. I like warm prints. Printing with only platinum is fine, but it does produce a cooler more neutral image, is grainer, and requires longer exposure for a good print. Back in the "good 'ole days", many alt printers (myself included) used mostly palladium because it was significantly cheaper than platinum. Therefore, I could print more. But, nowadays, the cost of palladium is about the same as platinum, so it comes down to personal preference. One caveat is that if one uses Na2, you cannot have any platinum in the mix.

Good luck and have fun printing!

thanks Alan !

interesting about the exposure times. Some of my 8x10 and 7x17 negatives, developed in Pyrocat HD Glycol have had me cooling my jets for about 30 minutes or so, sometimes longer. The negs don't look dense at all, so maybe a combination of some base fog and the brown stain ?

Wonder if it's worth trying Pt/Pd and adjust the drop counts so I can get finer grain BUT still get that neutral tone I prefer.

[Fred L]

I use about a 2/3s palladium and 1/3 platinum mix (no contrast control agents). Develop in warm Potassium oxalate.

The mix, paper and developer all affect color and contrast. Have fun!


thanks Vaughn ! I guess my preference for neutral tones is locking me into Platinum and normal temp PO.

[Fred L]

Replacing some of the Palladium Drops with NA2 gives you fine control of contrast. Helps allot if your negs aren't perfect.

thanks Peter,

chatted with Bostick and they said Na2 has to be used with Pd as I asked if Na2 could be mixed with Ferric Oxalate and then coat but that's a no go.

[Vaughn]

The staining developers do seem to add significantly to any base fog (and future exposure times) a film might have (especially due to aged film). An alternative to Pyrocat HD that I use occasionally is Ilford's Universal PQ Developer for out-of-date film with base fog issues...and with old and fresh FP4+ (nice combo for Pt/pd).

Have you worked with other developers? I haven't used Ammonium citrate for years, not since I switched away from Crane's Cover, but that will get you cooler images than Pot. oxalate. And less toxic.

[Alan9940]

I don't know anything about the citrate developers, but Sodium Citrate might be another option to look at. B&S also carry what they call "Cold Tone" developer. I think this formula is for working at cold temps, but it might provide cooler tones, too. Again, no experience with this developer, but might be something to consider. Yeah, using Pyrocat-HD can get tricky for pt/pd because most folks go to a 2:2:100 dilution to reach the contrast necessary for alt printing. This dilution certainly works fine, and I've used it myself, but it will significantly contribute to the level of base stain. Might want to consider playing around with some other developer formulas, as Vaughn suggests.

[Vaughn]

A small correction, Bostick and Sullivan sells Cold Bath Developer as opposed to Cold Tone. Cold Bath Developer is just that -- designed to be used right out of fridge (with up to a 4-stop decrease in printing speed.)

A mix of Potassium oxalate monohydrate and Potassium dihydrogen phosphate

https://www.bostick-sullivan.com/product/developer-for-pt-pd-cold-bath-1qt/

[Fred L]

The 7x17 film I'm exposing is expired, and would need to check the date. Other developers I use are HC-110 and Rodinal, the latter of which really doesn't help with expired films. Wonder if one can add Benzo Triazole to Pyrocat ;)

If I could afford it, I'd get one of Cone's led UV units with the tighter spacing, and the vacuum frame. Unfortunately I don't have $5700 or so to spare (don't even want to think about how much that is in $CDN....sigh

[Alan9940]

Thanks, Vaughn. I meant to write Cold Bath, but the gray matter / hand signals didn't work. ��

[koraks]

If I could afford it, I'd get one of Cone's led UV units with the tighter spacing, and the vacuum frame. Unfortunately I don't have $5700 or so to spare (don't even want to think about how much that is in $CDN....sigh
You could build a LED UV exposure unit for a fraction of the cost and simply use a decent old-fashioned contact frame. Will work a treat for continuous tone negatives. Expect to drop a couple of hundred $ at the most. It's not rocket science; get some COB leds, coolers and drivers, mount to a frame, hook it up and go.

[jnantz]

Tin Can posted this link a few years ago
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071NT6189/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I can't remember the thread, but those lights attached to a piece of plywood .. and bob's your uncle :)