First Trials with Pyrocat HD

[alec4444]

Eddie kindly lent me some of this to try out. We've both been playing around with alt processes, and I've been belligerently developing my Efke PL100 in Rodinal. That worked OK for cyanotypes, pretty well for van dykes, but salt prints and albumen prints were lacking some detail. Time to give that staining power of Pyro a try.

Couldn't wait, really, but I had to because the weekend weather has been gloomy, and I have no indoor light kits. So I finally made it out shooting today, with the 11x14, and just got out of the darkroom now.

If I hadn't known that this was a "staining developer" I would never have noticed anything but a nice negative...... Errr, but I do know this is a staining developer, sooooo where's that stain? With four negs flattened together like a pancake, I can see a pink hue on the edges. But beyond that they look like regular negatives....

Formula:
Pyrocat HD, 2-2-100
Efke PL100
8 mins
20 degrees Celsius
Water stop
TF-4 fix, two baths @ 5 mins each
Wash

Any ideas? Or is the stain supposed to be subtle? (Like REALLY subtle....)

Cheers!
--A

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Alec, I just pulled an FP-4 Negative developed in Pyrocat-HD 2:2:100 @ 75 degrees for 21 minutes. This is an 11x14 neg developed in a tray with 5 minute pre soak and 10 seconds agitation every minute.. I shot this film @ 100. I did the same stop, fix and wash as you.
I would try 16 minutes to build some density especially if you are trying to do an alternative process. Efke Pl-100 builds some very nice density. You could even go to 20 minutes I think. Are you using trays or tubes?
You should get a nice brown stain not to much but with good density. The neg I did looks great. I'm processing for carbon transfer and I may go to 24 minutes on the next negative to see how it builds density.

Jim

[alec4444]

Thanks, Jim. Yes, an important detail I left out - I use tray development....and the film was shot at ISO 100.

I'll give it another go at 16 - 18 mins. Might try 5x7 for a while 'til I get it right. Not that I got it wrong, per se - these negs will print nicely in silver.

Cheers!
--A

[Jim Fitzgerald]

A, I just pulled the second 11x14 negative that was the same composition but a horizontal and I developed this one for 24 minutes. WOW! Big neg's are great!
I know you will be happy with the times I gave you. Both of my negatives will print very nicely on the 1976 Azo that I have and on carbon. I'll print the Azo first and then do the carbon. Need to pour the tissue for the 11x14 and I have not done anything that big yet. Should be fun. By the way the scene that I shot has an 8 stop range and there is detail throughout. Pyrocat- HD is great at taming the highlights. Enjoy!

Jim

[Gary L. Quay]

You know, I didn't get much stain on my HP5 negatives the last time I developed, yet the time before that I got good stain. I processed them differently, though. The last batch was processed one negative per tray and agitation was 10 seconds every 30 seconds. The time before that I stacked them all in one tray and did constant agitation. Interesting...

--Gary

[N Dhananjay]

The stain being difficult to see is actually a sign of a good negative. Pyro stain is proportional to density - so there is very little stain in the thin areas of the negative and lots in the dense areas. This means the stain is actually a little difficult to see, t least till you get used to it or compare it side by side with an untained one. If you do see that green or brown stain everywhere, it means what you are seeing is general stain (i.e., not proportional to density and therefore acts like fog). The best way to assess these negs is to print them. Cheers, DJ

[Ken Lee]

The stain color of PyroCat HD is a brown color. If you are viewing your film under incandescent light (which tends to be of a warm color), it will be that much harder to see. Under daylight, if you compare it to a negative developed in a non-staining developer, you will more easily see a difference.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

One of the great things about Pyrocat HD is its lasting power. I just finished my A&B solutions that I mixed in September of 2007. I developed 12 8x10 negatives in tanks with my last batch and the negatives came out perfect. T-Max 400 minimal agitation.
I mixed a fresh batch for the 11x14 negatives. Great to have developer last for over a year. Kept the solutions in brown bottles under the sink in the dark. Makes the developer very cost effective and the results are great. I just looked at the negatives that I developed last night under the loupe and I can not wait to print them.

Jim

[Bjorn Nilsson]

The brown stain of Pyrocat looks much like normal density unless you compare the film side to side with a normally developed neg (of the same kind of film).
But the stain color is very subtle compared to e.g. PMK Pyro or Rollo Pyro. With these developers you get a heavier stain which is yellowish green.
Also, pyro negs are "supposed" to look "thin". The stain doesn't show that well and often brings a surprise when printing. So taking that into account, a "thin" neg should have a finer grain (as compared to a "thicker" neg), while the stain has no grain, just density.
As others have pointed out, the answer is in the printing. You have to adjust when assessing pyro negs, as there's a difference in between pyro negs and normal negs.

//Björn

[alec4444]

Thanks, guys! Can't wait to give this another go. Didn't get a chance to print these negs today, hopefully can get to that later in the week. They do appear a bit "thin", but only the print will tell.... :)

--A