PMK or ABC plus Pyro.

[Shen45]

As the title says has anyone tried both of these developers to give an opinion of the strengths and / or weaknesses.

I'm not interested in comments on other developers just these two.

Thanks Steve

[Jay DeFehr]

Hi Steve.

The strengths of PMK are it's keeping properties,
better film speed, and lower pH, relative to ABC
Pyro. The strengths of ABC Plus Pyro are shorter development times and better stain control relative to PMK Pyro. I don't consider ABC Pyro (Plus or otherwise) suitable for anything but inspection development, because the three separate stock solutions each decompose at different rates, so that each time a working solution is made up, it is essentially a different developer. PMK is far better in this respect, but has problems of it's own, relative to other developers you're not interested in. The ABC Plus Pyro description states it's specifically for rotary development and "won't work with tray
development"' which, of course is nonsense. In evolutionary terms, ABC Plus Pyro equates to dressing Homo Habilis in a suit and tie; it doesn't make him modern, but he looks better in the lineup. PMK is more similar to Neanderthal, and can pass for modern if you look at him in isolation.