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Fragomeni
22-Feb-2012, 14:14
Hi all,

I'm curious is anyone is actively using either Pinacryptol Yellow or Pinkryptol Green to desensitize modern panchromatic film. I'm very interested in learning about the effectiveness of these formulas and exactly what they allow you to do in practice. What about availability or manufacture? I've tried looking for info elsewhere but information seems to be limited. Thanks for the information in advance!

Fragomeni
22-Feb-2012, 14:24
Also, how about the effects of using Phenosafranine or Safranin-O as desensitizers? I've seen a few things written about these possibilities but nothing that confirms whether they work or not. Any ideas or experiences?

Robert Perrin
22-Feb-2012, 23:13
Francesco, perhaps this article will be of interest: http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/devinsp.html I haven't been developing by inspection since the days of see-sawing a roll of the old ortho Verichrome through a tray by the light of a dim red bulb, but it worked. So as an alternative to desensitizers or infrared gear, you could readily try developing by inspection with an orthochromatic film such as Adox Ortho 25 or even something "color blind" (blue sensitive) like some duplicating films.

Lynn Jones
23-Feb-2012, 14:59
Hi Francesco,

I used pinacryptol green early in my career (1950's and later) for development by inspection and once you learn what it should like under those conditions it worked well. I ruined a lot of film until I learned how dark the film looks under the safelight and then found it greatly under developed later.

I haven't been able to find any pinacryptol green for from 25 to 30 years. I never used the yellow because it didn't work well enough.

Lynn

Fragomeni
25-Feb-2012, 07:40
Robert, thank you. I'm very familiar with the article. I'm also very familiar with development by inspection. If you search the forum you'll find a lot that I've written on using IR to develop by inspection which is my current method and works phenomenally. This is just a topic that I'm interested in learning as much about as possible and experimenting with. IR works great but the goggles are a bit uncomfortable which led me to wonder more about chemical desensitization as another method. From what I've found, it doesn't appear that these compounds are available anymore and either way I don't think they'd be as effetive as IR.

Lynn, thanks for providing your experience. I wish this stuff was still around so I could play with it but even if I found some randomly it would much make sense to bother with it since it isn't readily available. Well, thank you for the info anyway! I appreciate the information!

premortho
25-Feb-2012, 15:20
Yes, I've used kodak's Pinacryptol green when I use pan film, because I prefer developement by inspection. It worked fine until I ran out of the stuff. I don't use much panchromatic film, and now very rarely because I can't get this chemical anymore. I soaked it in the mix for one minute, as per directions, then turned on my dull red safelight, transferred it to the developer, (standard D-72 mix, further diluted 32-1), normal tray agitation. I covered the tray right away with a piece of cardboard. I would lift the cardboard after a few minutes to see if the highlights were coming up. When I was satisfied with the highlights, (would be shadows on print) I soaked it in water for a minute. Then to the hypo. Then six rinses over 35 minutes (this saves a lot of water with sheet film). Hope this helps you.

Fragomeni
25-Feb-2012, 15:25
So is it safe to say that none of these are available commercially at this point?

Jim Shanesy
25-Feb-2012, 17:12
What developer are you using? The tanning action of pyrogallol based developers, such as ABC obviates the need for desensitizers. Weston didn't use them and he developed all his negatives by inspection.

Lynn Jones
27-Feb-2012, 10:59
Hi guys,

If I'm not terribly mistaken, I seem to remember his son Brett (my long time friend) told me that his dad used mostly orthochromatic film in which you could use a bright red safelight.

If you wish to use panchromatic film by inspection, get full accomodated, visually, and a trick I used back in my military days was the use of red gogles (I got them from the X-ray department). After 45 minutes or an hour in either total darkness or red goggles, that pale green safelight looks like spotlight.

Lynn

Fragomeni
27-Feb-2012, 12:26
Yes, the films that Weston would have used were very different then the panchromatic films of today. PYRO is a staining developer and like with all developers, sensitivity gradually decreases as development increases. Yes, Weston used PYRO (and other compounds) and developed his film by inspection but he was using very different film so the comparison is moot. Even the panchromatic film he used later had a different sensitivity range then today's films.

I currently use IR goggles along with an IR light source to develop panchromatic film by inspection. It works but my curiosity about desensitization still wasn't satisfied. I would still like to try a desensitization method if one were readily available but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks for the contributions everyone.