SP445 tank processing Delta100 and Pyrocat HD help please

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Originally Posted by esearing

How many sheets are you doing and what temperature and dilution? Pyrocat formulas HD and M are very dilute to begin with but can be used even more dilute depending on the density and contrast one desires. I lean a little thinner and bump up contrast in printing.

Here is my current routine when not using Steve Sherman's EMA technique.

For FP4+/Delta at EI 100 in SP445 tank at 70*F where scene falls between Zone3 and Zone8 and assumes I metered and exposed correctly.

Pyrocat M Dilution 3.5A + 3.5B + 475W Single Sheet!!! (Add .5ml A and B for each additional 4x5 sheet) (Delta gets .5ml less part B)
Presoak 5 mins
Initial figure8 Agitation for 2 mins after filling ( this seems to prevent streaking)
subsequent agitations at 3.5 Minutes for 30 seconds - Total time 12:30 . (Countdown Timer 12:30(2mins) , 7:15(30 sec) , 3:45 (30sec) , dump at 10secs-0.)
I might agitate every two minutes if I want to expand slightly or if I have 3-4 sheets.
water stop 1 minute continual agitation
Fix TF5 - 5 minutes. 30 second intervals of agitate and rest.
wash 15+ mins or shorter if I use wash aid.

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Thank you for this detailed approach which I had not seen. I am doing 4 sheets total, but only two at a time.

In response to a PM questioning my single sheet dilution: Pyrocat dilution 1:1:100 assumes your are doing 8x10 or 36 exposure roll. if you use that same ratio for 1 or 2 sheets in a tank you get denser negatives. I rarely process more than 2 sheets at a time. The thing I really like about pyrocat is the response to changes in dilution and time. Part B can be reduced if you want less staining but need to reconfigure dilution. I used to like a bit more contrast with HD and used 4:3:475 for 14minutes.

HC110 can work the same way if you consider it to have linear dilution and time. IE if 1:31 is 6mins then 1:63 is 12mins as a starting point.

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Originally Posted by esearing

How many sheets are you doing

Steve Sherman's EMA technique

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Eric--I've been following this thread with interest as well, thanks! A question: have you tried to tweak Steve Sherman's EMA regimen with four sheets of 4x5 by increasing the concentration of Pyrocat? I was starting to have pretty good luck by using the ABS tube method, but had to go to a "daylight" setup with a Paterson Orbital that I hope to use with two sheets of 5x7.

CreationBear: Out of respect for Steve I won't divulge his method since he sells it, but consider Steve's volume and dilutions for single sheet 5x7 is 825ML+. the Orbital volume looks to only hold 300ML. So for EMA technique you do not have enough liquid for dilution and developer exhaustion, unless you change out developer several times in place of agitation cycles. the SP4x5 tank is barely enough at 500ML and I had to bump up the ratio of part B to make it slightly more active even for just a single sheet. I do not think the orbital is the right tool for EMA with dilute pyrocat if you are trying to achieve Steve's desired outcomes. You could use it for Normal rotary dilutions up to 2:2:100 and maybe find a good method for standard processing. Not every image needs highlight compression and increased acutance.

There is a 5x7 x4 tank insert on the market that fits inside the Paterson 5 tank which is ~1600ML at bounetphoto, So you could use the EMA dilution/volume and still do daylight processing for 2 5x7 sheets.

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Originally Posted by esearing

There is a 5x7 x4 tank insert on the market that fits inside the Paterson 5 tank which is ~1600ML at bounetphoto, So you could use the EMA dilution/volume and still do daylight processing for 2 5x7 sheets.

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Excellent, I will definitely check out the Paterson/insert option--as luck would have it, though, my community darkroom came back on-line recently, so I might just build out a couple of ABS tanks.:)

Here's an update. I developed two sheets each of Delta 100, one at 50ISO, one at 100ISO as follows

1. Rodinal 1:100 as per MDC and their recommended 18 minutes with agitation 10 seconds every 5 minutes.
2. Pyrocat HD 1:1:100 (I did 4ml/4ml/500ml) for 16 minutes agitate 10 seconds every 5 minutes

This was the first run and I'll refine but these are my observations (all prints scanned without adjustment, cropped, sharpened and processed in LR identically and printed identically):

The Rodinal surely has more contrast but is much more useable than lower dilutions. It is quite nice. I don't see a large amount of grain but haven't really stretched it, but is appears sharper than the Pyocat (as expected). These differences are pretty small in a normal sized 11/14 print. The PC image has a strange "purple" or blue cast to it. Is this from staining???????? I did NOT print in ABW but rather with color management in the printer turned off. The PC is certainly much lower in contrast and Rodinol, its' that weird purple cool tone that is odd to me. The Rodinal has to be shot at ISO 100 while I need to shoot Pyrocat at ISO 50.

Can we see them?

I'm at work now. I have trouble uploading a full size image for some reason. I'll try later. They are pictures of a barn and for test purposes but I can try to upload later.

Attachment 199775
Attachment 199776
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Attachment 199778

Photos are smaller than I anticipated. I resized to 5MP, should have gone larger. Anyways, it was -5 wind chill when I took these again for some beginning testing. You can see the puplish cast in the Pyrocat images (top).