Minimal Agitation Negative versus Tray Processed Negative

[Steve Sherman]

Yes, the 7x17" negatives are scanned separately and the scan is designed to encompass the given tonalities of each specific negative, no more and no less.
Attached are the two negs side by side on a light tablet I have that is not quite large enough to illuminate both negs at the same time. When the negatives receive the identical amount of back lit illumination it should be clear that the 1.33 neg is in fact less dense than the 1.79 neg.
The important observation is the tonalities of the 1.33 neg show more micro contrast, that is a direct result of Minimal Agitation processing, in this case a Semi-Stand technique was used over a 45 minute processing time. In the more panoramic comparison the negs are turned so that the sky area of each neg abuts one another to offer a clear comparison to the respective densities in each sky area.

Lastly, the 1.79 neg was processed in a tray using ABC Pyro as it was reputed to be a more aggressive film developer than other Pyros back in 2003 when I processed these negs. I was not fully aware of the example that would play out when compared to Semi-Stand processing technique using PyroCat HD developer. I was hopeful that the Semi-Stand PyroCat processed neg. would show more micro contrast than a neg. that was tray processed to a much greater highlight density. Traditional wisdom dictates that higher highlight density will produce a more contrasty negative, clearly that is not the case with Minimal Agitation forms of development.

So, on the chance you align your thinking as some have that the comparison is not valid because two different developers were used, you simply are missing the point of Minimal Agitation and are looking to validate traditional thinking. Further, the technique will work with developers other than PyroCat, just not as well and if you know Pyros like I do you would understand that Pyrogallol based Pyros ( ABC, PMK, Rollo, Wimberleys ) are much more susceptible to aerial oxidation and could not tolerate not being agitated for the length of time that PyroCat can, and it is that length of time without agitation which produces the Adjacency Effects that are clearly present in the 1.33 neg.

If you need further validation, see this LF forum link from a gentleman I had never met who offered this unsolicited critique of these very two negs after attending an Open House I held a few years back. http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ght=open+house

Happy New Year !!