Quick PMK handling question

[Drew Wiley]

I even carry those little individual disposable alcohol wipes in my film changing tent kit for travel. But it's important to select the ones containing just alcohol, with no scent or other ingredients.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

yes, not the perfumed stuff. My fingers are okay as don't do voluminous amounts of film at a time and still use a daylight tank.

[Tim V]

Hi all,

Apologies for the late reply. Thanks to all who have offered help!

Yes, surgical nitrate gloves were worn. It is possible that they had a bit of 'dust' on them from the box, but it's hard to tell. I think we've narrowed it down to happening within the pre-soak and / or on the initial submersion into the developer. Curiously, there is only one smudge on a select few negatives, each in almost the same place. Anyway, my friend did another run of four sheets, and I've processed four more sheets individually, an we've seen no more defects after taking extra precautions. Chalk this one up to inexperience with this kind of developer.

In terms of my friends experience, it's important to understand that I might very well be one of only two or three people in the country entertaining the idea of using such chemistry combinations. My friend is without a doubt one of the country's most accomplished contemporary artists and photographers, shooing exclusively 8x10", but he has never used pyro staining developers before. It just isn't sold here and I might be one of only a few people importing it as some kind of masochistic experiment. In any event, he has never seen this happen before in many thousands of sheets he's processed for himself–uneven development from time to time, yes, but not smudges. Anyway, I think I've got the cause identified and have come to the conclusion that pyro is just that extra bit fussy with processing technique where others like RS with T-Max etc are perhaps more forgiving.

YMMV!

Thanks again,

Tim

[bob carnie]

Tim - you may be experiencing the tannin effect of pyro which is well noted in Mr Hutchings book.

[Steve Sherman]

IMHO, baring in mind over 20 years of Pyro processing with ABC, PMK and Cat the issues you describe are almost assuredily a result of finger pressure (without gloves) as the film is first inserted into the presoak when the film is slightly moist and then pushed down. Those impressions with non pyro developers tend to even out over the course of development time. The fact that Pyro base developers harden or "tan" the film's emulsion very early in the processing stage the film's emulsion surface does not have a chance to fully return to an even and uniform state. Effectively the Pyro hardens the emulsion with some trace of those depressions still impacting the surface of the film, as indicated these will showup in even toned areas of mid to higher density. The easy fix is always wear nitrile gloves and never push the film down, rather slide the film in as you would inserting a print into the developer. And of course always presoak, ridiculous that presoaking is as debated as much as it is.

[Tim V]

Thanks Steve for your thoughts.

It might be the case that they are 'ungloved' fingerprints. I'm not sure at what stage he put the gloves on. In any event, I've resorted to processing one at a time myself until I get the hang on things and all has been perfect in a dozen or so sheets. It's interesting to read about Pyro developers extra sensitivity to this stuff, which also explains why my friend has never seen it before. I've bought another box of nitrate gloves and it's all go in the darkroom now...