Anyone using this combination? Keen to try and process with Jobo and expert drum to evaluate against HP5+. I want to standardise on one developer, being HD. Wanting to see if Pancro has a character I’ve been missing with HP5.
If people are using this film / dev combo, what are your dilutions and times?
I'm not a fan of this 4x5 film with Pyro HD. The few successful negatives I have had, I processed with minimal agitation very dilute or two bath. I added 20% more time than my usual time for FP4+/HP5 and still got thin negatives. Over developing didn't produce a printable negative. I also had odd staining issues but that may not be the film, and lots of pinholes. I think this film is probably better rated at EI200 or less, but then whats the point of buying a higher speed film? Its definitely not the quality and look of Bergger 200 + Pyrocat HD from 2005.
135 in HC110 came out ok, but since it was mostly a test roll I did not print from it.
For testing Take at least 4 shots of same subject and exposure the run them different times in your processor.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
I'd like to know what developer people like with this film. I've had a few boxes of the sheet film in 4x5 and 8x10 and wasn't happy with the results I got with it in Rodinal 1::100 stand either.
Rodinal is known to not be great with Pancro. Popular account has it that Ber49/Atomal 49 and PMK bring out the best in it, but I’m assuming there are other more standard developers that are good, too. I tried it with D76 stock in 120 and didn’t like it too much, but I was scanning and not wet printing.
I don’t mind rating the film slower if the aesthetic of it outweighs that inconvenience. I guess I’m looking for a film that has more character than HP5 and only want to use it with 8x10”, mostly for contact prints and occasional wet print up to 20x24”. I always loved Tri-X but refuse to pay what it now sells for. I have a habit of wanting to support the little company doing good things, like Bergger. I love their warmtone semi-gloss fibre paper, so wonder about their film too. Being in New Zealand though, I need to research and plan a bit before ordering anything else it can end up being an expensive experiment.
I am not sure what you mean by "more character", but my preference for contact printing is FP4+ in Pyrocat HD.
Rodinal is the worst choice for Pancro400. I suggest BER49 or PMK. Or Xtol.
See: https://flic.kr/p/SNJ3Q7
PS Paul, I forgot to ask. Have you tried Pancro with Xtol? I'm wondering how you found it, and if for the combinations mentioned you developed per Bergger's recommendations for time etc.
My issue at the moment is that I'm about to transition from tray processing using PMK to Jobo processing in expert drums, so PMK is out and if I want to stay with pyro stain the Pyrocat-HD makes the most sense. I like the idea of making duel purpose negatives that I can use for both silver VC and later UV processes. Anyway, this has me thinking it might be time to experiment to find a new combination I like to supplement or, if it's really to my taste, replace HP5+. As I said above, I've seen examples posted from Pancro I really like and enjoy supporting the small manufacturers with business where I can, but the product has to be both reliable and high quality. Bergger's papers are great, so have been wondering about Pancro.
Originally Posted by paulbarden
Thanks Paul for the test. I didn’t like D76 with my few rolls either, and you’ve found words to describe what I found better than I.
By more character I mean that HP5 renders things pretty straight down the middle. I like it, especially with PMK, but wonder if the Bergger grain structure, shadow rendering and extra claimed highlight headroom-not to mention spectral sensitivity-might result in a different aesthetic I like more. Hard to saw without giving it a go, I guess.
Is the current Bergger film any better than that from a few decades ago? That just would not do expansion development worth anything.
” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.
I found this thread with a comment from Bergger regarding Pancro 400 and Pyrocatechol-HD:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/thread...esting.139655/
They suggest it is not compatible, but I wonder if anything else has been learnt in the meantime?
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