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.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
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.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
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.
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).
Bookmarks