To test developers, I exposed four identical 8x10 sheets of FP4 and developed two of the sheets. The one on left in Pyrocat-hd (1:1:100 at ~68 F for 20 minutes) and one on right in Perceptol (1:1 at ~68 F for 15 minutes). This has been my first time ever trying Pyrocat-hd.
While I am not quite sure which one I prefer in terms of picking as my main developer, I see these weird uneven shades on the left and bottom left of Pyrocat-hd sheet, while the Perceptol sheet looks clean. Is this "uneven development"?
I developed both sheets in two separate Stearman Press 810 trays, I used distilled water for a 2-minute pre-soak (for both sheets), I used distilled water for stop bath (for both sheets), I used Stearman Press SP-Fixer #7 (for both sheets, 5 minutes).
How can I avoid these types of artifacts in the future?
I have two more undeveloped sheets that are identical, I was thinking about trying semi-stand/minimal-agitation with Pyrocat-hd and perhaps develop the fourth sheet in DD-X for a 4-way comparison. But I would like to try to get a clean Pyrocat-hd result, so maybe I can skip the DD-X and give normal Pyrocat-hd (not semi-stand) another try. If I can't get a clean result then I suppose I'll just not use Pyrocat-hd going forward.
Pyrocat-hd I am using is from photo-formulary and came in 2 small A and B bottles of liquid.
Any help/guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Bookmarks