Developing HP5+ in PMK, sheets vs. 35mm roll film routine

**Tim V** · 30-Apr-2022, 01:46

Hi all,

Just checking in with regards to developing times with PMK across 35mm roll and sheet film formats for Ilford HP5+.

I've processed thousands of sheets of 8x10" HP5+ in PMK using a Jobo expert tank (exposed at EI200, souped @21deg. C., 38RPM, 13mins) to excellent results.

Long story short, I'm lining up a project where I will shoot a mix of 8x10" and 35mm roll film and want to check if the times other people are using are the same for both formats, or if the 35mm requires a different time? I ask this because I know that the base colour and density is quite different with 35mm, which some suggest necessitates different treatment – but seem to suggest so in very vague, non-specific terms.

I will of course run my own tests, but before I do: What's the consensus with those in the know?

Thanks for your help!

Tim

**otto.f** · 30-Apr-2022, 03:59

Since I get a quite dark pine green water after presoaking HP5+ 3’, I never skip the presoak. This color of the film might have a proportional bigger impact on the image for 35mm than for larger formats. But I predict no consensus following below.

**Tim V** · 30-Apr-2022, 14:48

Thanks for the reply, Otto. I suspect you may be right – everyone has their own 'recipe' according to specific needs / workflow.

I'm not sure how / if the PMK stain will affect the smaller negative in a proportional sense, but that's an interesting question.

Thanks again and perhaps someone else will chime in!

**bob carnie** · 1-May-2022, 05:33

I have never changed my process for PMK when using 8 x10 or 35mm, I pretty much do a pre soak, 7 min dev 1 which I keep for the final stain, 7 min for the second developer, water wash , fix, stain and wash. I am usually using a 400 speed film that is rated at 180 and will only change my times up or down if the original lighting scene warrants it. I have processed like you Tim thousands of runs of PMK, I use a Jobo. if I have a scene with grey backgrounds or a lot of even sky, I will manually agitate off the machine with a inversion and twist for the first 20 seconds or so and then on the machine. I started doing this to avoid flow marks, is suspect it was the water mineral content, so if I am unsure I will use distilled water for the presoak and the devs.