Rollo Pyro and BTZS Tubes

[Kirk Gittings]

For years Steve Simmons and Gordon Hutchins have been arm twisting me to try Pyro. They have even suggested, in a workshop that we teach together, that I may be some lower life form because I don't use Pyro. So if for perhaps no better reason than to shut them up I'm going to try it. The question is does anyone out there have direct experience using Rollo Pyro in BTZS tubes which is my prefered method of developement?

[Tim Curry]

Kirk,

No experience with BTZS tubes, but a resounding yes to pyro. As to being a lower life form, don't believe them. We know better as you are able to type and use a computer, thus disproving their theory.

Perhaps you could tell us which film choices you prefer for your work, so someone with hard numbers could start you on your way. For your sheet film you might think along the lines of Pyrocat HD (Sandy King's formula) as it will allow you full fim speeds when compared to PMK or ABC.

[jerry brodkey]

I tried Rollo Pyro in a Jobo which is close to what you want. I didn't like it and so for a long time I developed TMax in Tmax RS developer. Now that I do alot of 11X14's I needed to find something other than TMax and have settled on Efke PL100 with pyrocat. I would suggest reading about pyrocat on the Unblinking Eye, AZO forum and APUG B&W forum. My biggest complaints about Rollo Pyro were its tendency to make overly dense negatives, its toxicity, and little or no improvement over what I was getting with TMax RS developer. Start with Sandy King's article on the Unblinking Eye. Of course alot depends on what film you use, its size and what you print on...

Jerry

[jerry brodkey]

It was implied but not said directly: I use pyrocat in a Jobo....

Jerry

[Frank Lahorgue]

Greetings Kirk. I've used Rollo Pyro in BTZS tubes for some time, though I have now switched to Pyrocat HD. It is certainly worth giving RP a try in your BTZS tubes and I am pleased to help in anyway.

For starters, I found that it is ESSENTIAL to wet your film BEFORE loading. For some reason, the normal presoak and developer do not migrate to the backside of dry loaded film causing the film to stick to the inside of the tube making removal difficult. I ruined several good negs during my first attempts. Simply soak exposed film in a small tray of water before loading.

A second recommendation is to roll the tubes very slowly during the development phase. I believe some others have found Jobos too fast for RP so I slowed rotation with my BTZS tubes with good results. I guess at something like 4 to 5 rpm.

I'd like to hear about your results -- in Monterey perhaps.

[lee\c]

Don Miller uses a bit of nylon screening along with film in the tube. This keeps the film off the wall of the tube. He seems to be having really good luck with this added bit of help in the tube.

leec

[sanking]

You can also load the film into the tubes dry and wet the back in the pre-soak water. Just pop the cap and pull the film partially in and out of the tube a few times. This will assure that you get some exchange of solutions on the film base during development.

After develoment I just drop the tube into a tray of stop bath, roll it around a couple of times and then remove the film from the tube for fixing.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I used rollo pyro in BTZS tubes for about a year. No problems developing with the tubes but the greenish colour of the negatives didn't work well for me on VC paper. Too flat. Maybe it's better suited for alternative printing. Switched to Pyrocat-HD and am much much happier. Semi-stand development in the tubes works well too with Pyrocat-HD.

[Kirk Gittings]

FYI I have always shot 4x5. I look for brilliance and drama in a print. I loved the mid-tone contrast of the Tri-X HC 110 combination. For years I used Tri-X and HC-110 and printed primarily on the old Zone VI Brilliant graded papers, but over the years I went to printing larger and on expanded dev. negatives I had objectionably large grain at 11x14 and especially 16x20. So for a few years I tried T-Max 100 in T-Max RS. I loved the grain. After some struggle I made the middle and lower tones do what I want but had severe problems containing high values. I have some beautiful landscape prints from this period, but it was a struggle. For the last couple of years I have been primarily using FP4 in various developers. I always use VC papers (primarily Ilford and Berger) now with extensive use of split filtering with a color head.

[steve simmons]

For years Steve Simmons and Gordon Hutchins have been arm twisting me to try Pyro. They have even suggested, in a workshop that we teach together, that I may be some lower life form because I don't use Pyro. So if for perhaps no better reason than to shut them up I'm going to try it. The question is does anyone out there have direct experience using Rollo Pyro in BTZS tubes which is my prefered method of developement?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is a litle tongue in cheek here. Kirk and I have been friends for 14+ years and he is partly responsible for my moving to New Mexico. His interest in a pyro formula came from seeing some of Gordon Hutchings prints at a workshop we taught a couple of years ago.

steve simmons