I’ve found that the stain made by Pyrocat HD is far more subtle than the stain from PMK. sometimes, with some films, it’s so subtle that I’m not sure it’s there.
In addition to what Paul said, I've found that different film stocks reveal different levels of stain. For example, Fomapan 100 reveals a fairly strong stain color (for me) whereas Tri-X is barely noticeable. I would suggest comparing these negatives to the same film developed in a standard formula, like D-76. Do you see a difference?
If you scan it as a B&W negative in color mode, you'll see a distinct blue shift that you have to correct out; blue being the negative of tan. It's subtle, but I think it's stronger in the invisible UV range.
4x5 FP4 shows a distinct brown/tan color. If your batch of Pyrocat HD is from a Formulary kit, ask them when it was assembled (code on the box) . Also depends how many near clear tones you have on your film. Phenidone failure is common if older than 2 years and it will first appear to have little to no stain , then turn pinkish tones just before it dies. The cachetol will continue to work but you will need longer process times. I now mix my own Pyrocat-Metol and get about 1 year of life out of part A.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
I usually get negs that look like that, too. There is a stain image, but it's very hard to see it if there's no general staining. If you have any rehal bleach, you can use it to remove the silver image, which will reveal the brown pyrocat component. (How do I know this? Because I've done it.)
I would add that for regular silver gelatin printing, I find the stain to be irrelevant, anyway. For me, the main benefits of pyro developers are sharpness and smaller grain. (Alt process printing is another matter.)
The 'stain' is really a coupler forming a dye via oxidation (and a not very good one at that). If there are higher levels of oxygen scavengers and the like in a coating structure, this will affect the amount of dye formed.
I don't know, ived see more video on the net and alla have a good tan ...
The Pyrocat is home made
Maybe some substance in the tap water from society water supply because in the past i was problem with C41 processing (?) I can try to make a working solution with distilled water or other.
Ah - something in your tap water acting as a mild bleach or oxygenator. things like chlorine and fluoride can vary from month to month in city water. Use distilled water for developers always and your stock will last longer on the shelf. The nice thing about Pyrocat-hd and variants is that it doesn't go bad quickly unless contaminated, it gives you warning signs with color changes.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
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