<P>I have used PYRO PMK for a couple of years, for roll and miniature films.
The Book of Pyro is good value, as it gives lots of information on how
to trouble-shoot - most of the problems I have not had - following the
instructions in the book.
<P>Some films stain much better than others, most of the stuff I have done
is with FP4 and Tri-x, both of which work well. PMK works well with most
of the materials I have tried, but to get the max benefit I would recommend
that films that give more stain.
<P>Sorry cannot comment on TMAX as I don't use it, but will run through
the technique I use.
<P>I use plastic rollfilm tanks to process in.
<BR>Make up as directed in the book, 10ml part a 20ml part b in 500ml water,
I use deionised as the local water is hard.
<BR>I have found that I get much better results when I reduce film speed
by at least one full stop - so Tri-x at EI200, FP4 50.
<P>Process times I use tend to be around 10-15% less than the book suggests,
this is normal as all the times are for sheet film.
<P>Agitate = 2 vigorous inversions of the tank every 15 seconds - this
is the point that Gordon makes in the book, its important to get enough
agitation to avoid various uneven developing effects.
<P>Following development, stop fix as normal.
<P>Following fixing add the used developer back into the tank for a couple
of mins.
<P><the negatives do look quite odd, the stain makes then look very
dense, with a amber/yellowish hue>.
<P>The main points I noticed was that detail in both shadows and highlights
were orders of magnitude were better than before, no highlight blocking,
just lots of detail everywhere, also a very good tonal range.
<P>In short this is one hell of a developer! So my advice would be to keep
working with it.
<P>Of the films I tried FP4 gives the best stain, Tri-x next best and the
rest much less e.g. AGFA 100.
<P>Then wash as normal - except, the book states that the stain can be
reduced by hard water - so maybe wash in deionised. Must say I have not
done this, and get pretty good stain, with the above emulsions.
<P>I have not had many, if any, problems using pyro with rollfilm and miniature
film. Pyro negatives are among the best I have made, much easier to print
with very nice detail and range.
<P>All in all I am very happy with PMK.
<P>I have recently had a problem in that my supply of <B>PMK seems to have
stopped working</B>. Was trying my first 10x8 sheet of FP4 and almost got
no image - noticed that I was not getting the right colour when I mixed
the developer a+b+water.
<P>Tried a test rollfilm and had the same story. So I have not used
it for sheet film, well not successfully yet.
<P>I do not make PMK but buy it from a UK supplier, its always worked fine
before so I guess that it must be past its use by date.
<P>Anybody got any comments on the shelf life of PMK stock solutions, both
solutions have been kept in dark bottles unopened, but probably for about
2 years.
<P>Both solutions are clean, no sediment, but solution b has crystallised
out a bit.
<P>When I tried the test rollfilm I did get a slightly better colour, light
straw, but maybe not as intense as it used to be.
<P>Would appreciate any advice on the shelf life.
<P>Joseph O'Neil wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>At 09:12 12/01/98 -0700, you wrote:
<BR>>While pyro may not qualify to the "T" as an alt process (some would
<BR>>argue) it is a step that brings us to the alt process of printing.
As
<BR>>you know (and IMHO), pyro is a superior developer, especially for
alt
<BR>>printing. I say post. Your pyro questions will be more related
to alt
<BR>>than some of the other threads I've seen. Ask away; there are
a few
<BR>>pyro lurkers out there.
<BR>>
<BR>>David
<P> Thankyou to all who wrote,
I received a couple of nice
<BR>replies publically & privately.
<P> First off, I moved into pyro
for a different "look". I shot
<BR>almost 99% 4x5 inch B&W right now, mostly as a hobby, but
<BR>once in an odd while i make the odd sale here and there. The
whole
<BR>area of alternate processign facinates me. I seldom just make
a print,
<BR>my faovurite process, although not a true "alternative" is sepia toning,
<BR>the good ole fashioned bleach & toner. There are many product
that
<BR>will give you a sepia "look", but these people are missing the point.
<BR>Almost all conventional B&W prints, FB or RC papers, at least in
my
<BR>darkroom suffer from "drydown", which is when the whites of your print
<BR>loose from brilliancy after they dry overnight.
<P> One of the things I love
about sepai toning, the proper way,
<BR>is how the bleaching restores that brilliant look to the whites of
your
<BR>print. Another "neat" effect is not to completely bleach away
the
<BR>print, but only to partially bleach it, then tone it and depending
on how
<BR>you do it, you can get a neat effect. Another way to adjust your
<BR>bleaching is to take a small bruch and rub areas of yoru print while
<BR>in the bleach to enhance the bleaching in certian areas, then ake your
<BR>print out, wash, and tone.
<P> Wow - really off topic here.
Anyhow, back to Pyro. I just
<BR>bought my first set of Hutching PMK pyro a couple of weeks ago, and
<BR>ran my first set of eigth, 4x5 negatives through. Often I'll
do the old
<BR>thing of shoot two, process one, hold one. Lately I've been using
<BR>Kodak's Xtol as my favourite developer because it is the only thing
<BR>that works well with TMax and all other B&W films.
<P> Well I did one set in Xtol,
one set in Pyro, all Delta 400
<BR>I know that the traditional emulsions are supposed to work best
<BR>with Pyro, and I've bought 100 sheets of HP5 to try next.
<P> Comparing the two, my Pryo
negs were thin next to the
<BR>Xtol negs, but shadow detail was better in the pyro negs. I;ve
never
<BR>seen Pyro negatives before, so I have no comparison. I've been
told
<BR>by others over the net to cut film speed by one stop when planning
<BR>to use Pyro. Normally I shoot Delta 400 at 320, so I plan on
shooting
<BR>my HP5 at 200 to 320, depending on what kind of advice i hear from
<BR>others.
<P> What I would really love
to hear is how your negatives
<BR>are supposed to look, what kind of times people use. Yes, there
is the
<BR>book of pyro, which I have nto bought yet, but my experience with just
<BR>about every other B&W film and developer out there, from FP4 in
<BR>Rodinal to TMax400 in D76, is to just take the times in books as
<BR>starting points. Talkign to other people who are actually using
Pyro
<BR>is what I would love to hear.
<P> As for the alternate printing
processes, kinda neat stuff
<BR>here. About the only other place I currently see any of this
stuff
<BR>is in Darkroom User magazine. Heck, most of the better camera
stores
<BR>around here haven't even heard of stuff like Pyro. In fact, therre
seems
<BR>to be only one camera store in all of Canada that carries Pyro
<BR>commercially. On one hand it is kinda depressing, on the other
hand,
<BR>with some many 35mm, aps and digital cameras out there, perhaps the
<BR>more obscure a process is, the better a niche you carve out for yourself
<BR>that others cannot copy.
<BR>take care
<BR>joe
<P><A HREF="http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil">http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil</A>
<BR>B&W, Large Format Images From Southern Ontario</BLOCKQUOTE>
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