<<<I did compare the pyro prints to prints
from D-76 and glycin negatives, confirming that the same print densities
could be obtained with pyro and other developers.>>>
Good, this is important because it is *not* what I've found with HP5+:
this film's curve on Pt/Pd paper shows a radically different shape with
pyro. And _that_ is important because HP5+ and FP4+ are the only films
available in a number of panoramic and oversize formats (which I'm dying
to work in). I've discovered that to work in HP5+, I'll get much better
Pt/Pd prints developing in pyro. If further tests show that other films
do not give better results in pyro, I'll happily save myself some
trouble and develop them in HC110. Either way, I'll write up the results
for an article (g).
The other point of course is that simply getting adequate range for
platinum doesn't get us out of the woods: you can get negatives with
enough overall range that display disagreeable distribution within the
mid-tones: in fact I've found that very easy to do with FP4+ in about
four different developments. I should try Terry's amidol development,
because I really do want to find a way to make FP4+ into a film I
like--it's my only other choice for 12x20.
---Carl