Ruminations On Films And Pyrocat-HD Stain

[thronobulax]

I have been developing in Pyrocat-HD for the most part for the last 3 years or so. I wanted to take a moment to capture my findings on how various films stain with this developer. The stain is particularly useful in controlling dynamic range and grain, so finding film that stain well is desirable when using this developer. I hasten to point out that the material below is hardly scientific or rigorous, just my own, subjective observations from my own workflow. YMMV.

Keep in mind that I have been primarily developing in highly dilute concentrations for long periods of time with minimal agitation (Semistand and Extreme Minimal Agitation). If you develop more conventionally - recommended strength agitating every 30 seconds or using a roller processor - you may get somewhat different outcomes.

FILM	STAIN LEVEL (***** is highest stain)	FORMATS TRIED
Acros II 100	*****	120
Adox CHS 100 II	***	6x9 sheets
Agfapan APX 100	**	120, 4x5
Efke KB 100	*****	35mm
Efke PL 100 M	*****	6x9 sheets
FP4+	*****	120, 6x9 sheets, 4x5
Fomapan 200	***	35mm, 120, 4x5 (Note 2)
HP5+	****	120, 6x9 sheets
Plus-X	***	35mm, 6x9 sheets (Note 1)
Shangahai GP3	**	220, 4x5
Tri-X	*****	35mm, 120, 220, 4x5

Note 1: Plus-X in 6x9 was very old and outdated film that just hated Semistand and showed plenty of bromide drag. It worked fine in 35mm.

Note 2: Fomapan 200 in 120 is acknowledged by the manufacturer to be dodgy. I do not recommend it for anything - it seems to have trouble with emulsion spots falling off during development. Foma made good on this and sent me equivalent other product to make up for the faulty 120. They say they're working on the problem.

All the films stained somewhat. A lower stain level does not mean inferior images. The lowest stain score - APX 100 and GP3 - are both fine grained ASA 100 films and delivered very good images notwithstanding the lower levels of stain.

If I had to pick one film and live with it - if I could get it in all relevant formats - it would be the Efke. The stuff is just amazing in Pyrocat-HD and shows strong edge effect from dilute minimum agitation. Sadly, it is no more. I have enough in the freezer for some time and then that's it.

Back here in reality, once my current stash of all the above is gone, I will likely retreat to two emulsions as daily drivers: Tri-X and FP4+. Both stain really well and both show good edge effects in extended, dilute development.

I am not a fan of HP5+. To my eye, it looks low contrast and lacks mid-tone separation even after extended development. This may be selection bias because I know Tri-X so much better. If I had the same miles on HP5+ I might feel differently.

The Adox CHS 100 II gets an honorable mention here because it tries real hard to be the new Efke ... and almost succeeds.

 

[Ian Grant]

HP5 is an excellent film, and it gives superb results in Pyrocat HD, that's not just my experience.

If you aren't getting decent contrast and mi-tone separation it's down to the techniques you are using.

Ian

 

[Ian-Barber]

I'm not surprised that FP4 shows one of the highest levels of stain, this is the go-to film for steve sherman using the ema method

 

[thronobulax]

HP5 is an excellent film, and it gives superb results in Pyrocat HD, that's not just my experience.

If you aren't getting decent contrast and mi-tone separation it's down to the techniques you are using.

Ian

I clearly need to spend more time with it and discover its capabilities. I just have to go through all my Tri-X first

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Interesting! TFS.

A couple of questions to understand better.

Is this rating based on apparent stain or colour densitometric reading?

Do you account for base stain?

p.s. Interestingly, when Pyro developers were in vogue in early 20th century, stain was considered as undesirable. Mees writes as follows in The Fundamentals of Photography:

"Pyro[gallol] is an almost ideal developer for negative making. Owing to the fact that the pyro is changed during development into a yellow colored substance, some of which remains with the silver in the image, pyro tends to give a slightly yellowish or brownish image. The yellowish stain is prevented from forming by sulphite, so that the more sulphite there is in a developer the less tendency to warmth the deposit will show. Pyro is not used for papers, for which the blue-black image obtained with elon and hydroquinone is preferred."

 

[thronobulax]

Sorry, nothing so scientific, I'm afraid. This is my subjective observation only, comparing the stain of one emulsion to another. So, the Five Star rating system should be read as relative to each other, not an absolute measure of anything (other than my opinion).