ABC Pyro

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For anyone who is interested...

Have just stated using ABC Pyro on 120 roll film, mainly Ilford PanF+.

Firstly, I don't know why I've read so many comments about how tricky and fickle it is. It may be for tray processing but I've not had any problems with roll film in a tank. Mind you it's early days! ;-)

What I did, when mixing the stock solutions, was mix each of the three stock solutions in distilled water at less that 25c. I made sure that all of one chemical was disolved before adding the next (only an issue with solution A).

When creating a working solution, I again use distilled water this time at 20c. I mix solutions B & C before adding A. I mix up around 100ml of solution MORE than recommended by the tank manufacturer. I add the working solution to the tank within a minute of adding solution A.

I invert the tank quickly during agitation but not aggressively. I also use the core to turn the reel. This done after invertions and after tapping the tank to release air bubbles. In the initial 30 secs I rotate the core clockwise, then anti-clockwise about 3 or 4 turns and then invert the tank. After that it's 3 inversions in 5 secs for every remaining minute.

At this stage I've used 10 mins at 20c but the negs are too dense in the high values and so I'm going to reduce development time a bit.

As far as safety is concerned, when mixing stock solutions I wear latex gloves, a dust mask and goggles. When mixing the working solution I wear latex gloves and goggles. In both cases I work slowly and carefully. I'll post more information about how I'm going if anyone is interested.

-- Michael Chappell (mickyc@slhosiery.com.au), March 09, 1999

Answers

Here it is

-- a (a@a.a), March 10, 1999.

Michael,

I'd be cautious about cutting down the development time because the highlights seemed to bright. Pyro excels at being able to handle HIGHlights, which may appear to be even brighter than paper white. Producing a very contrasty negative will allow you to print at the lowest contrast grades, giving you the widest range of greys. To give you an idea, Edward Weston used to print on Grade 0. I've seen some of his negs, and they're contrasty as hell! Be sure and give the negative enough exposure. Try shooting some tests, and even if the negative appears bulletproof, try printing at the lower grades, printing down the values as needed. Pyro isn't like other developers. It can handle a much wider range of values, even into Zone 10 and beyond.

-- Mark Finhill (Finhill@keyedin.com), May 18, 1999.


I have never seen anything printed that was whiter than paper white, I have heard people talk about zone 10-15, but I have never seen it in a print, since zone 9 is paper white, how do you go about showing these other zones? Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), August 10, 1999.

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