First Try with Pan F+ and Pyrocat Hd

I received my Pyrocat HD from Formulary yesterday and ran my first roll of Pan F through it.

I used Claire Senft's recommendation for a starting time that I read in another thread:

"The film I have the most experience with in Pyrocat HD is 35mm Pan F+. I give a 5 minute pre-soak in tap water and delevop them for 26 minutes with stand development...no development after the first minute of continous agigtation. @ 70ºF. I fill a container holding 3 liters of water and I put in 12ML of part A and 9 grams of sodium carbonate,,,use washing soda from the grocery store. 9 grams of sodium carbonate is about 2 level teaspoons full."

Since I was using the kit, I used the potassium carbonate for my part B as supplied. I had rated the 120 Pan F+ at 50 when I exposed it. I was using a Patterson tank and used 602 ml of solution total. I am posting a negative scan for an example to get thoughts on how the development turned out. I have not adjusted it at all in PS. It seems to me that maybe it is a bit blown out in places. I will have the opportunity to get in the darkroom tomorrow to do a contact sheet at the very least and maybe try to print one.

I have another roll of Pan F processing in Pyrocat as I am writing this. It was shot under different conditions. I will see how it compares and maybe post later.

Also, if anyone has experience with the Pan F+ in Pyrocat HD combo in 120 size in a small tank I would appreciated hearing your times and process.

Thanks,

Sunny

After my own testing, using recommendations from Ed Buffaloe's Site, Sandy King, etc. here is what works for me:

Pan F, ASA 20. (I would not use ASA 50 - this film is high in contrast - so insure you're not underexposing the shadows or you'll never get the highlights and shadows within an acceptable range of each other for a decent print )

Pre soak film 2 minutes in distilled water (I will no longer do 5 minute water presoaks - long wet times make Pyrocat negs especially susceptible to damage and since there is no hardener in the recommended fix process, so in future I need to minimize wet time as much as possible to avoid negs that are easily mechanically damaged)

Develop in Pyrocat HD @ (A/B/Distilled H2O) in a 1:1:100 ratio for six (6) minutes at 70F, agitate via moderate hand inversion lasting 5 seconds each 1 minute.

Minimum Developer: 200ml of 1:1:100 working solution, mixed just before use, per roll of 120 (or per roll of 35mm, or per four 4x5 sheets)

Stop bath: Distilled Water, or 1:1 Distilled Water: Acidic Stop

Fix: Photographer's Formulary TF-4 Fixer at their recommended time (appx. 5 minutes)

Final Wash: Multiple rinses with distilled water for about 5 minutes (ornot too much longer.)

This will give you some beautiful, easily printable negatives with subtle, beautiful highlights.

Good luck.