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FX2 and Pyrocat HD developing times (semi-stand or stand)

HeliH

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Sep 13, 2004
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181
Location
Helsinki, Fi
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Multi Format
Hi people!

Does anyone have good times for Pyrocat HD for semi-stand (or stand) developing? I use mainly Ilford PanF, FP4, HP5, Delta 3200 and TriX 400. What about Delta 3200 in normat development?

I myself have tried Delta 3200 and if I remember right, it was 1+1+300, 20 Celcius, 60 min. I think that was nice combination for that film.

I tried to search but the search gave so much to read that I decided to ask .

Also the same for FX2?
 
FX-2, half strength, agitate first minute, then after 30 minutes, total 90 minutes. Seems to work for me.
 
Thanks a lot for the links, but neither of those doesn't help me as I'm looking dilutions and developing times for semi-stand and stand. I know Massive DevChart but this other link was new for me. So thanks anyway!

Ole, for what film?

I'm new with this Pyrocat HD but already have found it to be probably my new fav for developing films. My second is naturally Rodinal .
 
HeliH said:
Ole, for what film?
Click to expand...

EFKE 50, EFKE 100, Pan-F Plus, FP4+, APX100 and Delta 3200 are the ones I've tried so far. They all came out fine, even if the exposure was all over the place (low light photography without a lightmeter is when I turn to stand developing)!
 
90 min for all those films? I have to try it today!
 
One of the more interesting things I've seen with stand development is that most films work with the same amount of development time. I usually stay between 1 hour and 1.5 hours and get nice results with Pan F and FP4+.

- Randy
 
With Efke 100, I use the 1+1+100 dilution of Pyrocat-HD (or Pyrocat-MC) and develop semi-stand for 16 minutes at 21C.

With Kodak TMax 400, I use the 1+1+100 dilution of Pyrocat-HD (or Pyrocat-MC) and develop semi-stand for 18 minutes at 21C.

My version of semi-stand:

1. Water Presoak film for 2-5 minutes then drain.

2. Pour in developer and agitate gently for 20 to 30 seconds.

3. Stand without agitation for half the total development time.

4. Agitate gently for 10 seconds.

5. Stand without agitation for the remainder of the development time.
 

Heli,

I can give you times for semi-stand development with Pyrocat-HD for FP4+, TMAX-400, Efke PL100, and I believe, TRI-320 and HP5+. Nothing oin Delta 3200 or TRI-X 400.

However, contrast does increase with time of development so if I am going to give you good advice I need to know how you will be printing. Graded or VC silver papers? Pt./Pd? POP? For best results one size does not fit all.

Sandy
 
sanking said:
However, contrast does increase with time of development so if I am going to give you good advice I need to know how you will be printing. Graded or VC silver papers? Pt./Pd? POP? For best results one size does not fit all.
Click to expand...

I will most probably use Ilford's Multigrade papers, and maybe, just Maybe old Kodak's fiber paper, contrast #2.

Uuh, what does Pt./Pd mean? POP?

Randy, a guy here in Finland makes this Pyrocat HD and FX2. I just do not know if he sells abroad. www.hopeavedos.fi (I'm afraid the site is only in Finnish). It's the second link "Kehitteet".
 
reellis67 said:
May I ask where you are getting the Pinacryptol Yellow for your FX-2? I've not been able to find any recently...

- Randy
Click to expand...

I don't use Pinacryptol Yellow in my FX-2.

Here is the recipe for Crawley’s FX-2:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Ole wrote: “The Pinacryptol can be dropped, at the cost of slightly higher base fog. The Film Developing Cookbook suggests it should be dropped for flat-grain films (Delta, T-Max).”
 
Tom Hoskinson said:
I don't use Pinacryptol Yellow in my FX-2.

Ole wrote: “The Pinacryptol can be dropped, at the cost of slightly higher base fog. The Film Developing Cookbook suggests it should be dropped for flat-grain films (Delta, T-Max).”
Click to expand...

I've read that, but I never use that type of film so I was concerned about how much fog would occur. Have you compared the difference between the full formula and that without the Pinacryptol with a film like Pan F+ or FP4+? I'd be interested to see how much is 'slightly'.

- Randy
 

Randy, I don't have densitometry for Pan F+ or FP 4+ developed in FX-2. For Efke 25 and Efke 100 developed in FX-2 with no Pincriptol Yellow, Visual Channel Base+Fog was .16 and .17 respectively.

Thus is about what I get for Base+Fog for the same emulsion numbers of Efke 25 and Efke 100 developed in Pyrocat - MC. (which I regard as a low fog developer).
 
Heli

A good starting place for converting from regular agitation ot semi stand is... double the time. With Xtol, Rodinal, and many others, it works quite well.

My version of semi stand is agitation every 5th minute, for 15 seconds. It keeps most of all the benefits of standing development ( tonality, acutance, etc. ) while minimizing potential problems like uneven development or streaking.

I know this is pretty general, but a start is a start.
 

OK, here is the data I have for a couple of the films you ask about. This is based on a dilution of Pyrocat-HD of 1:1:150 for semi-stand. That is, initial agitation for 1.5 minutes, and them once again for ten seconds at the 1/2 point of total development time.

FP4+
high contrast scenes, 25 minutes
medium contrast scenes, 35 minutes
low contrast scenes, 50 minutes

HP5+
high contrast scenes, 40 minutes
normal contrast scenes, 50 minutes
low contrast scenes, 65 minutes

Times for TRI-X 400 should be very close to those for HP5+, but I have not tested this. I don't have anything for the other films.

Sandy
 
HeliH, with FX2 this is what I read. 1:1 stock to water. Stock is 50ml of A & 50ml B plus water to 1 liter. Agitate 60 seconds, leave alone for 45 to 90 minutes for slow to medium speed films at 68deg. Use a water bath if necessary to maintain temp. TFX2 is suppose to work better with the tabular and faster films. Fog is noted to increase when using FX2 with faster films.

In past stand developing regimes I usually pick a temp that suites me such that it is easy to maintain and not too far off from the darkroom temp. such as 70, 72 or 74-5 and base my times on that. As I shoot LF as well, I was able to pull a neg at whatever time I wanted. Maybe cut your roll and pull a test strip at 45 minutes. If it's not close to what you want add 10 minutes (or multiple) to the time for the next strip. Contrast changes take about 10 minutes.

I just got my TFX2 and am looking to develop a roll of Tri-X within a night or two.
 
Just a quick question! Were these recommendations for 72 or 68F? Thanks!


 
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