General info needed

I have not touched a lf camera in over a year. Now I find myself needing to use one. I need film advice.

1--need an 8x10 film I can plus develope for pop printing
2--Can I even get pop paper now
3--Want a developer that will plus develope well that has a decent shelf life
4--film needs to handle long exposures well
5--I need 3 8x10 film holders. God only knows where mine went when we moved. Can't pay a fortune for them but not looking for handouts. Idon't care what they look like as long as they are light tight.

1. I use Adox/EFKE PL25 in 10x8 developed in Pyrocat, an excellent combination
2. No POP isn't made at the moment but there are plenty of excellent formulae for making your own
3. As above that's what Sandy King designed Pyrocat HD for
4. How long is long, I shoot at f45 up to a bout 30 seconds with PL25
5. You need to be lucky getting film holders at a reasonable price.

Hope that helps

Ian

Thanks.

Long means probably up words of 2 minutes so reciprocity is an issue

Damn, no pop. I don't have the time to make my own. Any other ideas out there? What about Michael and paula's paper, is it out?

I know about the luck part. SOmeone decided these must be collector's items

Pyrocat is an option, but I was hoping for something with a better life span.

Pyrocat has a very good life span even without Glycol up to 18 months, in Glycol years.

Ian

Mark,
See my PM.

Diane

Hmmmm.....Must figure out what this glycol stuff is.

My experience with Pyrocat is not as good as others I guess, unless I am getting rid of it too soon. I get particulates and color change after only a few months. Maybe I should refrigerate.

Mark, when I first made up Pyrocat I found it had a short shelf life and was lasting about 3 months before a significant colour change indicated it was oxidising. But the problem was the small plastic bottles I was using, some plastics pass minute amounts of oxygen through the wall and over a period of months it's enough to do the damage.

Since then I've used old high density Ilford & Agfa (Rodinal) developer bottles and found that the shelf life improved enormously. The Metabisulphite protects the Pyrocatechin, as long as that hasn't broken down fully into sulphite the developer is stable and doesn't oxidise. I have a very sensitive nose for SO2 and noticed that when Pyrocat HD stock was starting to oxidise the smell of SO2 had completely disappeared, which makes sense.

Sandy King has published (there was a url link here which no longer exists), photographically the Glycol has no effect on the developer but in the stock Part A copmpletely stops any chance of oxidation as it doesn't absorb oxygen into solution.

Ian