How much working solution per roll of film with 510-Pyro?

ame01999 · Monday at 12:54 PM

I've always followed the advice of the Film Developing Cookbook—and the instructions written on Photo Formulary dilute acutance developers: use 500 mL solution per roll to ensure enough developer is present for consistent results. With highly dilute solutions (Rodinal 1:100), 1 L per film is suggested.

The instructions for 510-Pyro instead have a "conversion" table for how much concentrate to use for a given tank size. Thus assuming you fill up the tank, no matter what? I'm not sure. If a tank only fits, say, three 35mm rolls, filling the tank with 1:100 solution would probably be closest to 300 mL per roll.

I have a large tank. Will sticking to my 500 mL per roll rule be fine? Thanks!

Andrew O'Neill · Monday at 12:58 PM

5ml stock + 500ml water. That's what I use for 120.

retina_restoration · Monday at 1:00 PM

ame01999 said:
I've always followed the advice of the Film Developing Cookbook—and the instructions written on Photo Formulary dilute acutance developers: use 500 mL solution per roll to ensure enough developer is present for consistent results. With highly dilute solutions (Rodinal 1:100), 1 L per film is suggested.

The instructions for 510-Pyro instead have a "conversion" table for how much concentrate to use for a given tank size. Thus assuming you fill up the tank, no matter what? I'm not sure. If a tank only fits, say, three 35mm rolls, filling the tank with 1:100 solution would probably be closest to 300 mL per roll.

I have a large tank. Will sticking to my 500 mL per roll rule be fine? Thanks!

If you do not fill the tank you are using, the force that film must endure when you agitate will be considerably more and may produce unwanted effects or potentially dislodge the film from the reels entirely. Fill the tank, no matter how many/few reels you have in it. It's how tanks are designed to be used.

loccdor · Monday at 1:45 PM

510-Pyro dilution behavior

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You can use it as dilute as 1:500. I've tried 1:300 in a 1000 ml tank with 3 135-36 films in it. It worked fine - if anything it was overdeveloped.

From the Zone Imaging manual on it:
"Note: a minimum of 1ml of 510-Pyro is needed per 80 sq. inches of film. This is one 36 exp. 135, one
120, four 4x5 sheets or one 8x10 sheet."

Also, I've developed multiple films at once in Rodinal 1:100 and not had a problem there either. Disclaimer: not a substitute for a rigorous test.

ame01999 · 2025-10-01T19:27:34-0400

retina_restoration said:
If you do not fill the tank you are using, the force that film must endure when you agitate will be considerably more and may produce unwanted effects or potentially dislodge the film from the reels entirely. Fill the tank, no matter how many/few reels you have in it. It's how tanks are designed to be used.

Thanks, I hadn't heard that before.

ame01999 · 2025-10-01T19:28:37-0400

Thank you, everyone, for chiming in. 5ml to 500mL x2 120 films should fill my tank pretty well.

How much working solution per roll of film with 510-Pyro?

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