Neopan 400 for ZS. Pyrocat-HD or XTOL?

[Usagi]

Hi,

I am interested to give neopan 400 a try in zonesystem.
In which developer, I am not sure yet.
I have pyrocat-HD, Rodinal, XTOL and DiXactol Ultra. So far I have thought to use either Pyrocat-HD or XTOL. Later diluted to 1:2 or 1:3.

XTOL has it's benefits on sensitometry which means easier calibration process to me. But how is Pyrocat-HD with Neopan 400?

I can calibrate Neopan with XTOL using 5 rolls - so it's really easy. But I like staining developers - especially DiXactol. However I think that it might result too grainy negatives for my taste. Thus Pyrocat-HD.

With Pyrocat-HD I have to calibrate using empirical printing calibration. So is there any good starting points for developing time (I use 24°C temperature).
Also, how big time changes does Pyrocat-HD requires for expansion and compact?

Thanks,
Jukka Vuokko

 

[john_s]

Neopan400 is lovely in pyrocat-HD, and it's very good in Xtol too. I don't use the zone system, but I think you'll like the film in either developer. I'm guessing from your web site that you're using 6x6. Lovely photos, incidentally.

I think you could use the densitometer with pyrocat-HD for the zone_1 measurements, but for the high zones, of course, the image colour will make the measurements inaccurate (how inaccurate? Don't know- you would need to test with test prints)

Which film have you been using? It doesn't look as though you need to change anything.

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Neopan 400 and Pyrocat-HD are a perfect match. I use this combination regularly and cannot fault it. My set up is as follows for VC paper using a beseler dichroic head:-

Presoak with 72deg f water for as long as it takes to mix your developer. Agitate it a couple of times during the soak. I mix the Pyrocat HD-in Glycol at 1:1:100 dilution also at 72deg f.

Then start the timer for 14 minutes and pour in the developer. Agitate constantly for two minutes. Then let sit. Once timer reaches 9 minutes, agitate again for 10 seconds. Repeat this at 6 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Dump dev, stop, and fix as normal.

The resulting negs will be crisp and full of range. ZS work might not even be necessary as the staining and compensating edge effects really help, and highlight values really do not block up and shadow detail is also very good as long as you rate the film between 200 and 400 (depending on brightness range of subject). The film and dev combo has so much latitude that there is little point in messing with it too much.

 

[skahde]

I think you could use the densitometer with pyrocat-HD for the zone_1 measurements, but for the high zones, of course, the image colour will make the measurements inaccurate (how inaccurate? Don't know- you would need to test with test prints)

Sandy K. once recommended to just ignore the extra density when printing on VC paper. I can second that from my own experience and how could I dare not to

best

Stefan

 

[Usagi]

Neopan400 is lovely in pyrocat-HD, and it's very good in Xtol too.

Which film have you been using? It doesn't look as though you need to change anything.

Hi,

I have been using mostly APX-100 with Rodinal 1+50 but now I use various films.
Ilford Panf+ rated at 12, developed in XTOL 1+1, Ilford Panf+ rated at 64, developed in Rodinal 1+50, Fuji Neopan Across rated at 32, developed at Rodinal 1+100, Ilford Hp5+ rated at 125-250, developed in XTOL 1+1 and Ilford Delta 100 rated at 80, developed in DiXactol.

The Delta 100 is currently on testing phase, but I really like DiXactol's staining and tanning effect, thus I am curios to test Neopan 400 with Pyrocat-HD.

Yes, I think that I use way too much film and developer combinations so I am slowly going towards 2 or 3 films to use.

 

[Usagi]

Sandy K. once recommended to just ignore the extra density when printing on VC paper. I can second that from my own experience and how could I dare not to

best

Stefan

Hi,

I think I found good way to calibrate stained+tanned negatives. As I already has calibrated developing times for Delta 100 + DiXactol, I can read how much zone VIII is above base+fog and calibrate Neopan using that information.
Makes thinks lot of easier

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Neopan 400 and Pyrocat-HD are a perfect match. I use this combination regularly and cannot fault it. My set up is as follows for VC paper using a beseler dichroic head:-

Presoak with 72deg f water for as long as it takes to mix your developer. Agitate it a couple of times during the soak. I mix the Pyrocat HD-in Glycol at 1:1:100 dilution also at 72deg f.

Then start the timer for 14 minutes and pour in the developer. Agitate constantly for two minutes. Then let sit. Once timer reaches 9 minutes, agitate again for 10 seconds. Repeat this at 6 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Dump dev, stop, and fix as normal.

The resulting negs will be crisp and full of range. ZS work might not even be necessary as the staining and compensating edge effects really help, and highlight values really do not block up and shadow detail is also very good as long as you rate the film between 200 and 400 (depending on brightness range of subject). The film and dev combo has so much latitude that there is little point in messing with it too much.

Andrew,

How would you compare Neopan 400 in Pyrocat-HD to other 400 speed films you may have tried in the developer?

Tom