aldevo
Member
I'm new to the world of PC-TEA. My initial tests suggest that where grain, accutance and tonality are concerned it certainly lives up to expectations.
However, during my first darkroom session I noticed that my printing times were taking quite a bit longer than necessary. Having saved my film leader I took a look at it and, you betcha, quite a bit of fog.
So I did a bit of searching and found that Sandy King recommended on APUG that users of PC-TEA consider mixing a solution of 1% BZT and adding 1 ml of this solution per sheet or roll.
I painstakingly weighed out 10g of BZT and dissolved it in solution to give 1L of 1% BZT. I used a digital scale for this step (don't even try to use volumetric measurements for BZT as its in the form of needle-like crystals which means its bulk density is all over the place depending on whether its "fluffed" or "packed") because I am aware that too much restrainer is a bad thing.
On the next roll I used 1 ml of this solution for 350 ml of developer working solution prepared with 7 ml of PC-TEA concentrate. I developed 24 exposures of Tri-X at 68 degrees for 9 minutes. Voila, the fog was gone!
And so was most of my image! Massive speed loss and extreme contraction were the result!
I'm sort of at a loss to explain this...could it be because the 1 ml of solution is intended for processing of sheet film (Sandy does sheet films mostly) and that requires far more working solution?
Better yet, anybody have a recommendation for a BZT solution that doesn't throw the baby (image) out with the bathwater? (fog)
However, during my first darkroom session I noticed that my printing times were taking quite a bit longer than necessary. Having saved my film leader I took a look at it and, you betcha, quite a bit of fog.
So I did a bit of searching and found that Sandy King recommended on APUG that users of PC-TEA consider mixing a solution of 1% BZT and adding 1 ml of this solution per sheet or roll.
I painstakingly weighed out 10g of BZT and dissolved it in solution to give 1L of 1% BZT. I used a digital scale for this step (don't even try to use volumetric measurements for BZT as its in the form of needle-like crystals which means its bulk density is all over the place depending on whether its "fluffed" or "packed") because I am aware that too much restrainer is a bad thing.
On the next roll I used 1 ml of this solution for 350 ml of developer working solution prepared with 7 ml of PC-TEA concentrate. I developed 24 exposures of Tri-X at 68 degrees for 9 minutes. Voila, the fog was gone!
And so was most of my image! Massive speed loss and extreme contraction were the result!
I'm sort of at a loss to explain this...could it be because the 1 ml of solution is intended for processing of sheet film (Sandy does sheet films mostly) and that requires far more working solution?
Better yet, anybody have a recommendation for a BZT solution that doesn't throw the baby (image) out with the bathwater? (fog)