With 2 years of darkroom experience behind me now, I'm wanting to try another film developer. I've been using PMK and have been pleased with results, but... There is the issue of cloudiness in shadow detail which I'm not pleased with, especially in contact printing.
I've used ABC pyro, but have found it too fickle and energetic for casual use with the slow films I prefer (25 and 100). It does yield fine negatives with razor sharpness, but is more labor, cost and chemistry intensive than PMK.
My concerns are these. I want a long shelf life, as I can go for weeks at times without developing at times and don't want to have to mix fresh stock (B in ABC, for example). Shadow values need to be crisp, not muddy (PMK's major drawback). Highlight values seem to be best with pyro, so I would like to stay with a developer which can mask with a proportional stain affecting these values.
I'm not really too concerned with speed, as shooting at asa 12 (PMK) and asa 3 (ABC) with 25 speed film is not a problem now, although there are limits to DOF and shutter speeds. Both Pyrocat and PC TEA seem to be easy to use one shot developers which are very cost effective. Any ideas? thanks, tim
I've used ABC pyro, but have found it too fickle and energetic for casual use with the slow films I prefer (25 and 100). It does yield fine negatives with razor sharpness, but is more labor, cost and chemistry intensive than PMK.
My concerns are these. I want a long shelf life, as I can go for weeks at times without developing at times and don't want to have to mix fresh stock (B in ABC, for example). Shadow values need to be crisp, not muddy (PMK's major drawback). Highlight values seem to be best with pyro, so I would like to stay with a developer which can mask with a proportional stain affecting these values.
I'm not really too concerned with speed, as shooting at asa 12 (PMK) and asa 3 (ABC) with 25 speed film is not a problem now, although there are limits to DOF and shutter speeds. Both Pyrocat and PC TEA seem to be easy to use one shot developers which are very cost effective. Any ideas? thanks, tim