Pyro and tube processing question

canuhead · May 3, 2007

I'm thinking of getting my feet wet in the pyro world for 4x5 and 8x10 and heard that if I use pyro in tubes, then those tubes are only good for pyro and nothing else (ie-rodinal, hc110 etc). Is this fact or fiction ? An apug search made my eyes glaze over with too much info but nothing about this.

tia,

Fred

nze · May 3, 2007

I use for both pyro and non stainging dev and as I stop fix in the tude and wash the tube after I've never had any problem in 12 years of using both developer.

Tom Hoskinson · May 3, 2007

canuhead said:
I'm thinking of getting my feet wet in the pyro world for 4x5 and 8x10 and heard that if I use pyro in tubes, then those tubes are only good for pyro and nothing else (ie-rodinal, hc110 etc). Is this fact or fiction ? An apug search made my eyes glaze over with too much info but nothing about this.

tia,

Fred

FICTION! (Based on my own direct experience).

Of course, you should always wash your tubes (or trays) after each use, regardless of the chemistry type you use.

canuhead · May 3, 2007

That's good news nze. I use water instead of stop, this shouldn't make any diff should it ?

canuhead · May 3, 2007

Tom,

I wash in my tubes so that should help keep 'em clean. Guess I should go get me some pyro (can get pmk locally so will start with that).

Tom Hoskinson · May 3, 2007

canuhead said:
Tom,

I wash in my tubes so that should help keep 'em clean. Guess I should go get me some pyro (can get pmk locally so will start with that).

Go for it!

nze · May 4, 2007

It makes no difference ,Just wash the tube and go pyro your neg. but which pyro dev will you use????

canuhead · May 4, 2007

I'll start off with PMK as I can get that here locally and if pyro is all that , may try pyrocat down the road.

noseoil · May 4, 2007

Canu, no problem with original the question, as has been said already. One thing to watch out for, don't try minimal agitation or stand development with tubes and PMK. If you are planning on using pyrocat at some point, I would start with it and not PMK. Nothing wrong with PMK, but pyrocat is more versatile with respect to agitation methods, has better shadow values (textures) and will still give good high value detail due to stain. tim

nze · May 4, 2007

I agrre with noseoil, you'd better start with pyrocat. Pmk is not the best developer for rotating. I use it in tube but managed to add a rotation mode to my motor so I start by 60 turn a niture then switch to 4 turn/ minute ( 1 every 15 sec). With this way to work I get great result with PMK , but with contact agitation you should change the developer half way , add edta to get good result (meaning no all over stain)

MVNelson · May 4, 2007

noseoil said:
Canu, no problem with original the question, as has been said already. One thing to watch out for, don't try minimal agitation or stand development with tubes and PMK. If you are planning on using pyrocat at some point, I would start with it and not PMK. Nothing wrong with PMK, but pyrocat is more versatile with respect to agitation methods, has better shadow values (textures) and will still give good high value detail due to stain. tim

All I do is tube processing with pmk, prescysol-ef and pyrocat-mc(my favorite). All work quite well in tubes. You have to test for proper processing times but staining developers are a bit forgiving. I love doing TMY in pyrocat-mc stand and semistand in the tubes!!!! I have yet to get one less than satisfactory negative from it. No streaks and no uneven development. A presoak in the tube is essential however in my way of doing things

Have fun with it

Miles

canuhead · May 4, 2007

Thanks for the great info everyone ! I've been kinda paying attention to all the posts about pyro and thought I should at least try it to see if I like it.

I'll be using Simma tubes on roller bases. One base reverses directions but spins on axis and the other rolls in one direction only but rocks the tubes slightly side to side.

I'll do some more reading and see if I can't try it out this weekend.

thanks again,

Fred

Pyro and tube processing question

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