pyro hd, streaks, problems, and questions. help!

eddie gunks · Dec 16, 2007

hi all,
i am trying to use pyro HD. today i got all kinds of streaks and strange development issues in trays. what did i do wrong? i have used hc110 in trays and have had no issues.
1st i ran some 5x7 foma 100. got bad results due to uneven development and streaks. i used 1:1:100 at 80F for 8 min (please comment on if my times were even close). i used 1000ml in 8x10 trays. 4 sheets at one time. shuffled and rocking the trays.
so i figured i would try some 8x10 and be more careful about my agitation and shuffling. i used the same set up but this time only 2 sheets of 8x10.
same problems! ARGH! what happened? time too short? temp to high? crappy technique! please help!

also please comment on my times, temps, and dilutions. i will be useing foma 100 and J&C 100 for the nest few runs. please advise on times, temps, dilutions, and such. i would love to use pyro but i can not figure what i did wrong. everybody else gets good results........

thanks

eddie

ps. i will post pics in my gallery when they are dry enough to scan.

Michael Kadillak · Dec 16, 2007

eddie gunks said:
hi all,
i am trying to use pyro HD. today i got all kinds of streaks and strange development issues in trays. what did i do wrong? i have used hc110 in trays and have had no issues.
1st i ran some 5x7 foma 100. got bad results due to uneven development and streaks. i used 1:1:100 at 80F for 8 min (please comment on if my times were even close). i used 1000ml in 8x10 trays. 4 sheets at one time. shuffled and rocking the trays.
so i figured i would try some 8x10 and be more careful about my agitation and shuffling. i used the same set up but this time only 2 sheets of 8x10.
same problems! ARGH! what happened? time too short? temp to high? crappy technique! please help!

also please comment on my times, temps, and dilutions. i will be useing foma 100 and J&C 100 for the nest few runs. please advise on times, temps, dilutions, and such. i would love to use pyro but i can not figure what i did wrong. everybody else gets good results........

thanks

eddie

ps. i will post pics in my gallery when they are dry enough to scan.

A couple of suggestions.

Pre soak your negatives at least 2 minutes in water before you develop. Secondly, I do not understand why you need to rock your trays when you are tray developing your sheet film. My trays remain static throughout the tray development of my sheet film. Put one sheet out of the pre-wash and gently put it into the developer and push it below the surface (emulsion side up) and when all of your sheets are in the developer start pulling a sheet off of the bottom and place it on top throughout the development time. I would also drop your processing temp to about 70 degrees to give you some operating flexibility.

Focus on slowly cycling your sheets in the trays and leave that tray rocking for your print making. It is not necessary.

Alex Hawley · Dec 16, 2007

I pre-soak the negatives for five minutes. That was Sandy King's original recommendation, although I think he recently revised that to a minimum of two minutes like Michael says.

garysamson · Dec 16, 2007

Eddie.,
Did you use a water pre-soak bath before the developer? 80F seems a bit high for a developer temp. I would suggest keeping the temp. at 75f or lower. I can't comment on your time and dilution because I have no experience with Foma film. Development time will of course depend on the density range you need to print on your chosen paper (gelatin silver, platinum, etc.).
Good luck,
Gary

Scott Peters · Dec 16, 2007

Yes, try presoak for five minutes. shuffle, try not to rock. Also, rotate the negative 180 degrees every so often during shuffling, i find this can help with skies...perhaps try 75 or 78 degrees too.

TheFlyingCamera · Dec 16, 2007

80f sounds way too hot. The rate of time increase/decrease is exponential with temperature change. Within a fairly narrow temperature range (68-75 or so) the increase/decrease in time is relatively linear as you decrease/increase the temperature. Outside that range, the decrease in time gets much bigger the hotter your developer, and vice versa. If you overheat your developer, the development time will be so short as to be unmanageable, and you may not get full and proper development of your highlights. If the development temperature drops too low, you push toward infinite development time because the developer ceases to be active.

I'll second the pre-wet, shuffle only recommendations.

Richard Wasserman · Dec 16, 2007

Every time I have had streaking problems with Pyrocat it has been because my initial agitation was not started soon enough, as in instantly, or vigorous enough. Other than that the suggestions others have made pretty much cover what else I would have said. I hope you get it to work for you as Pyrocat is a wonderful developer.

Richard Wasserman

pyro hd, streaks, problems, and questions. help!

eddie gunks

Michael Kadillak

Alex Hawley

garysamson

Scott Peters

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

Richard Wasserman

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency