Pyrocat HD sheets/roll film

[ongarine]

I'm new to the Pyrocat HD developer and I have a simple question:
your experiences (times, results) about the following films:
FP4
Efke Pl 100
Fortepan 200 and 400
HP5
sheets and roll film developed in trays and small tanks.
I usually print by contact or small enlargements on silver paper.
Most of the informations I found are for Jobo rotary or BTZS tubes, very few of trays and small tanks.
Thank to Mr. S. King for his formula
Ant suggestion is welcome

 

[Jeremy]

My first suggestion would be to check out this webpage:

http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/PCat/pcat.html

Sandy has compiled a wonderful article on Ed's site and most of the info you've asked is contained therein. Most of those whom I know use pyrocat HD use it for sheet film, but there are a few of us that use it for roll film and it's great. I've personally standardized on it.

 

[matt.s.]

I recently started using Pyrocat-HD for tray processing 8x10 sheets.
I have used Fortepan 200 and Hp5 plus rated at EI:100 and 200 respectively. I find that I prefer to process no more than 4 sheets at a time in a 11x14 tray. After a 2 minute presoak I process @ 20 degrees and agitate 1 sheet every 15 seconds by moving it from the bottom to the top of the stack. I gently rock the tray between each agitation.

Fortepan 200 stains better and looks a little richer in a print than Hp5 plus
I particularly like the way it looks for portraits. I would use around 16 minutes as a starting point for either film in this developer.

I am yet to try Fortepan 400 in Pyrocat-HD (only Rodinal), it doesn't have the same thick emulsion as the 200 film and it has noticable grain if you are enlarging more than 3 times. Perhaps the pyrocat stain will help in this respect by masking the grain. The 400 certainly produces a nice tonality in contact prints.

In medium format you should get a nice 10x10" print with minimal grain from Fortepan 200 in Pyrocat HD.

Hope this helps

 

[ongarine]

Thank Matt,
your indications are interesting.
I will test the Fortepan 200 and HP5 sheets with your starting point and then I will post the results.
For this purpose I had made some sheets at the speed you indicate, even if I saw that you can use the film at the nominal speed.