TXP for Pt/Pd

[mhanc]

With 8x10 TMY-2 now only being available via special order, I was wondering what others' experience with TXP for Pt/Pd has been - pros and cons?

Also, what developers have others used and liked for this film/process?

Looking at the appendix in Dick Arentz's 2nd edition of "Platinum & Palladium Printing", TXP in D-76 would seem to be a quite good choice with many advantages and the only drawback noted being considerable reciprocity failure - but that would be true of silver printing as well.

Thanks

 

[payral]

All my Pd/Pt prints are made with TXP Kodak Film either 8x10" or 5x7" size.
You can see some on APUG Gallery or on my web site
I use ABC Pyro 1+1+1+7 for developping

 

[Allen Friday]

TXP is my go to film for Pt/pl work. I now use D-76 1+0. I have developed it in different pyro formulations and got good results. Basically, the film works great for pt./pl and can be used with many different developers.

 

[brucemuir]

Please excuse my intrusion.

Could you guys elaborate what a good negative (technically) would be for Platinum/Palladium printing?
What film characteristics would be desirable?

I was able to witness one guy doing this process but he wasn't too helpful and was shooting 6x6.

 

[mhanc]

Thanks! Looks like I will definitely give TXP a try after I shoot my last 8 sheets of TMY-2. D-76 is what I was thinking about as a developer [maybe it is also time to give pyro a try at some point].

brucemuir: Basically, Pt/Pt prints have a longer exposure scale and, therefore, require a negative with a greater density range than that used for silver printing. This can be achieved by longer developing times when using standard developers or by using a pyro developer where the stain adds "density" when exposing the Pt/Pd paper with ultraviolet light. The book referenced in my OP has a great discussion of the subject.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Bruce-

to make a good negative for pt/pd, your best bet is to expose normally, the same as you would for silver printing, but develop for an additional 20%. Pt/Pd needs a more contrasty negative than silver. Think something that would print well at a grade 0 instead of grade 2. As a film characteristic, you want something that can build additional density in the highlights easily. Ilford FP4+, Kodak Tmax 400, Kodak Tri-X and Fomapan 100 are all good examples. HP5+ is not as good because it doesn't handle the highlight expansion as well, but it is workable if you need the extra speed and can't/don't want to use Tmax.

 

[Vaughn]

I have used Tri-X and HC-110 for both Platinum and carbon prints. My general impression is that the Tri-x took the extra development very well -- nice and clean looking negatives (by clean I mean with no extra base "fog"). For carbon printing, I gave the negs up to (and sometimes a little more) 100% more development.

Watch out for the reciprocity failure -- it is an good way to lose some important shadow detail -- but if used correctly, it is also a nice way to bump up the contrast.

For platinum, I have had good luck with FP4 (and as mentioned above, not HP5) -- developed in Ilford Universal PQ developer. It was recommended to me as a way to improve the mid-tones as well as allowing the highlights to fully develop. Seems to work nicely for me.

The film I miss is Kodak Copy film -- now there was a film one could control to get any contrast out of a scene you wanted!