Digital BW, The Print

Hello John,

Good to hear from you again.

Moving up to 4x5 eh?  Well that is cool, you are going to have a lot of fun
with it. I am pretty torn right now as I am getting ready for a trip to
Nevada. I am having trouble deciding whether to shoot 4x5 or 6x9 roll film.
I am taking my Arca-Swiss F, and I have both 4x5 and 6x9 rear standards. We
will be doing a bunch of camping and the 6x9 is much more convenient. The
other thing is the airport security. Carrying 10 boxes of 4x5 T-Max
Readyloads and Polaroids is a lot of stuff. I have thought about sending it
out in advance to the first nights hotel by FedEx.

Such problems.

PMK Pyro, great stuff. You can but it from Photographers Formulary on the
net. It comes in powder form (very toxic) and a 2 part liquid. It is mixed
1:2:100 so it lasts a very long time. It has a very wide range of
temperature processing without detriment to the film. You can process from
68F to 80F, all you do is decrease the development time by 4% per degree F
of rise over 68F. Works great here in Florida when the summer time tap water
approaches 78F.

Roll film processing is easy, 2 inversion cycles every 15 seconds. This
increase in agitation id due to the rapid oxidation of the developer. A
great reference is "The Book of Pyro" by Gordon Hutchings. In the appendix,
he gives you lots of starting development times that are very accurate. Very
little testing is required unless you are a master zone system kind of
guy;-)

4x5 is another issue. As a staining developer, PMK will streak if you are
not careful, especially with sheet film.  Tray processing works well with
continuous agitation. Jobo processors work well also, but the additrion of
EDTA as a sequestering agent is sometimes necessary.  A variation of pmk is
called Rollo Pyro. It is designed for Jobo type processing. It stains more
than PMK does (this is good) and does not streak as much. You would really
need to consider Jobo's Expert tanks as their small sheet tank does not
work.

T-Max 100 does not stain as well as other films, but is still great in PMK.
Tri-X stains wonderfully, and the Ilford films do very well. PMK and Rollo
also help to mask the grain in films such as Tri-X.  In addition, you do not
need a hardening fixer with PMK, which by nature of its chemical components
hardens the emulsion as it processes.

PMK negatives scan as well as I have seen. Highlights hold lots of detail
and shadows are open and detailed.
You can get Rollo Pyro from Bostick & Sullivan... www.bostick-sullivan.com

Contact me off-list if you would like more info.

Mike




----- Original Message -----
From: "John Vitollo" <johnnyv@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2002 11:54 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Scanning for print size - Pyro


> HI Mike,
> Up until now I've been scanning and printing my legacy film - which I've
> been having a blast doing. So I have not shot B+W in a while and I'm
moving
> up to 4x5 and really not set on any film/developer combo yet so I'm
> intrigued with your use of Pyro. Would you mind briefly going over your
> film/developer technique? You use T-Max and PMK as I remember from a
> previous post. Do you tray process or Jobo?
>
> Best Regards,
>
> John V.
>
>
>
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on 4/7/02 11:22 AM, Michael Kravit wrote:

<snip>
> A variation of pmk is
> called Rollo Pyro. It is designed for Jobo type processing. It stains more
> than PMK does (this is good)...

Is the staining anything more than just an elevation of the base+fog? I
always thought a lower base+fog was better (lower dmin = higher dynamic
range ;-), but I'm not sure about that.

Todd

----- Original Message -----

From: "Todd Flashner" <tflash@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Scanning for print size - Pyro


> on 4/7/02 11:22 AM, Michael Kravit wrote:
>
> <snip>
> > A variation of pmk is
> > called Rollo Pyro. It is designed for Jobo type processing. It stains
more
> > than PMK does (this is good)...
>
> Is the staining anything more than just an elevation of the base+fog? I
> always thought a lower base+fog was better (lower dmin = higher dynamic
> range ;-), but I'm not sure about that.

Todd,

The staining occurs in direct proportion to the silver development. You can
actually take a pyro developed neg, bleach all the silver out of it and
print from image recorded by the grainless staining process. Practically
this does not appear to improve print quality so it isn't done.

So I guess the granularity, i.e. noise, goes to zero and the dynamic range
is infinite. <G>

Martin

on 4/7/02 4:19 PM, Martin Wesley wrote:

> The staining occurs in direct proportion to the silver development. You can
> actually take a pyro developed neg, bleach all the silver out of it and
> print from image recorded by the grainless staining process. Practically
> this does not appear to improve print quality so it isn't done.

So the dense areas get more stain than the thin areas, increasing contrast?
 
> So I guess the granularity, i.e. noise, goes to zero and the dynamic range
> is infinite. <G>

LOL

Todd

Todd,

Tha staining is proportional in both the high and lower densities. It does
not increase Base+fog unless you get into really long development times and
get chemical fog.

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Flashner" <tflash@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Scanning for print size - Pyro


> on 4/7/02 11:22 AM, Michael Kravit wrote:
>
> <snip>
> > A variation of pmk is
> > called Rollo Pyro. It is designed for Jobo type processing. It stains
more

> > than PMK does (this is good)...
>
> Is the staining anything more than just an elevation of the base+fog? I
> always thought a lower base+fog was better (lower dmin = higher dynamic
> range ;-), but I'm not sure about that.

Todd,

Development Fog problems are pretty much eliminated with PMK. Fb+f for a
standard developer is usually 0.10-0.12 density units. With PMK my negatives
usually measure 0.10 - 0.20 density units. Slow films show a lower increase
in Fb+f.

Mike


----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Flashner" <tflash@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Scanning for print size - Pyro


> on 4/7/02 4:19 PM, Martin Wesley wrote:
>
> > The staining occurs in direct proportion to the silver development. You
can
> > actually take a pyro developed neg, bleach all the silver out of it and
> > print from image recorded by the grainless staining process. Practically
> > this does not appear to improve print quality so it isn't done.
>
> So the dense areas get more stain than the thin areas, increasing
contrast?
>
> > So I guess the granularity, i.e. noise, goes to zero and the dynamic
range

> > is infinite. <G>
>
> LOL
>
> Todd