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Old 21st July 2011, 07:47 PM
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Default Pyro dev

I feel the need to open a new thread about this subject, as the question I asked on the thread - Kudos to Peter Hogan! “Forgive my ignorance, but why would you want to use an alkali stop bath?
Jon Butlers answer “Less washing with FB paper but most like if for Pyro to protect the stain.”
J.

My question now is how does a Pyro dev improve my photography or printing?
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Old 21st July 2011, 08:13 PM
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You may find this an intersting and helpful article, Clive;
www.viewcamera.com/pdf/2006/pyro.pdf
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Old 21st July 2011, 09:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cliveh View Post

My question now is how does a Pyro dev improve my photography or printing?
In the most simplistic of terms, you can do things with a staining film developer that you cannot do otherwise. Delicate highlights have a look that I cannot obtain with any other developer. The tanning/compensating effect, along with the fact that part of the density is made of stain, allows you to easily handle difficult lighting situations. Gordon Hutchings, author of "The Book of Pyro" will blatantly tell you that it is near impossible to block the highlights of a staining developer negative.

We have been using staining developers for near 10 years now and I have experimented with numerous formulas. Rather than go into it here, drop by our BLOG for more details about what I have found and what we use.

Personally, I would not use any developer unless I felt it worked well for what I do. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I will do my best to share what I have learned.
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Old 21st July 2011, 09:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JB Harlin View Post
In the most simplistic of terms, you can do things with a staining film developer that you cannot do otherwise. Delicate highlights have a look that I cannot obtain with any other developer. The tanning/compensating effect, along with the fact that part of the density is made of stain, allows you to easily handle difficult lighting situations. Gordon Hutchings, author of "The Book of Pyro" will blatantly tell you that it is near impossible to block the highlights of a staining developer negative.

We have been using staining developers for near 10 years now and I have experimented with numerous formulas. Rather than go into it here, drop by our BLOG for more details about what I have found and what we use.

Personally, I would not use any developer unless I felt it worked well for what I do. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I will do my best to share what I have learned.
Are we talking Pyro for film or prints here?
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Old 21st July 2011, 09:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cliveh View Post
Are we talking Pyro for film or prints here?
I am talking film. . . though we do also use a catechol base print developer, but that is entirely different.
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Old 21st July 2011, 10:20 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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An interesting website, JB with some useful articles. I have put it in my "favourites" list for future reference. Thanks

Mike
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Old 22nd July 2011, 07:03 AM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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The short answer is that it will not improve your photography, but will make printing from your negatives easier.
Many here use Peter Hogan's excellent Prescysol, Silverprint sell PMK PYRO Negative Developer for about £10, whilst others mix there own for less, so there is plenty to experiment with.
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Old 22nd July 2011, 09:03 AM
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It is interesting that Dave says that Pyro developers make it easier to print your negatives. I used Pyrocat HD for about ten years but gave up on it in the end because it seemed to lead to problems in printing. When I switched to ID11 at 1+3 and Perceptol at 1+3, I found my negatives were much easier to print.

Alan
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Old 22nd July 2011, 09:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Clark View Post
It is interesting that Dave says that Pyro developers make it easier to print your negatives. I used Pyrocat HD for about ten years but gave up on it in the end because it seemed to lead to problems in printing. When I switched to ID11 at 1+3 and Perceptol at 1+3, I found my negatives were much easier to print.

Alan
In my experience Pyro developed negatives are so much easier to print.
J.
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Old 22nd July 2011, 09:36 AM
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The problem I had with pyro negatives was that they quite often seemed to need, say, grade 2.5 to get the best out of the shadows and, say 3.5 to get the best out of the highlights. In other words the negative often put up a fight before it yielded what I was after.
When I switched to the developers I mentioned above I found I no longer had to fight the negative. Often a straight print would get me quite close to what I was after in the print.

I realise that this was all probably my fault, and nothing more than another quirk of the "black art".

Alan
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