510 Pyro Vorsprung Durch Technik

[Mark J]

I can't remember the exact date, but Jay de Fehr was the originator of 510, in the early 2000's.
I've been trawling through the archived AZO forum ( www.michaelandpaula.com ) on the Wayback Machine, and finding a lot of discussion of both Pyrocat-HD and Pyro 510. It's fair to say that Sandy King and Jay de Fehr don't get along too well. It would be hard to find two more different characters.

[Mike O'Pray]

Originally Posted by Mark J

I. It's fair to say that Sandy King and Jay de Fehr don't get along too well. It would be hard to find two more different characters.

Unfortunately that's true of a lot of the "gurus" of photography and if it's simply just a personality difference that's fine. The problem arises when such differences get in the way of a rational discussion and those seeking knowledge are the losers

End of rant

Mike

[Mark J]

I did a bit more digging and it looks like Keith was correct, Patrick Gainer was the origin of Jay deFehr's interest in TEA, but a lot earlier than 2008.
From LF forum in 2004 :
Jay deFehr "Hi John. When I moved up to 8x10 I wanted to try a pyro developer, and the consensus was that ABC was the best for contact printing. Well, I wasn't disappointed, and I made some of my best negatives/prints with that developer., but there were a few problems. I didn't want to give up the beautiful gradation of the ABC with my rollfilm, but I didn't want to pay for it with obtrusive grain either, and I never managed to get through an entire kit of ABC without one of the three components going bad before I used it all, and I was always afraid I was going to ruin a negative with dying/dead developer. I tried several developers, and liked most of them, but none measured up to ABC for my big negs until I tried Patrick Gainer's P-TEA developer. It is my new favorite developer for LF negs and fine grained roll film. I've developed 35mm HP5+ in it, and the gradation was just as beautiful, but the grain was Rodinal-esque (not necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing), and I like other developers better for small negatives. It is a simple, single solution, highly concentrated developer that is diluted 1:50 (there is some speculation that it can be diluted 1:200, but I've only gone as far as 1:100) for one shot use. It is incredibly economical, and lasts forever on the shelf. I shoot mostly available light portraits, and the skin tones I'm getting regularly with this developer have a glow I've only occasionally managed with ABC pyro. The highlight separation is amazing, as is the acutance, but for me, it's the skin tones that tell the tale. There aren't many of us LF portrait guys around, and I think our needs are a little different from the landscape guys'. Give it a try, you'll be glad you did."

[Keith Tapscott.]

I'm almost sure that Patrick formulated a single solution pyro developer before Jay DeFehr, but I could be mistaken.

[Mark J]

Well, that's essentially what the posting above says.