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  #1  
Old 14th October 2016, 02:26 PM
kaifis kaifis is offline
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Default Prescysol EF replacement

Hello,

I have been using Prescysol EF for some months as what has become my standard go-to B&W film developer. Since it now seems that it is no longer be available in the UK, I am looking for advise on an alternative.

I realise that there are quite a few staining developers around which work on a similar principle, and create similar results.

However, what I haven't found is a staining developer which gives similar results, stains to a fairly neutral tone (for use with variable contrast paper) and which can essentially be used with the same dilution and processing times for most films at box speed - which has really simplified processing of a wide range of films together.

I'm not so keen to home brew developers myself, but would be really greatful if someone knows of an available developer which in practice can be handled and behaves similar to Prescysol EF.

Thank you, Kai
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  #2  
Old 14th October 2016, 07:19 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Kai, have you read the Demise of Prescysol thread. If not have a look to see if there is anything there that fits your needs.

I don't use staining developers but there seems to be alternatives mentioned in the thread above.

Mike
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  #3  
Old 15th October 2016, 10:03 AM
MalcolmM MalcolmM is offline
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Prescysol and Prescysol EF can be obtained from Photographers Formulary in the US. It will be expensive to ship to the UK but is available for shipping. I am in the middle of a project and have been using Prescysol and didn't want to change developers halfway through, so have ordered two kits. So far the experience with Formulary has been first class.
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Old 15th October 2016, 02:07 PM
kaifis kaifis is offline
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Thank you for your replies!

Yes I looked through Bill's thread about the demise of Prescysol, and in it as well as elsewhere online there are a good number of alternatives mentioned. My challenge now was that there actually seemed to be far too many alternatives, to try them all out! Pyrocat HD, Tanol, Tanol Speed, PMK... For some of these, the various different documentations online are hugely detailed and complex, and I was wondering if people had actual experience in swapping one of these for Prescysol EF. As per descriptions, the suggested process timings for the various alternatives do look very different to Prescysol EF with its one-time-fits-all approach, which for general usage actually works really well for me. But then, there are plenty of suggestions that chemically, Prescysol is rather similar to other formulas...

From reading up, my guess is that Pyrocat HD seems to be the closest match, and so I now ordered some of this to try this out.

Malcolm, did you phone / email Photographers Formulary to order Prescysol? I went to their website, and got as far as entering my postal address, when I was told that this product could not be shipped to my (UK) address. Maybe they are more accommodating when you contact them directly? But as you say, I imagine postage will be hefty...

Last edited by kaifis; 15th October 2016 at 02:13 PM.
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Old 16th October 2016, 12:09 PM
MalcolmM MalcolmM is offline
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Kai, I initially experienced the same problem as yourself so I e-mailed Formulary. They were very helpful and sent me a PayPal invoice. Prescysol is being shipped by UPS.
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