[Leica] Cheaper thrills

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

Thanks, Luis. 

I've read that APX (Rollei retro) doesn't stain quite as much as some other 
films, such as FP4+ or HP5+. But I also read that staining isn't the only 
reason for using PMK (or other Pyro developers). There are other benefits in 
mid-tone and highlight separation. 

I haven't had as much time as I'd like for actual picture taking lately. 
Hopefully I will soon. But I have been studying up on processes. I've been 
reading as much as I can about Pyro and developers in general, including 
Anschell and Troop, Hutching's, and of course APUG and other forums. My hope 
is to find a good process and stick with it for a while. 

I really enjoyed looking through the LUG yearbook. I recognized certain 
photographers just by the images, without even looking at the names. When I 
see that I'm always impressed. Style is a difficult thing to create. By 
style I don't mean that everything is the same, and therefore boring. I mean 
that there is a certain continuity and familiarity in a body of work, yet 
there are also elements that make each image within that body unique and 
interesting. 

I went to grade school with a kid who later became a well known musician. He 
had talent that even a fifth grader could recognize. One time he was playing 
a song. I was impressed and said, you're good, you sound exactly like so and 
so. He took offense. He said that it was easy to sound like someone else 
(well easy for him!). But he wanted to be different.
  
Developing a unique style has nothing to do with type of equipment or 
processes, yet it has everything to with type of equipment and processes, if 
that makes sense. Too much change can be a bad thing. That's one of the 
things I struggle with digital. People used to raise a fuss when their 
favorite printing paper was reformulated. Now we delight with new, and 
hopefully improved, software. Could be a reach to equate the two, but maybe 
there's something there.  

DaveR

-----Original Message-----
From: Luis Miguel Casta?eda Navas [mailto:octabod@gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:46 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Cheaper thrills


On 28/01/2008, at 20:34, David Rodgers wrote:

> Now it's time for some Pyrotechnics! PMK is the thrill that keeps on
> thrilling, at least hopefully for one or more of the new films. I  
> still
> have Rodinal for the 120. I need a conservative fall back. At my age I
> can only handle so many thrills.  :-)

develop as it were old tri-x pan or APX 400 and you'll be fine for a  
starting point. The film itself looks to be an updated version of the  
late apx400.

It works fine on staining developers (at least with the 35mm version I  
used) or more standard  stuff like HC-110 or others. I have a couple  
of rolls  of 120 to develop, but I have not first hand knowledge yet,  
althought the 135 is awesome and I use it all the time since 2005.

I'm using 14:30 minutes @75F with something similar to pyro HD.

Good luck


Any day above ground is a good one.
----------------------------------------------
http://luis.imaginarymagnitude.net