Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/25

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Alternative processes.
From: Kip Babington <cbabing3@swbell.net>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 15:57:07 -0600
References: <00cf01c1d440$f7b1baa0$f38402c7@bayeramd>

Mark -

I've been using the liquid PMK Pyro chemicals, available from 
Photographers' Formulary, for several years.  It comes in two bottles which 
you mix 1:2:100 (water) just before using, at a cost of $25 (+shipping) for 
enough to make 50 liters of working developer.  The stock  solutions are 
supposed to keep for at least a year if you keep the bottles out of the light.

You don't want to drink the stuff, and probably shouldn't soak your hands 
in it for too long, but otherwise it's not supposed to be too nasty.  What 
IS nasty is mixing the chemistry from dry chemicals, where breathing the 
dust of one or more of the components can be very hazardous.  But the 
liquid stuff is so convenient and so relatively inexpensive I don't know 
why you'd bother mixing from scratch (unless of course you already have the 
breathing protection and ventilation equipment available.)

At the cost of 2/3 of a stop of film speed (MY experience with Ilford Delta 
films in my Paterson tanks and my agitation procedure) I get lovely 
negatives with good sharpness, relatively little grain (but not grainless) 
and highlights that are just about impossible to blow out.  The negatives 
are fairly low contrast, and you can't push speeds, so when I need snappier 
negs or more film speed I use other developers.  But sometimes there's just 
nothing like the look of a print from a pyro negative.

If you decide to give PMK a try, be sure to get the Book of Pyro by Gordon 
Hutchings.  You can get it from Photographers' Formulary at a slight 
discount if you buy it with the developer.  It has a lot of background on 
the process, as well as pretty comprehensive development data (starting 
points) for a lot of films.

Cheers,
Kip

At 3/25/2002 01:29 PM -0800, you wrote:

>Greetings,
>
>I've been doing a little bit of research on alternative processes and come
>across the pyro (pyrogallol) developers. Everything I've read speaks of
>its staining nature that covers up the space between grain and keeping
>edge accutance yielding sharp, grainless images. The down side being the
>chemicals used are carcinogenic and mutagenic so chemical handling safety
>is a must.
>
>What I want to know is, 1. have any of you tried pyro developers and 2.
>are there any commercial labs that do this type of work. (Normally custom
>labs don't do it.. but I do know of some labs that do palladium/platimum
>printing....)
>
>=Mark=
>
>--
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In reply to: Message from "Ted Bayer" <tedbayer@harbornet.com> (Re: [Leica] PAW 11 & 12 Rob Mellor)