[pure-silver] Re: AW: Re: Any advice for purchase of densitometer.
- From: Sandy King <sanking@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2004 17:14:32 -0500
Ralph,
First, I don't find Pyro any trouble at all. In fact, because of the
long-term stability of the stock solutions of pyro developers, and
their very long shelf-life, I find them on the whole much easier to
use than other formulas that I might mix up myself, such as D76. If
you develop much film you will spend a lot of time mixing up D76,
while a liter of stock solution of either PMK or Pyrocat-HD, which
takes about the same time to mix as D76 as a liter of D76, provides
about 100 liters of working solution. And for a lot less cost as well.
As for image quality, I don't believe that any developer on the
market can provide better image quality, when we balance such things
as grain size, acutance and tonality, than pyro developers such as
PMK and Pyrocat_HD.
I came to pyro developers late but have been using them for about
15-18 years. I used PMK as my primary developer for about ten years
and then formulated Pyrocat-HD, which provides certain advantages for
my own needs, which are primarily printing with sheet film and
alternative processes.
One of the things that folks need to understand about negatives
developed in pyro staining developers, however, is that for printing
on VC papers the negative must be developed to a much higher contrast
than if printing on graded silver papers. I have found, for example,
that a PMK or Pyrocat-HD negative that will print well on a silver #2
graded paper will need a #4 or perhaps even a #5 VC filter to print
with the same effective contrast on VC papers.
Sandy
>Sandy
>
>I took a look at your article. You must have spend some time with pyro! What
>is your opinion? Is pyro worth the trouble, or are we better off sticking to
>D76 and others for silver-gelatin VC printing?
>
>
>
>
>
>Regards
>
>
>
>Ralph W. Lambrecht
>
>
>
>
>On 12/24/04 3:05 PM, "Sandy King" <sanking@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> There is of course no constant factor that one can add to the Blue
>> reading to approximate UV readings because the stain increases
>> proportionally to silver density. And the difference between the
>> Blue and UV reading is greater with Pyrocat-HD than with PMK. There
>> are densitometers that allow UV readings at about 370 nm and these
>> are quite popular with alternative printers using UV sensitive
>> processes.
>>
>> The issue of printing VC papers with stained negatives is fairly
>> complicated. Years ago Phil Davis did some tests, using PMK, and
>> concluded that neither the Blue nor Visual reading is an accurate
>> indicator of effective printing density, and suggested that the best
>> reading would an intermediate one between Blue and Green/Visual. I
>> would suggest that this intermediate value is about half way between
>> Blue and Green/Visual for PMK negatives, and about two/thirds of the
>> way toward Green for Pyrocat-HD negatives. This is explained by the
>> fact that for a given visual reading there is more difference between
>> Visual and Blue readings with PMK negative than with Pyrocat-HD
>> negatives.
>>
>> I address a number of issues related to stain in an article on pyro
>> developers that you can see at
>> http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/PCat/pcat.html
>>
>> Sandy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>> So IOW the density reading from a pyro negative may not be an=20
>>>> accurate=20
>>>> guide to the required contrast filtration if you're using VC=20
>>>> paper - which=20
>>>> is fair enough. As the instrument measures a wide colour=20
>>>> spectrum it will=20
>>>> presumably read both the silver and stain densities and give you an=20
>>>> effective total.
>>>
>>> I am doing some testing with Pyrocat HD (TMX and TMY), including
>>> measuring densities with a Macbeth TD 504. The problem of properly
>>> stained negs: the higher the silver density, the higher the stain
>>> effect. I tried using the "blue"-channel of my densitometer as an
>>> approximation to the UV-densities and compared the results with the
>>> silver densities measured via the visual channel. There is no constant
> >> factor like: "add 0,4 and its done".=20
>>> The Pyrocat stain has its highest effectiveness in the UV-Range which is
>>> AFAIK important for alternative processing. But for variable contrast
>>> printing I would guess the UV-part does not play such an important role.
>>> If I standardize my development for the G-bar-values obtained via the
>>> blue channel densities, I have to use grade 3,5 for printing. So in the
>>> future I will work with visual densities, this seems to correspond
>>> better with my printing technique.
>>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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