Pyrocat HD stop and fixer

Is it okay to use an acid stop and fixer, such as Ilford rapid fixer,

with Pyrocat HD, or is a combination of water stop and alkaline

fixer a must? If the latter, how does one fully stop development of

the first sheets out when developing by inspection? Thanks.

In my own work there is little if any differnce in the final image stain between a plain water stop and a 1/2 strength acid stop bath. However, if you use the plain water stop make sure that you rinse in running water for about a minute, or change the water at least five times. I can't answer your question about the fixer since I always use an alkaline fixer, specifically the TF-3 fixer described in The Film Developing Cookbook.

 

Sandy King

I tried water stop & alkaline fix and compared to the mild citric acid stop & Ilford rapid fix. I couldn't tell a difference in the final negatives or prints made from them. So, I go with the mild/weak acid stop bath & the Ilford Rapid Fix(Universal or Hypam here).<div></div>

My experience is similar to Dan's. I have heard a couple of people say that, using a water stop and alkaline fix, they get additional stain during the wash. I hope to do some tests on this sometime in the near future.

 

One of the things I like best about Pyrocat-HD is that it does not produce a lot of non-image-forming stain like many pyrogallol developers do. I stopped doing a water stop and the after-fix developer bath with PMK because the stain I got didn't seem to do anything but increase my printing times.