PMK Pyro and scanning

[evangelos_koutsavdis]

Hi:

 

This has come up tangentially before in a different post, but I was

not happy with the answers. My question is the following: if you do

digital printing only, does it make any difference if your negative is

Pyro developed? Do you see the effects of staining? Could this be

achieved digitally and avoid the nasty chemicals?

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

Evangelos.

[michael_banker]

Hi,

 

I was using HC-110 for 6x6 negatives, but was unhappy with the values in the hightlights and the graininess in the large lighter areas. I was losing details in the highlights, i.e. the tones that I saw in the sky were not in the negative. And the grain was too pronounced in the large open areas.

 

I may be scanning the grain (gaps between clumps of grain) at 4000 dpi but I decided to try a new developer because I was trying to solve two problems.

 

So, I switched to PMK to get better highligh separation and to mask the grain with the stain and it worked.

 

When you scan you can't get what isn't there (highlight seperation) and you also will get what is there (grain).

 

One key point though, scan in color (that's what the scanner is designed for) then convert to mono from the channel mixer display in Adobe PS. This will allow you to adjust the mix of green, red and blue used in the final monochrome output.

 

PMK hasn't been bad. I use day tanks, so the fumes are low. I won't go back to HCL-110. One thing I didn't expect is that the acutance seems higher than with HCL-110.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Mike

[kott]

PMK has become my developer of choice for many reasons. PMK isn't really that nasty. Just wear gloves and be careful. My scans have improved cosiderably since I started using PMK. PMK defenitly helps to keep highlights from blowing out with most films.

You may be able to replicate the effect with photoshop, but it's probably not the same, and certainly not as consistent. If I had'nt found pyro then I probably would have gone totally color neg or maybe even digital!

[scott_eaton]

....And I've yet to see a Pyro/stain type processed B/W neg exhibit any advantage over B/W chromogenics, and the later are sure easier to process.