I haven't used Plus-X, but I was unhappy about the level of stain in my HP5+ negs. The descriptions of the stain led me to expect a more conspicuous amount. My stain was a pleasant brown, not the "yellow- green" that others described. I was judging the negs by sight, not printing. However, a wise person on this forum suggested that I print them, and I was a lot happier then. PMK negs don't have to be dense to be good.(posted 8203 days ago)Have you got less stain than other films that you have processed in PMK? Plus-X is supposed to stain readily.
Also, the soak after fixing in the used developer (or other alkaline solution) is supposed to increase stain. I do it, but I've never measured the difference.
Also, there is a variation in the quality of pyro. The quote below is from Gordon Hutchings himself on the "pure-silver" newsgroup (07- September-2001) in response to an enquiry from someone with brown stain:
Reply from Gordon Hutchings:
Brown stain is just fine. Film emulsion components especially the makeup of the gelatin can make a big difference in th stain. Other environmental conditions such as water as well as the industrial residuals left over from the pyro manufacture can make a big difference. Commercial pyro is only 90 to 95 percent prue pyro. the 'rest' is the 'rest of the story.'
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