Is there any consensus of which current films (sheet, roll, and 35mm) are best matched to Pyro development? Also, worst matched.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), February 15, 2000

Answers

I use the Ilford films--Pan-F, Delta 100 & 400--with PMK and get superb results. But don't look for the finest grain with Pyro.

In general, I would stay away from the T-Max films.

-- Peter Hughes (leo948@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.

Actually, if you have a dull scene that needs some snap, T-Max 400 in PMK is hard to beat, particularly in medium format.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), February 19, 2000.

In addition to Delta 400 I've just started playing with HP5+ which seems to stain really well. Haven't decided about which film I prefer yet.

My tests tell me that both these films should be exposed at EI 200-250. This seems slower than most others are finding and I can't explain why. It may be our lousy Southern California water.

-- Don Karon (dkaron@socal.rr.com), February 25, 2000.

I agree Ed. TMY gets a bad rap sometimes, but with PMK I prefer it to D400 and TXP...it's the closest I have to a 'standard' film in MF.

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), February 26, 2000.

Kodak's Plus-x and PMK produces a wonderful palette of soft tones, and is particularly useful when doing portraits with higher light contrasts.

-- D. Scott Story (dsdesign@uswest.net), March 08, 2000.

There's obviously not a consensus, but my 2 cents are - Delta 400 at 250, and Delta 100 at 64. In my Paterson tanks and with my water, starting times are 10 minutes at 70F for both films in 35mm, which is handy when I have rolls of each to develop at the same time. YMMV.

Cheers,

-- Kip Babington (cbabing3@swbell.net), March 13, 2000.

Although I adore TX120 it doesn't seem to get along with PMK very well at all :-( FP4+ (120) is my all time favourite in PMK.

Mark

-- Mark Bau (markbau@altavista.com), April 06, 2000.