I am hoping someone can help me. I recently purchased an ABC+ Pyro kit from Photography's Formulary. I have tried to develop three rolls of film using a Jobo CPE2 processor. Two films were FP4 and one was HP5. I used Sprint Rapid fixer for two rolls and Ilford rapid fixer for one. All rolls showed no stain what so ever. All I could see on the film was a faint image. I followed the instructions on the packaging. No stop bath was used and I used 500ml of developer per roll. I switched fixers because I thought that might be the problem but obivously not. Any assistance would be appreicated.

Thanks,

-- Kent (kschilli@msn.com), July 09, 2001

Answers

Most pyro developers need an alkaline fixer and a second developement regimen. The stain acually bleaches out with acidic fixes. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), July 09, 2001.

Something is wrong with the chemistry or the developing time. I have used ABC Pyro in the past (though it has been a long time) on 8x10 Tri-X stopped with an acid stop and fixed in Ilford rapid fix and got lots of stain. For what it's worth, I always use distilled water to mix film developers.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), July 09, 2001.

Try using the TF4 Alkaline fix from Photographers formularly. Also make sure you properly follow the post fix wash and stain process.

Paul

-- Paul Grant (gphoto2@aol.com), August 05, 2001.

From what you described--no stain, faint image--it sounds like your problem has nothing to do with the fixer. Something is wrong with either the dilution ratio or the developing time; too high a dilution ratio or too little development could yield the results you've described--stain is generally proportional to density. It is also possible, perhaps probable, that you did not follow the mixing directions correctly. If you dissolved the pyro before sodium sulfite or sodium bisulfite (I'm not sure which is called for in ABC Pyro.), the pyro could have oxidized and lost its potency.

It's hard to determine exactly what is wrong, but no matter what fixer you used, you should get proper negative density and at least moderate stain. That you have little image and no stain indicates something wrong in the mixing or developing stage of your procedure.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), August 06, 2001.

Kent, I just realized what is the problem. The first time I read your post I missed that you were using a JOBO processor. The constant agitation of the developer oxidizes it too quickly, and therefore the developer becomes exhausted before development is complete. There are several solutions to this, but the simplest is to increase the developer concentration 50-100%. This should work, but it may increase fog and or grain. So you could also experiment with increasing only the "A" (I'm assuming "A" contains the pyro.) portion of the formula, while keeping the other quantities the same.

Another alternative is to buy or make Rollo Pyro, which was designed specifically for rotary processors.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), August 09, 2001.