Pyro (was Re: Off to Montana!)

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sam wrote:
> Second question: Have any experimenters tried Pyro out there? No, not
> setting buildings on fire, I mean Pyrogallol developer for B&W processing.
> I've heard some great things about it, and I've got tons of B&W film to
> play with. Might be the cat's ass for stereo, as it apparently boosts
> shadow detail and highlights, and also reduces grain. 
> 

I haven't used pyro myself, but it comes up often in some of the
things I read.

The pure-silver mailing list (specializing in B&W photography) has had
several discussions about pyro.  You can subscribe by sending the
message "subscribe pure-silver your@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" to
"Majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx".  The list has bounced around different
sites over the years, so I'm not sure a complete archive exists on the
web.

Gordon Hutchings' "The Book of Pyro" is very highly regarded on the
list and in the rec.photo.* newsgroups.  Calumet carries it, and I'm
sure you can get it from the other big mail order camera stores.

View Camera magazine has a good analytical article on pyro in the
current issue.  The article looks at the differences between a pair of
negatives (using TMax-400 contact printed with a step tablet), one
developed in D-76 and the other in pyro, and then each negative was
printed on platinum/palladium and silver papers.  By using a color
densiometer the author showed that the negative developed in pyro had
greater blue density (and by implication ultraviolet density) than the
D-76 negative.  This allowed the pyro negative to produce good prints
on both platinum/palladium and silver papers.  The D-76 negative was
not able to produce the same print range on both papers.  The pyro
negative was also able to reproduce a greater subject brightness
range.

View Camera can be found with the art magazines at Barnes&Noble.  I'm
not sure about the newstand availability in Canada.  You might want to
check their web page. <URL:http://www.viewcamera.com/>

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
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http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
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