Used Prescysol for the first time yesterday & am most impressed. Developed a 35mm. Delta 400, rated at 400 & exposed in a Ricoh GR 4 compact (an amazing lens!) for 10.5 mins, water stop & Alkifix for 3 mins. The negs. appear to be excellent (not had chance to print any yet). They are very sharp, fine grained with a remarkably even density. They have stained well (better than Exactol), having a delicate brown shade - quite unlike the mess that Pyro makes. The negs. were exposed under a wide range of conditions, from indoors to bright sun on the seafront, yet the similarity of the individual densities is amazing. I am delighted with the results, and am puzzled by Roger Maile's comments in "Mono" mag. saying that he could not detect any great difference between negs. developed in Prescysol, ID11 & CM Pyro. I know which negs. will be the easiest to print & give the best results! Well done & keep up the good work - monochrome needs people such as you. I will spread the good word at our N.Wales Mono Group meeting next week.
Cheers, Geoff Leah.
Hi Peter,
It seems as if things are going well for your prescysol. I also hope to include its use in one of my future 'Printer's Art' articles for B+W mag. The trouble is if you use it correctly you don't need much printing skill to get a decent print ;-)
I find the partial stand method extremely useful for obtaining that flexible negative that leads to easy printing. This developer has everything I look for in a developer, smoothness of tone, very fine grain and offers sharpness to a high degree particularly if you use the PS method of development.
Yes Peter I'm hooked.
Thank you for introducing me to your excellent prescysol.
All the best,
Trevor Crone
Hi Peter,
I've just finished with my first test of your remarkable developer. Needless to say I am very impressed! The sharpness, fine grain and tonal gradations are amazing. I have been very successful extending the stand development with Ilford FP4+ to up to one hour without streaking. I diluted the developer 1 1/4: 6 1/4 : 500, agitating for the first 60 seconds, then for 30 seconds at the halfway mark. For the 30 minutes development I diluted the developer 2 1/2 : 12 1/2 : 500, and agitated for 30 seconds at 15 minutes. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL NEGATIVES! I was equally successful using HP5 with the same times and dilutions. I can't wait to try your Prescysol 'EF'.......I just received your e-mail that you will be selling Barry Thornton's products. Bravo!!! However, I love your developer even more than his remarkable Dixactol. In any event, thank you for keeping monochrome alive and better than ever!
Hi Peter
Thank you for your advice - initially i was reading Paul Gallagher reports in the professional image maker magazine. As an avid black and white enthusiast i thought i would give your developer and fix a try, pushing me away from my norms of ID 11 etc. I did my tests using the zone system as many of us do - and hey presto delta 100 is actually 100 not 64. The developer has certainly left the test negs sharper.
Now I wonder if i can "escape" this weekend during valantines day??
Thanks again
here's to future orders
Phil Wharton