I have written several blog posts about the various cachetol based film developers I have been using the last few years. So I thought I would post my observations and personal experiences in more of a summary format for anyone who wants to explore a similar path. The only caveat is that these statements are […]

In my previous article, Obsidian Aqua first mix, I described how I mixed 200ml Part A at 1/2 strength and created what I now will refer to as OA/2-A. For my film test I needed a part B and I still have plenty of part B from Pyrocat HD mixes which are 750g/liter of Potassium […]

I had stumbled upon Jay DeFehr’s website a couple of years ago when searching for an alternative to Pyrocat HD which kept failing for me.  Obsidian Aqua is a simple two chemical (part A) that is highly concentrated and easy to mix. Like most of the cachetol based developers the goal of this developer is […]

I shot some 4×5 Delta 100 on a recent Sunday Morning Adventure with fellow NGLFP member Bryan Garris. We traveled North and West to Cherry Log, Georgia to Falls Branch Falls. There wasn’t much rain recently so the falls were a bit bare of water and the lighting was spotty through the trees. The hike […]

I saw a posting in the Large Format Forum a few days ago that mentioned using Ansco 130 as a film developer. I have some stock of Ansco 130 which I use for a Paper developer and love the results with Ilford and Bergger Fiber papers.  The recommendation was use the developer 1:10 for 10 […]

Last weekend I returned to Edge of the World rapids in Dawsonville, GA. Even in early light there is a nine stop difference from detailed shadows (wet mossy rock) to the light blue sky. I am continuing experimentation with Pyrocat M now that it has a little age on it. Scene 1 Bridge and River […]

Today’s experiment was to compare two identical exposures developed with different dilutions of Pyrocat M.  My standard single sheet development method is to use Steve Sherman’s EMA technique which blends dilution with long stand times between agitations. Today I decided to try something a little more aggressive using a standard mix, shorter stand periods, and […]

I had tried this experiment previously with Pyrocat HD and wanted to see its effect with Pyrocat M. I had seen a post about an olive toner using cachetol in a bleach + redevelop process. The toner is known as IT8. I decided to use dilute Pyrocat M in place of the cachetol toner to […]

After having some failures with Pyrocat HD I decided it was time to order the chemicals directly and make my own. So I went to the Pyrocat HD website and got the list but then I noticed this formula with Metol and fewer ingredients. Further research indicates it has similar properties to HD but with […]

Initially I Iiked the cold tones of the original print, but I was doing some toning and thought why not try it with this one. It has strong blacks that I wanted to preserve as dark tones so my experiment was to determine if Selenium + Thiourea would give me the desired effect. After a […]