I mixed up 100 ml of Pyrocat-MC (1/10th of the normal recipe) following Pat Gainer’s instructions, as described in my Pyrocat-MC article.

My results so far are best described as mixed. I’ve developed a couple of rolls of 35mm FP4 Plus and two rolls of 120-format Arista.EDU Ultra 200 (Fomapan 200), and while I was expecting thickly “coloured” negs, what I got was visually not too different from a regular B&W negative. Following Pat Gainer’s suggestions, I bleached one of my negs with Farmer’s Reducer (basically a dilute solution of K₃Fe(CN)₆ and thiosulfate) to remove the silver image, and got a very faint stained image as a result. The negs are very sharp, though, and scan nicely. The FP4 Plus (example here) was developed for 7 mins at 22C, while the Fomapan 200 (example here) was developed for 8 mins at the same temperature.

Yesterday I spent some time at the “Toronto International Camera Show” at the Thornhill Community Centre, just north of Toronto. This show is basically a used camera fair that takes place several times per year. Dealers and hobbyists with too many cameras on their hands buy tables at this event and hawk their wares; other hobbyists pay $7 per person to get in and ogle old folding cameras, shiny Leicas and Hasselblads, overpriced medium-format rigs, 35mm by the dozens, and lots of other photographic miscellany. There are always oddities to behold — in this case, a huge Polaroid folding camera (the size of a computer monitor) that you can’t buy film for anymore. Overall, the prices seemed more reasonable at this show than at previous shows, but it might just be my imagination.

In any case, I couldn’t come home empty-handed, so I ended up getting a manual-focus Kiron 28mm f/2.0 lens in Nikon mount for a great price. Kiron is a brand I had long read about — they made the Vivitar Series I lenses in the 1970s, widely regarded as equal if not superior to the name-brand lenses — and so I jumped on this particular beast. It’s heavy, but not too big, and is very easy to focus (not surprising considering its fast speed).

I took it out for a spin this evening and will probably develop the test roll tomorrow. If things look good, I’ll probably sell my current early Vivitar 28mm f/2.5, which is also an excellent lens but not as fast or light as the Kiron. Any takers?