anyone uses Prescysol EF ?

[raytoei@gmail.com]

hi,

Anyone uses prescysol ef ? Searching through this forum yielded little results.

My specific question, the recommended temp is 24C, is the development time reduced (from the listed 8mins) if the temperature goes up to say 30C?

Does this film allow pushing or does it behave more like Diafine, fixed speed across development time ?

thanks much!

raytoei

 

[mfogiel]

I have used it for some time. The recommended temp is 24C, and I think there was some specific reason for this. I would rather risk developing in lower temperatures, than higher. As far as I could remember, my time for TriX @EI 250 (this is the true speed in Prescysol) was 9-10 minutes, 12 minutes if shot at box speed. However, some other films may give you stronger contrast, so you have to try - specifically, I remember that Neopan 400 preferred shorter times than Tri X. This developer gives great sharpness, and a very nice tonality, but I have stopped using it, because I could never get proper tonality in landscapes - I think it may have to do with its super compensating nature - even with a red filter, the skies were always almost white. It is great for portraits and for anything where you want lots of detail. It is not a good developer for pushing, but longer development time will give you some density increase.
Here a couple of examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59177039@N00/3534660023/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59177039@N00/3479358604/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

mfogiel,

thanks for this post. i have been messing around with this developer. I find that it works best where there are alot of shadow details to be captured, and not necessary for portrait. In fact, I have ruled it out for taking photos of women as shadow details may not be so flattering.

here is an example of inky shadows that needs to be preserved. I think prescysol/ef does best.

praktica mtl 5b with 28/f3.5 lens / Plus-X

here's an example where portrait works...

rolleiflex 2.8e / fomapan 200 @ 100

cheers!

raytoei

 

[Leigh Youdale]

I've been using it as well as Rodinal and DD-X but I can't answer the OP's questions as I haven't tried any of the options he mentions. The attraction for me are fine grain, excellent gradation in tonality and the ability to develop different films at the same time with very satisfactory results.