Fixer for PMK Pyro

Bill Clark said:
What is regular fixer?

I use Ilford’s hypam for all my black and white film and printing.
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Do you us PMK? If not, you can't answer the question. Pyro based developers like PMK work best with an alkaline fixer. Most fixers sold today are acidic, and the acidity reduces the amount of stain produced by the Pyro developer, reducing image quality.

Gordeon Hutchings, the man who formulated PMK, recommended Photographers Formulary TF-4, an alkaline rapid fixer. It works beautifully, and I recommend it, too.
 
In the late 90s when I first started using PMK I switched my film fixer to TF-4. I use it for all film now. It really is a great fixer. Quick wash times are nice.

Like Chris said above, TF-4 doesn't affect the stain. That said, you can use a regular fixer, you just won't have as much stain if the fixer interacts with it. If you don't have TF-4 then just use regular fix. Won't be the end of the world.
 
You really should use TF-4 if you're using PMK because keeping the stain is one of the unique (and desirable) characteristics you get from using pyro. It's a wonderful developer especially with older tech silver films like FP4+ and HP5+.
 
Thank you for the answers i know i need to use tf-4 but i was curious what will be happen of i"ll use a regular fixer.
 
According to "The Book of Pyro" I'm now on my second copy, "Rapid" fixer without hardener ammonium thiosulphate are fine. The key is non-hardening. He recommends Kodak F24:

Water 3 qts
Hypo 4 cups
heaping teaspoon sodium sulphite
1/3 cup sodium bisulphite
Water to make one gallon

Easy Peasy

But TF-4 is also convenient
 
Nokton48 said:
According to "The Art of Pyro" I'm now on my second copy, "Rapid" fixer without hardener ammonium thiosulphate are fine. The key is non-hardening. He recommends Kodak F24:

Water 3 qts
Hypo 4 cups
heaping teaspoon sodium sulphite
1/3 cup sodium bisulphite
Water to make one gallon

Easy Peasy

But TF-4 is also convenient
Click to expand...




What's the art of pyro? Did you mean Gordon Hutchings "The Book Of Pyro" or is this a different book?
 
Nokton48 said:
According to "The Art of Pyro" I'm now on my second copy, "Rapid" fixer without hardener ammonium thiosulphate are fine. The key is non-hardening. He recommends Kodak F24:

Water 3 qts
Hypo 4 cups
heaping teaspoon sodium sulphite
1/3 cup sodium bisulphite
Water to make one gallon

Easy Peasy

But TF-4 is also convenient
Click to expand...


To make it less acidic or even neutral you could increase the sulphite a bit and reduce or even eliminate the bisulphite.
 
Do you us PMK? If not, you can't answer the question.
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Yes Chris I do use PMK as well as WD2D+. Do I need to use something to answer a question?

And I do use Ilford’s Hypam fixer.

I do know a little about this master.

To Yaacovk, here is some info to possibly help you.:

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-148479.html

B & H has Hypam. I don’t know where you live.

At any rate, here is a link to B&H:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253200-REG/Ilford_1758285_Hypam_Print_Film_Fixer_for.html
 
Bill Clark said:
Yes Chris I do use PMK as well as WD2D+. Do I need to use something to answer a question?
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Actually, yes, you do. If you had never used PMK, you wouldn't know what you're talking about and would be giving untrue advice.

Have you also tried an alkaline fixer? If so, was there a difference in the amount of image stain on the negatives? Hutchings said there would be less, so I have always used TF-4 with PMK. Had no reason to doubt the man who invented the developer!

Its possible that Hypam is less acidic than most fixers, too. If so, or if it just doesn't matter because it gives the same results asTF-4, it would be nice. TF-4 is a pain to use.
 
Actually, yes, you do. If you had never used PMK, you wouldn't know what you're talking about and would be giving untrue advice.
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That’s your opinion. Mine is not an opinion as my thoughts are based on actual use. I have ideas and thoughts on topics that I have never used but that doesn’t mean I would be giving untrue advice or know what I’m talking about.

You can and I can give helpful advice without using something.

Can you be positive when and if you’re teaching to others, especially those that are young? Especially here on this forum.

Well, I recommend to try using Ilford Hypam and see if you like it.

When I was in business, I was really busy and Hypam was readily available from B&H and still is. The liquid Hypam took less time, dilute from liquid, than mixing from a powder. Time was valuable to me back then.

Digital was my savior.

At any rate, Hypam worked for me and I was just trying to help the person who started this thread.

Thanks for throwing me under the bus.
 
Ease up, Chris.

Plenty of people who do use a particular "thing" routinely give out wrong information; just because someone uses something does not mean they automatically know what they're doing with it.
 
Bill Clark said:
That’s your opinion. Mine is not an opinion as my thoughts are based on actual use. I have ideas and thoughts on topics that I have never used but that doesn’t mean I would be giving untrue advice or know what I’m talking about.

You can and I can give helpful advice without using something.

Can you be positive when and if you’re teaching to others, especially those that are young? Especially here on this forum.

Well, I recommend to try using Ilford Hypam and see if you like it.

When I was in business, I was really busy and Hypam was readily available from B&H and still is. The liquid Hypam took less time, dilute from liquid, than mixing from a powder. Time was valuable to me back then.

Digital was my savior.

At any rate, Hypam worked for me and I was just trying to help the person who started this thread.

Thanks for throwing me under the bus.
Click to expand...

I have been a teacher of young people. I was a high school Literature teacher. I was qualified to teach literature because I had a masters degree in literature. After I suffered a stroke in 2013, I did not feel well enough to work full time, so I worked as a substitute teacher for high school and middle school. That let me work on days I felt up to it, and not work if I didn't.

When you work as a sub, you can choose your assignments. The school system's website listed all the sub jobs each morning. At first I took sub jobs teaching any subject. The regular teacher leaves instructions on what to teach, but I soon realized that I was completely unqualified to teach subjects I had no experience with, like advanced math courses and music; even as a substitute for a single day. The kids would have questions I couldn't answer, and that was not fair to them. They deserved teachers who knew the material. So I stopped taking assignments outside the areas where I had the education and experience to effectively teach students. Literature, Art, History, and Spanish Language were the things I could teach well.
 
Getting back to fixers...............

The hardening agents are what decrease the image stain. So any fixer without hardener will work.
 
The hardening agents don't work unless the fixer is fairly acidic. Non hardening fixer isn't as acidic, but neutral or alkaline fixer is better for staining processes. I don't know the cutoff point for pH where staining is not diminished.



Some articles specify alkaline fixer as necessary, some say that a non-hardening fixer is ok. I can only get standard moderately acidic fixer here nowadays, so I add a bit of hydroxide to raise the pH towards neutral.
 
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