It was inevitable that I’d eventually give the 510 Pyro developer a try and back in May 2023 I donned the nitrile gloves and made up a batch.
I clearly got distracted during this test, as not only did I only develop two rolls (one 35mm and one 120) I also left the draft blog post barely started and only picked it up again ten months later. Looking back through my notes for last year these were the only two rolls that I developed in 510 Pyro throughout the whole year.
Now, despite what some “influencers” on social media would like you to believe, it takes more than a couple of rolls and one film stock to truly judge a developer. So far, what I’ve seen hasn’t deterred me and I will hopefully make some further tests later this year. Until then I’m simply making a line in the sand as it were and registering my intent to finally finish this experiment.
This staining developer is both much hyped and also it seems a divisive one. Some people I know swear by it whilst others of my acquaintances can’t really see what the fuss is about.
For the reasons already expressed I’m sat on the fence I’m afraid.
For now.
Dave's Place 
I’m on the fence too as I make perfectly lovely 9.5×12 prints without it. You Dave make lovely images whatever the developer. You know what I’m going to say , find one that gives you results that make you smile and from what you share that’s pretty much any developer…… and stick with it, honing the time up and down to suit the subject as experience builds. The latter never does on the constant hunt for a silver bullet.
plus PyrocatHD is so much easier to use
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Thank you Andrew 🙏 It’s the Butterfly in me I guess. Now, I’ve never used PyrocatHD … 😇
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I think Pyrocat is more versatile too with being able to change the ratio of A and B as Sherman does so well.
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I’m going to have to check this out now … first stop though will be that book by John Finch … “The Art of Black and White Developing”
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“despite what some “influencers” on social media would like you to believe, it takes more than a couple of rolls and one film stock to truly judge a developer.” Well said! Your excellent photographs underline this point.
For me it takes years to properly learn a film/dev combination. I think everyone knows I have stuck with Ilford cubic crystal films since the 70s, FP4 being my goto, and have sought to understand what different developers do with that film. I really understand that film and what it can do. That’s maybe the opposite of what I see others doing but for me the film has the lead role and the developer is a supporting actor. I like 510 but, like Andrew, ended up using Pyrocat. Interestingly, Pyrocat is much closer to Thornton’s developers which always gave me my best results with Ilford’s films.
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Thanks John. One of my pet peeves is folk on social media pronouncing on a films worth after a single roll developed by their local lab.
I will probably pick up some PyrocatHD at some point to satisfy my curiosity however I typically use a very small number of developers that I’ve played with over the years and got to know reasonably well. Hope you are well Sir!
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