PMK Pyro

I stopped using PMK Pyro developer a while ago after noticing that there was a big hunk of white precipitate at the bottom of the Solution-B bottle.  I thought I might need to get another PMK kit, but I first did a little searching on line about the issue.  What I turned up was a video by Chris Crawford about using the staining developer, and he mentions in it that the precipitate is the normal result of a super-saturated solution and that it has no adverse effect in the development process.  So I loaded a roll of TMAX 100 into the Minolta X-700 and headed down to the Art Museum's sculpture garden for a test run.

I revisited the piece in the West Sculpture Garden that was featured in my previous post.  A map I picked up in the lobby shows that sculpture's title is Head Games and the artist is Ho Baron, who is based in El Paso.

I rated the TMAX at 80 ASA, but would have been better off with a full stop of over exposure as the negatives were all thin.  Slow film and a cheap zoom lens turned out to be a poor choice for early morning shadows and interior shots.

I'm not sure who made the zoom lens; it says "Sears" and "Korea".  The 35mm to 135 is a handy range, and in normal lighting the sharpness is good as can be seen in the shot below of Allan Houser's Prayer.

So, I'm pleased to still have PMK Pyro available.  I don't know that I'll like the developer for use with  TMAX over other choices, but I've seen some nice results with the combination and it seems worth further investigation.