Response to Pinholes on HP5+ neg developed in PMK Pyro

The only times I have seen this happens is when you use too strong an acid or more than one sheet on the developing tray. Without being able to see the negative and since you indicate it is only on one side, methinks you migh have come across one bad batch of film. Although unusual, it is not imposible! As I wrote this I just reviewd your procedure and asked myself, did you check for burrs or grit on your tray that might have scratched your film? since you only lifted the tray and not the sheet itself this might be a reason. Do not worry about the developer this is not the reason, alkalinity tends to swell the gelatine, and since this is a hardening developer it also helps to prevent the negative from getting scratched. It is actually the action of going from an alkaline medium to an acid medium where the gelating contracts that usually causes minute pinholes in the negative, since this is absent in your procedure we can rule this out. I would say, expose another negative, if it happens again then check the tray and send the negatives to the manufacturer, Ilford is pretty good and they will most likely send you a new box of film. Good luck.

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