[pure-silver] Re: Mistakes Galore

HI Justin.  I have souped thousands of sheets of 4x5 and I would suggest for a 
developer tray you use instead a glass bread baking pan.  It nicely holds a 
liter of developer which is plenty.  The bread pan is about  5 inches across 
and 8 inches long and 3.5 inches deep but the sides of the pan slope in a 
little towards the bottom and is perfect to keep our film about a half inch up 
from the bottom. I like to use 5x7 trays for the rest of the solutions and be 
sure to use presoak.  I turn an 8x10 tray upside down to put my glass developer 
dish on so that it is elevated a bit to make it easy to find in the dark.

 Some people put their film in emulsion up and some put it in emulsion down.  I 
have done it both ways and don't get many scratches either way.  With emulsion 
up though there is less air bell problems when you have several sheets of film 
in there.  Always keep the code notches on the side closest to you and rotate 
the film by pulling it forward from the bottom and stacking it on top.  YOu can 
alternate going sideways with the film if you are afraid of uneven 
developement.  But never slide the film out over the code notches as they 
sometimes have a sharp corner on them.  Use two hands in the developer when 
rotating the film and gently lift the stack up with one hand while pulling the 
bottom sheet out with the other hand.  When putting the sheet on top (after 
pulling it off the bottom) drop it flat on top and push it down rather than 
trying to scoop it in the developer.. that will give you more scratches.  

I use Xtol a lot but I would suggest you try HC110 instead.  It mixes easily.. 
1 ounce to one liter (1 to 31)and you can mix a fresh bath frequently for lots 
of film and mix at the proper temp.  It is a great developer and easy to work 
with.  

If you are having trouble lifting a piece of film out of the holder to check it 
is in right and giving yourself half moons then you should grow a fingernail on 
your index finger.  Very helpful.

If you ever step up to 8x10 film they make a perfect sized glass casserol dish 
for the developer.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Justin F. Knotzke" <jknotzke@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Apr 26, 2005 9:46 AM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Mistakes Galore

  Bonjour La!

  I souped my 4x5's last night. I gotta tell you, this whole LF thing
has been like learning to take pictures all over again. Granted, I've
only been lugging a 35mm around for 2 years now but LF is another
beast entirely. But I am loving it.

   So back to the program. I go through XTOL like Tim Hortons goes
through coffee cups (a little Canadiana for you).

   I use 2 inch deep 8x10 trays to soup my 4x5. I do 3 negs at a time.
Anymore at this stage and I get into trouble. Steve Simmons in his
book says I should use 2L of soup. TWO LITERS! That's a lotta soup. So
I have been using 1.5L. For 4x5, say you are souping 10 negs in all,
how much developer do you use?

   Next, XTOL. Are there any tips on dissolving part B? I get these
giant chunks of white rocks that I have to mash with a jackhammer.
Rather annoying stuff.

   My focusing and exposure and developing issues (minus one) are
settled. Or so it seems. So that's cool. There's been lots of mistakes
along the way.

    My current problem are scratches. I tray develop. I get little
half moon scratches. It looks like I buried my pinkie nail into the
neg. Any idea what causes those? The only thing that comes to mind is
when I load film I slightly bend the film when it is half way into the
holder to see if I got it in the right groove. I've had problems with
not sliding the film in correctly and when I would return the dark
slide, after having made a picture, the slide would smack the film out
the other side and I would curse rather loudly and pretend to throw
ShenHao into the drink.

    But a few of these images have rather deep half moon scratches.

    The cloud images came out (minus the scratch). If I can, I'll scan
it and post it.

    Thanks again

    J



--=20
Justin F. Knotzke
jknotzke@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.shampoo.ca
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