[pure-silver] Re: New color head "discoveries"
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:01:06 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "J.R. Stewart" <jrstewart@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 4:39 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] New color head "discoveries"
> Well, my Omega Chromega Dichro DII came in last weekend
> and I've begun
> testing. with VC papers. First VC I've printed in 20
> years.
>
> I've been using metol glycine based Ansco130 paper
> developer (modified by AA
> and without hydroquinone).That's where I started. Problem
> is, the hardest
> contrast I was able to get with 0Y/170M was about 0.8 on
> Forte Polygrade V
> (boy is that paper really blue!!) and about 0.6 on Kodak
> Polymax Fine Art.
> The softest contrast comes in about right at 1.8 (polymax)
> and 1.4
> (polygrade).
>
> Glycine is a much softer developer.. is that why I'm able
> to get no more
> than ISO ~3.5 on the VC papers... do the emulsions require
> stronger
> developers for satisfactory development? I tested my
> graded papers under
> white light exposure, developed them in A130, and acquired
> the right scale.
> I developed all the test prints at 6x factorial so I would
> think that would
> be sufficient, and I was able to get max black.
>
> I ran an Ansco 120 test last night. The test prints look
> better, but haven't
> read them yet.
>
> Also, I learned that both of these paper are very
> sensitive to the Thomas
> safelite... I ran a screening test and at 5 minutes
> exposure I got fog that
> appeared as Zone VI reflectance.. So, I move the
> safelight, unplug it, or
> change papers to one less sensitive, and retest. Such is
> life.
>
> J.R. Stewart
> Leesburg, VA
>
May I suggest you use a standard paper developer.
Ansco/Agfa 130 was good stuff but I don't think it really
offers any advantage over other developers. The AA
modification isn't even 130 any more. The elimination of
Hydroquinone will substantially reduce the activity of the
developer.
AA did not like the "green" color produced by Dektol/D-72
type developer. 130 tends toward a more neutral image due to
the Glycin but a small amount of Benzotriazole will
accomplish the same thing with Dektol. Ilford Bromophen is
similar to Dektol but uses Phenidone instead of Metol. It
also contains some Benzotriazole and tends toward more
neutral image color. Recently I've been using Agfa Neutol
Plus, a liquid concentrate containing Phenidone and Ascorbic
Acid. It seems to be a very satisfactory developer. The 1+9
"economy" concentration works fine with about the same
development times I get with Dektol.
Most modern RC papers contain developer so that they can
be used with rapid access "activation" processors. The
presence of the incorporated developer results in the image
coming up faster than otherwise and in less differences
between developers. I don't know what is in the Kodak
developer layer but typically both Phenidone and
Hydroquinone are used. Fiber base paper does not have
incorporated developer nor does most Ilford paper.
The filters of a color head will not give you the full
range of contrast available from VC paper with the use of
dedicated filters. They should give you a couple contrast
grades on either side of "normal" but filters should be used
to obtain the maximum and minimum contrast values.
Dump your Thomas safelight, they are simply not safe with
VC paper. Install old fashioned Kodak OC filters (or red
filters if you can stand working in red light) with low
power lamps as recommended by Kodak. Even with these
exposure to the safelight should be limited. Get Kodak
publication K-4 "How To Test Your Safelight" for a method
that takes into account the pre-exposure effects of
safelight exposure. Remember "there is no such thing as a
safelight" there are only lights which have relatively
little fogging effect. Even a slight fog will have a subtle
"veiling" effect on the prints, graying them down just a
little.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
=============================================================================================================
To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your
account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,)
and unsubscribe from there.
Other related posts:
