B&W darkroom problems
Mar 13, 2017 10:25:19 #
ricardo7 wrote:
The filter box/instructions should give you a filter factor. As I recall, a dark red filter might need as much as 3 stops more light
than without the filter. (Not 3 more from a TTL meter reading).
than without the filter. (Not 3 more from a TTL meter reading).
I always found it better to read a photographic gray card without the filter — in the same light falling on my subject, from the subject's position, if possible — then adjust that exposure by the filter factor. Older film camera meters are easy to fool when they read through filters. Their spectral response varies a bit with the color.
Delta-1 Gray Cards are available in most serious camera stores and online camera retailers. A two-pack of 8x10 cards is about $13.
Mar 13, 2017 11:09:23 #
jelecroy
Loc: Huntsville, AL
If you are using a camera with TTL metering, the meter should make compensation for filters unnecessary, as long as you are using panchromatic film.
The extra stops needed for a red filter applied when using films that have low red sensitivity. IIRC, Kodak's Verichrome was such a film, with low red sensitivity. Pictures taken with Verichrome showed artifacts like very dark lips and almost black-looking roses. I think that the old Verichrome emulsion was replaced by Verichrome Pan in the early sixties.
If your contacts look good - what light did you use to make them? A #2 filter, or no filter is what I'd generally use for contact sheets. That may be telling you that the issue is with darkroom lighting. I imagine the exposure time for your contact sheet was brief, just a few seconds. If the exposure time was substantially longer for enlargements, so was the exposure to safelight, which could wash out your prints.
Other ways to lose contrast in enlarging you might check:
a. Take a close look at your enlarger lens. is it clean - or is there any fog on the glass. What f-stop did you use? I prefer two stops closed from wide open. Wider and you get some excess flare, smaller and sharpness is reduced due to diffraction.
b. Assuming you have a condenser enlarger, check the condenser position. Is it correct for the focal length lens you are using for enlarging
c. If your lens board has a plastic stem to carry light out to illuminate the lens f-stop, make sure that the silvering at the 45 degree end is intact, and that the red filter at top is also solid - else that feature is passing white light to your easel.
Good Luck!
Jerry
The extra stops needed for a red filter applied when using films that have low red sensitivity. IIRC, Kodak's Verichrome was such a film, with low red sensitivity. Pictures taken with Verichrome showed artifacts like very dark lips and almost black-looking roses. I think that the old Verichrome emulsion was replaced by Verichrome Pan in the early sixties.
If your contacts look good - what light did you use to make them? A #2 filter, or no filter is what I'd generally use for contact sheets. That may be telling you that the issue is with darkroom lighting. I imagine the exposure time for your contact sheet was brief, just a few seconds. If the exposure time was substantially longer for enlargements, so was the exposure to safelight, which could wash out your prints.
Other ways to lose contrast in enlarging you might check:
a. Take a close look at your enlarger lens. is it clean - or is there any fog on the glass. What f-stop did you use? I prefer two stops closed from wide open. Wider and you get some excess flare, smaller and sharpness is reduced due to diffraction.
b. Assuming you have a condenser enlarger, check the condenser position. Is it correct for the focal length lens you are using for enlarging
c. If your lens board has a plastic stem to carry light out to illuminate the lens f-stop, make sure that the silvering at the 45 degree end is intact, and that the red filter at top is also solid - else that feature is passing white light to your easel.
Good Luck!
Jerry
Mar 13, 2017 11:22:22 #
lsupremo
Loc: Palm Desert, CA
Thanks for the post, I think, it made me envious of the good old days gone bye.
The smell, the long nights in the red lights, watching the image appear in the tray.
The smell, the long nights in the red lights, watching the image appear in the tray.
Mar 13, 2017 11:35:32 #
Mar 13, 2017 11:37:33 #
One of the oldest tests for camera metering is simply does the meter agree with the old f/16 rule.under bright sun with the sun at your back. If not Suspect the meter ,The sun is a constant. also film being rated at 400 it doesn't mean your camera shutter and lens are 100% accurate. Most are off to a degree.Most photographers have to find the rating that works best for them,not what the film ,maker says.
Mar 13, 2017 11:44:33 #
I'm assuming the negs you were printing from were shot with fresh film.
From what you are doing now I could only offer a few suggestions.
- possibly kick up film developing time a bit. Are you able to "read" the negs? How does contrast look on them? Do you have older negs to compare against?
- how are you determining print exposure time? Test strips - meter?
-- possibly try some fixed contrast paper - rather than variable contrast. Loved VC - but sometimes it didn't have the punch as fixed contrast.
From what you are doing now I could only offer a few suggestions.
- possibly kick up film developing time a bit. Are you able to "read" the negs? How does contrast look on them? Do you have older negs to compare against?
- how are you determining print exposure time? Test strips - meter?
-- possibly try some fixed contrast paper - rather than variable contrast. Loved VC - but sometimes it didn't have the punch as fixed contrast.
Mar 13, 2017 12:28:44 #
Two things I would look at, proper agitation. My old Kodak book lists agitation for the first 10 seconds and then every 30sec there after. Agitation for small tank as being inverted every second. Note that too little agitation gives low contrast and possiby uneven development. Too much agitation especially vigerous agitation (making a martini) induces sprocket marks. The second thing I would do is remove all CFL, Fluorescent, and LED lights from your dark room. Replace them with old style incandescent lamps. These new lights tend to glow a while after turned off, the 4ft tubes can glow for mor than an hour. They also give off a bit of UV light that you cannot see. We used color heads for our enlargers at the university and just dialed in the contrast contrast. You may be able to pick one up for pennies. Enjoy you time in the dark...
Mar 13, 2017 12:41:01 #
Mar 13, 2017 13:12:39 #
Mar 13, 2017 13:22:09 #
Sounds like good advice.
Seems like there was a primitive test we used to do to see if lights in the darkroom were "safe".
Take a sheet of photo paper - keeping it is the foil envelope - turn all lights out in the darkroom. Remove the paper - place it on the work surface -place a penny - or other smaller object on the paper - then turn the "safe l8ghts" on - leave that way for some time (30 min?)
Then develope the paper.
If lighting is safe you shouldn't be able to see where the solid object was
Seems like there was a primitive test we used to do to see if lights in the darkroom were "safe".
Take a sheet of photo paper - keeping it is the foil envelope - turn all lights out in the darkroom. Remove the paper - place it on the work surface -place a penny - or other smaller object on the paper - then turn the "safe l8ghts" on - leave that way for some time (30 min?)
Then develope the paper.
If lighting is safe you shouldn't be able to see where the solid object was
Mar 13, 2017 13:32:49 #
CD, have you checked the quality of your enlarging lens? If you're not using the high end Nikkor, Schneider or Rodenstock lens but the low end ones, the quality of your prints would suffer. Your existing lens could have a fine coating of dust or maybe fungus if it was not properly stored. I've even seen lenses coated with tobacco smoke which would lower the contrast!
All the previous suggestions are correct SOP. Dektol is usually diluted 1:2 and we often used it 1:1 or even straight when the highest contrast filter wasn't enough for a good white highlight in the print and a true #4 contrast graded paper was not available.
Cheers! Ed
All the previous suggestions are correct SOP. Dektol is usually diluted 1:2 and we often used it 1:1 or even straight when the highest contrast filter wasn't enough for a good white highlight in the print and a true #4 contrast graded paper was not available.
Cheers! Ed
Mar 13, 2017 14:31:22 #
CusopDingle wrote:
Jerry and Ricardo, br br Thank you for the commen... (show quote)
I agree with others that the negatives are probably under-developed. One contributor could be your agitation interval. It seems long compared to my experience.
Mar 13, 2017 15:05:04 #
Mar 13, 2017 15:43:49 #
The negative tells the story...take a nice close up of a negative on a light box or at a window with daylight backlighting it.
Also as others have said, if you are using a #4 filter and still don't have enough contrast...then you need to develop longer.
BTW: did you try with a #5?
PS: For a real eye opener; print a contact sheet so that the rebate clear part of the film just goes black. Print a test strip and pick the one where the clear part is black and you cannot discern the sprocket holes.
Then make a contact sheet at those settings.
How do your images look? properly exposed? That really tells a lot about your exposure, that's a good starting place for error checking.
Also as others have said, if you are using a #4 filter and still don't have enough contrast...then you need to develop longer.
BTW: did you try with a #5?
PS: For a real eye opener; print a contact sheet so that the rebate clear part of the film just goes black. Print a test strip and pick the one where the clear part is black and you cannot discern the sprocket holes.
Then make a contact sheet at those settings.
How do your images look? properly exposed? That really tells a lot about your exposure, that's a good starting place for error checking.
Mar 13, 2017 16:48:47 #
burkphoto wrote:
img src="https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/images/s... (show quote)
would it not be simpler to find a fairly uniform surface meter it with the film camera and a digital the two camera's should meter the same if not you repeat with different light. Admittedly it doesn't mean the camera is applying those settings. Which could be another issue.
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