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silver4198
18-May-2011, 13:16
25 Years A Go I Used To Print My Own 120 Color Film In My Darkroom. I Still Have All The Equipment. Now I Want To Start Again. I Bought Fujicolor Cristal Archive Color Paper And Kodak Ra Chemicals.
I Enlarged One 8x10 And After Procesing, Nothing Came Out.
Could Anybody Tell Me What I Did Wrong?

al olson
18-May-2011, 14:02
25 Years A Go I Used To Print My Own 120 Color Film In My Darkroom. I Still Have All The Equipment. Now I Want To Start Again. I Bought Fujicolor Cristal Archive Color Paper And Kodak Ra Chemicals.
I Enlarged One 8x10 And After Procesing, Nothing Came Out.
Could Anybody Tell Me What I Did Wrong?

It could be insufficient exposure from the enlarger or other light source if a contact print.

It could be that the emulsion side of the paper is down instead of toward the light source. This is sometimes an easy mistake to make in the dark.

It could be that the baths, developer and blix, were reversed.

It could be that the developer is contaminated.

It would be helpful if you could explain how you are exposing and processing the paper (i.e. enlarger/contact frame, trays/processor, etc.) Is the paper completely blank or are there traces of image?

matthew klos
18-May-2011, 14:14
When you say nothing cam out, do you mean the paper is totally black? With no image? Give us some more info so we can help!

silver4198
18-May-2011, 15:57
Thanks You For Your Attention
Yes I Can See The Picture, But No Details At All

Greg Lockrey
18-May-2011, 16:00
Not to be flippant, did you expose the paper correct side up?

silver4198
18-May-2011, 16:25
I Used The Ektacolor Ra Developer And Fuji Paper. My Enlarger Is Super Chromega C760.
I Would Appreciate If Anyone Can Tell Me The Steps To Process The Paper With The Chemicals.

silver4198
18-May-2011, 16:34
I Use Drum , My Chemicals Are Ektacolor Ra Developer Ra/4
Ektacolor Blich Fix And Kodak Glacial Acetic Acid For The Stop Bath
My Color Analyzer Readings Are
Magenta 66 Yellow 60 Cyan 44 Printing Time 52 Sec

silver4198
18-May-2011, 17:09
yes greg the paper was side up. i think the problem is in the precessing.
if you know the steps please let me know. in the 70's the developer was only one chemical, now the ektacolor ra4 is 3 steps

Vaughn
18-May-2011, 17:14
I have only used Kodak RA4 in a processor -- Developer, then Bleach/Fix, then wash. No stop bath.

silver4198
18-May-2011, 17:51
how long you give the developer and the blichfix

silver4198
18-May-2011, 17:54
Vaughn, I Have More Than $20,000 In Dark Room Equipment, But I Forget I'sto Used And Today Chemicals Are Different Than In The 70"

al olson
18-May-2011, 18:18
Are you using a safelight to determine the emulsion side? Modern color papers as well as multigrade b&w papers should be processed in total darkness. Sometimes you can get away with a brief use of the safelight when processing b&w.

Greg Blank
18-May-2011, 18:48
The average exposure is 18 seconds at f-8 to f-11, you make a test print at 2 second intervals with a total of 24-30 seconds. RA4 chemistry typically is processed at 32-34 degrees C. for one minute for developer, 30 seconds stop and two minutes BF. I use no safe light for color paper. The emulsion is always face up in the box if you open the paper from the top side of the two part box. Your basic filter pack will be approximately 45Y + 45m with diviations for density of negatives and film base types. If you use these criteria you will certainly get something even if the color is not perfect.


25 Years A Go I Used To Print My Own 120 Color Film In My Darkroom. I Still Have All The Equipment. Now I Want To Start Again. I Bought Fujicolor Cristal Archive Color Paper And Kodak Ra Chemicals.
I Enlarged One 8x10 And After Procesing, Nothing Came Out.
Could Anybody Tell Me What I Did Wrong?

Brian Ellis
18-May-2011, 21:23
Are you using a safelight to determine the emulsion side? Modern color papers as well as multigrade b&w papers should be processed in total darkness. Sometimes you can get away with a brief use of the safelight when processing b&w.

????? Multigrade b&w papers don't need to be processed in total darkrness. They're processed under a safelight. And the safelight doesn't stay on only briefly. The safelight stays on from start of the darkroom session to the end of the session when processing and printing multigrade or graded b&w paper. It doesn't need to be turned off at any point in the process.

Larry Gebhardt
19-May-2011, 04:30
yes greg the paper was side up. i think the problem is in the precessing.
if you know the steps please let me know. in the 70's the developer was only one chemical, now the ektacolor ra4 is 3 steps

The RA4 is still only one step. But to make the developer you need to mix the 3 chemicals as directed on the A bottle. This will give you Developer Replenisher. From there you are supposed to mix 700ml of Developer Replenisher with 25ml of Developer Starter and 275ml of water. I haven't tried it without, but supposedly the Starter is optional.

Then you can add the Developer Replenisher straight to the already mixed developer as you make prints. I use about 20ml per 8x10, making sure to keep the total volume the same. So if you did 5 8x10s in 1 liter you would take 900ml of your used solution (discard any excess over the 900ml) and add 100ml of fresh Developer Replenisher to bring you back to 1 liter. The same works for the BleachFix.

In my processor I have three baths, developer (as mixed above), stop (2% acetic acid), and bleachfix (mixed per the bottles). Each bath is 45seconds @86F. If you are using room temperature trays you will need more time in each.

tgtaylor
19-May-2011, 09:20
25 Years A Go I Used To Print My Own 120 Color Film In My Darkroom. I Still Have All The Equipment. Now I Want To Start Again. I Bought Fujicolor Cristal Archive Color Paper And Kodak Ra Chemicals.
I Enlarged One 8x10 And After Procesing, Nothing Came Out.
Could Anybody Tell Me What I Did Wrong?

Silver4198,

1. Download the following tech Publication from Kodak's web site:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j39/j39.pdf

It will give you the step-by-step procedure for each processing method - tray, manual tank, rotary, etc. If you are processing in open trays, leave the developer starter out. I rotary process and always include the starter- it's cheap. If you follow the Kodak instructions you will get good results.

2. The recommendation given above for a starting filter pack of 0-cyan, 45-yellow and 45-magenta is a good start and will vary from that depending on the film and the color head. With my equipment I have found 0C,45Y, 55M to be a good filter pack with Fuji films. Keep the Cyan setting at zero.

Rotary Processing C-41, RA-4, E-6, and B&W is a piece of cake and detailed step-by-step procedure for each process and method is available for download on the Kodak website.

Thomas

Drew Wiley
19-May-2011, 10:20
There are different kinds of RA chem avail. I personally use Kodak RA/RT starter chem
mixed fresh for each print 83F drums: prewet, 2 min dev, stop, rinse, 2 min blix, six
changes of water wash cycle.

hka
24-May-2011, 05:07
It seems to me that you made a mistake in the used filterpack.
Don't use all of the 3 colors to make corrections.
Normaly you only need Yellow and Magenta to manage the colorcast.
3 filters works like a grayfilter.
Thats why your exposertime is so long.
Hope this helps.