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Thanks Michael,

I'm happy with what I'm doing now, but if I could streamline my workflow, especially wash time, by using stronger fix for a shorter time, it might be useful at times when...

Michael,

Thanks for this. I was unaware of the research and the fact that 30 seconds will do the job. My reservation with using stronger fixer for prints was what to do about drain time,...

I don't much like the designation either. However, there is ample historical precedent and usage to at least acknowledge its existence and commonly-used meaning. The term is a left-over from when...

Not so bad for an AI-generated abstract... Still, lots of details missing :)

Doremus

Add to all this the fact that used film developer in a dilution for one-shot development is, well... used. It is likely very close to exhaustion if not already there. The number of prints you might...

The floor drain should work fine if all the other plumbing/venting/anti-siphon systems are in order.

How you dispose of photochemistry is a separate question. For a low-volume black-and-white...

I worked in a darkroom for years in which the sink and everything else just drained into a floor drain. Absolutely no problems ever.

Doremus

Build yourself a sink overlay out of epoxy-painted plywood that just fits in the space. Make it with splashboards and a drain that drains down into the sink. Rig up a way to get water up to it from...

I second this. Find a piece of laminate countertop, either a big enough scrap or a cutout (think Habitat for Humanity thrift store or some used builders' supply place). Go ahead and get a piece...

Michael,

It seems like you're in over your head; like the drowning man in the graphic :) Maybe it's Hubble?

Doremus

Get the 90mm first, then see if you really need/want wider. I have both and use the 90mm much, much more than the 65mm.

Also, be aware that there are two "flavors" of 90mm lenses: big and fast...

I won't go back either.

I remember in 2009 having an entire day to myself in Lower Antelope canyon. It was the off-season (February), the gate to the site was locked with a sign directing people...

All that you need for overall good focus is parallelism between negative, lens and baseboard planes. The tolerances are not so fine as to not be feasible with good cabinetmaking skills. Even if...

I have a twofold strategy. I installed two 12x12" lightproof vents in the walls when building the darkroom. I framed in the vents and sealed everything. One side has a removable cover; inside is a...

The whole point of moving away from a test strip made in equal intervals is to avoid the unevenness of exposure in the sequence of stripes. With a set time increment, that the amount of density...

BW-65 is a glycin developer. Glycin is rumored to give a certain "glow" to highlights. I found it to just be a subtle coloration of the emulsion that showed in the whiter areas of the print. I...

Well, I've made the chart and have it with me, but it's just the exposure compensation. That said, all I have to do is measure and apply the appropriate compensation; zero calculating anything. If I...

Well, getting situated in front of my camera lens to measure the apparent aperture usually is either impossible or puts me in mortal danger :) And, I have similar problems placing a target in the...

Set up for a shot, remove the back and look. You'll see if the bellows are sagging into the image area. Many bellows have a D-ring on a strap in the middle of the bellows that can be hitched up to...

Peter,

Glad you've found everything you needed. Sourcing mounting supplies seems to be getting more difficult.

Just FYI, I've never really used release paper, opting instead for a one-ply...

I've had problems with some films (TMY especially) retaining lots of dye when processed in PKK, a normal acid stop and Hypam or Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4. In the case of TMY, some batches were almost...

Gary,

You have, in order from your eye to the lens, a protective glass cover, a Fresnel screen made of acrylic, and a frosted glass with grid marks.

The cover glass is fragile, but just glass....

Peter,

BufferMount is available in rolls if you don't mind cutting your own sheets. That's what I do now. Just Google search; I found several.
Trimount should be similar to ColorMount, if I'm...

+1. Michael has your answer

Sébastien,

I'll try to keep it simple.

Front tilt moves the plane of focus from vertical toward horizontal. It is good for things like flat fields with no trees, etc.
A tiny bit of front...

If it is working-strength solution it may have gone bad. If you are referring to the concentrate, it will likely still be good.

To test do two things. First pour a bit of the fixer into a clear...

I own both. An older El-Nikkor 150mm and a rather newer 135mm. Both deliver superb results. I use the 150 mostly, but switch without hesitation to the 135mm when I need to make a substantial crop...

Rick makes a good point. If there is a Fresnel screen of a focal length not well-suited to the lens focal length, there would be a definite hot spot.

The OP, however, has what look like loading...

Apertures nowadays are marked in f-numbers. The "f" stands for "focal length." These numbers are always given as fractions of the focal length of the lens. f/8, therefore, means that the optical...

Good question. A photo of the set-up in action would help.

Doremus

The former seems to indicate that the bellows may have blocked the light, or maybe some other obstructions. The image canted on the film indicates that the film was improperly loaded in the holder,...

Let's see... opening the aperture one stop doubles the amount of light hitting the paper. Decreasing it on stop halves the light hitting the paper.

Therefore, closing one stop would require twice...

Some Foma papers (e.g., Fomabrom 111) need a red safelight; the amber ones (OC filter) fog them fairly rapidly.

Using a red filter instead of an amber filter is fine; it's the shorter wavelengths...

Let's see... There seems to be a 240mm Tele-Xenar telephoto that was designed for the 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" (90x120mm) film format. If that's what you have, it may not cover 4x5 completely; you'll see...

Andrew,

I'll just address your question to me. First, though, please note the correction in post #11, pointed out by acrobatic_citron (thanks a_c). I hope that didn't confuse the issue for you. ...

Thanks for the correction! Typing too fast and not thinking clearly, obviously. Yes, f/22- , which is 1/3 stop more light than f/22.

I apologize to the OP and the rest following this thread...

Kino is right that we need more information. Kino is mistaken, however, that extending the bellows past infinity focus will reduce the image circle; just the opposite, extending the bellows...

Thanks Peter!

Glad you found the percentage method helpful. FWIW, I've standardized on just one sequence at 30% intervals (25% works too, but I've found that 30% is not too wide to be able to...

Andy,

There are a range of shutter speeds; some of them are off more than others, e.g., some are 2/3 stop too slow, some only 1/3 stop too slow. If you can get your head around my method, I'll do...

Here's my table of shutter speeds in milliseconds with corresponding approximate 1/3-stop fractions.

When I get my shutters tested, I convert the time in milliseconds to the closest 1/3-stop...