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Thread: How do I dupe an 8x10 negative?

  1. #11
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: How do I dupe an 8x10 negative?

    I suspect you will have even more dust spots to deal with after duplicating the original with traditional methods.

    I would just practice on some no-good negatives and then just go for it on the good one.

    If you are abrading the back of the negative to reduce dust spots (like a re-touching machine would do) I would be interested in our results as some day I would like to learn those techniques.

  2. #12

    Join Date
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    Re: How do I dupe an 8x10 negative?

    I found it difficult to make good dupes in a darkroom, partly because the specialized materials that used to be made for this purpose aren't made any more. Plus it was no fun and a lot of work (at least for me). There are at least three problems. First, you'll have to go from your negative to a positive and then back to a negative because dupe film isn't made any more. I tried xray film as Peter mentions and it wasn't any good at all for a photograhic negative though mine wasn't the Fuji brand he mentions, it was a film Freestyle sold as direct negative-to-negative film. I don't know if Freestyle still sells this stuff or not but if you see them advertising negative-to-negative film it's xray film.

    In any event, at both steps you not only lose detail, you also gain contrast. So your first battle is coming up with a developer to minimize the contrast increase. I used two different developers, highly diluted D76 (1-6 I think) and highly diluted Dektol, I don't
    recall the dilution. You could experiment and see what works.

    Using highly diluted developer creates your second problem - the strength of the developer decreases dramatically with each negative/positive you put through it so it becomes difficult to make accurate adjustments to your exposure times and development times. Which also adds to the drudgery because the developer exhausts itself quickly and you need to frequently mix up new batches, get the temperature right, etc. And of course using a fresh batch changes your times once again.

    The third problem is the dust problem you mention. I used a black Marks-a-lot pen for the spots. You can't be very precise with a normal Marks-a-lot pen but if my memory is right it didn't matter, the excess ink surrounding the spots didn't show up in the final print.

    Good luck, making dupes in a darkroom these days is a very time-consuming, frustrating process but if you have even slight masochistic tendencies you might like it.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  3. #13

    Join Date
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    Re: How do I dupe an 8x10 negative?

    ...sorry to plug myself, but help is help.

    regards
    dw

    http://www.filmrecording.net/ABOUT.html

    Quote Originally Posted by John Kasaian View Post
    I want to try fiddeling with a negative but I'd hate to muckup the original so duping seems like the way to go but....uh...how do I go about it? What film should I use, etc...?

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    613

    Re: How do I dupe an 8x10 negative?

    Photo warehouse sells "continuous tone duplicating film" in various sizes. It's almost certainly for Xray duping, but I have no specifics.
    When Kodak was still available i used this as well, as it was and is MUCH cheaper.
    It is slower than the Kodak, but useable. Tough for projection duping with anything other than really well exposed/developed negs. I did many dupes using paper developer and contrast increase is a hazard. Now , when I use it, I use a film developer concentrate and find that contrast increasae is easier to avoid.

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