My first 8x10

[Scott Walker]

Sinar P2, Nikor-M 450mm, f32 @ .4, FP4 developed in Ilfotec, printed on Ilford multigrade RC deluxe

The focus falls off towards the left side of the fence which I should have caught and although detail is not apparent in the shadows of the contact print they are there in the negative. I also think a little filtration would have helped but it is a bit late now for that. I do not have an enlarger or timer yet so development was done by listening to M79 (Vampire Weekend) on repeat and counting the beat after the second time through to come up with an accurate development time, that seemed to work. The contact printing part was frustrating, it was basically turn the room light on and count, one one thousand, two one thousand……..then shut the light off. 100 watt bulb only gave me about a 2 second exposure which was impossible to even begin to control so I switched to 60 and then 40 watt which gave me about 15 seconds if I stood in the way so there was no direct light being used.

I would appreciate feedback, good, bad or just to tell me I'm ugly

It has been 15 years since I have used a large format camera and although I know that I have lots to learn I had underestimated how much I had to remember.

[Mark Sawyer]

I would appreciate feedback, good, bad or just to tell me I'm ugly

It looks really good! But you're still ugly!

Very even development, which seems to be a big challenge for 8x10 negative developing. I see just a touch of overdevelopment along the right-hand edge, probably from getting a little more agitation there, but not bad and easily corrected once you can start burning and dodging. Get your darkroom set up! You need that control!

I also think a little filtration would have helped...

A yellow or orange filter for the sky, perhaps?

Great first 8x10 image, btw!

[Brian Ellis]

[QUOTE=Scott Walker . . . I do not have an enlarger or timer yet so development was done by listening to M79 (Vampire Weekend) on repeat and counting the beat after the second time through to come up with an accurate development time, that seemed to work. The contact printing part was frustrating, it was basically turn the room light on and count, one one thousand, two one thousand……..then shut the light off. 100 watt bulb only gave me about a 2 second exposure which was impossible to even begin to control so I switched to 60 and then 40 watt which gave me about 15 seconds if I stood in the way so there was no direct light being used. . . . [/QUOTE]

With respect to a timer, you can go to any music supply store and buy a digital metronome that will count off in seconds for about $15.

With respect to your light, rather than changing bulbs to adjust the exposure time try to set up the light so that it can be raised or lowered as needed. Your negatives won't all have the same density range and once you're set up to do it it's a lot easier to adjust the distance of the bulb from the paper to change exposure times than it is to change bulbs all the time.

I thought it was useful to put the bulb in a flood lamp holder of the kind you can buy at any hardware store for a few dollars rather than using a bare bulb. The flood lamp holder helps spread the light more evenly (at least that's the theory).

If you have a spot meter or a 35mm or digital camera with a spot meter you should set your bulb at the lowest height you'll be using, turn on the light, put a piece of white paper in the easel or under the glass, then meter the center and the corners of the paper to make sure the light is even all around the paper. If it isn't even then raise the height of the bulb until it is and go to a higher wattage bulb if raising the head results in exposure times that are too long.

Those are my suggestions, they worked well for me when I used to contact print.