Lodima contact printing

[Eamonn Doyle]

Hi..
I've just received a couple of boxes of Lodima paper.
How similar or different is it to my previous contact printing set up.. ?
Im using an enlarger for my lightsource.. and standard multi grade ilford paper and developer.

Will Lodima work with any standard developer ? I know Amidol is suggested. But will other standard devlopers like Ilford multigrade work ?

Should I expect my exposure and development times to change a lot ?

Sorry if this has already been asked before..
Thanks
Eamonn

[RPNugent]

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/AzoForum/default.asp

Your best source for info on Lodima is Michel Smith's site. You will need a brighter bulb than an enlarger unless you want extremely long exposure times (multiple minutes at least if even possible under an enlarger). Read the AZO info pages on Michael's site for recommended bulbs etc.

[Eamonn Doyle]

Thanks for that Bob !!

[Doremus Scudder]

I also second going to Michael and Paula's site.

If you are contact printing, try using a light bulb suspended over your printing frame. I used 25 and 15w bulbs hooked to my regular timer/footswitch set up. You may need something stronger with Lodima if it's very slow. Getting used to printing with the room fully illuminated takes just a few times. Dodging and burning are a bit trickier, but work the same way as with a collimated source like an enlarger.

Best,

Doremus Scudder

[Michael Kadillak]

When you have a 300W R40 bulb blazing above your head a visor is a great suggestion as is an audible metronome.

[Jan Pedersen]

300W work well with Azo paper but my experience with the Lodima paper is that a 75W bulb will give you close to the same exposure time as a 300W bulb with Azo.

[Brian Ellis]

Assuming Lodima is basically Azo (I've used Azo extensively, never used Lodima) any developer will "work" but different developers will produce different tones. Amidol and Azo produced a warm toned print for me. The developer other than Amidol that I was using during the period when I was also using Azo (can't remember what it was but it wasn't Dektol) produced an obviously cooler tone. Just experiment a little, see what you like.

My enlarger's light source (Aristo 4500VCL) didn't produce a bright enough light to make contact printing feasible when the head was raised high enough to light the paper evenly. I did as Doremus suggested above and suspended a light bulb above the paper. Place the light high enough so that the paper is lit evenly from corner to corner, which you can check with a spot meter. The type of light doesn't matter to the print tone but graded papers in general respond more quickly to bluish light sources if you're looking for speed.

[Jim Noel]

I just remove the lens from the enlarger and turn the VC-CLS head to all blue.
Works great with reasonable printing times.

[Eamonn Doyle]

Thanks very much everyone... I have an office lamp with a 150w bulb so I'm going to try that !!
Eamonn

[Chauncey Walden]

I use a 40W bulb in a metal reflector at 3 feet distance.