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Thread: f/stop timer?

  1. #1
    Richard Rees's Avatar
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    f/stop timer?

    Looking for the pro's and con's of using a f/stop timer, and what brand would you recommend or not recommend, thanks Richard

  2. #2
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: f/stop timer?

    I have and RH Design Stopclock professional. I love it. I don't know of any con's. I's my favorite piece of darkroom gear. http://www.rhdesigns.co.uk/darkroom/...fessional.html

    There's also: http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
    Mr. Linden is a member here, and he's very helpful. I expect it's a great timer, but I haven't used one.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  3. #3
    kev curry's Avatar
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    Re: f/stop timer?

    Same here best thing Ive bought for the darkroom. The Stopclock pro is an awesome piece of kit. It makes f/stop and split grade printing easy and pleasurable. As far as companies go it dosent get any better for customer service than RH Designs.

  4. #4
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: f/stop timer?

    The main advantage of an F-stop timer is that time changes, and dodges and burns, become very intuitive. In addition test strips become evenly spaced.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  5. #5
    Format Omnivore Brian C. Miller's Avatar
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    Re: f/stop timer?

    I bought the RH Designs Analyzer Pro. Really a handy device! The customer service is excellent, too.

  6. #6

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    Re: f/stop timer?

    RH Designs Stop Clock Pro is really the next best invention since the cheese
    I don't nearly use all the features but as said it is very intuitive to use it when you think in camera terms instead of seconds.

  7. #7

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    Re: f/stop timer?

    I use RH Designs Stopclock Pro. Couldn't do without it at this point. It has two channels which makes split grade printing very easy. It has a test strip mode that allows you to expose each strip at a fraction of a stop more than the previous strip. It has additional channels that allow you to program in multiple burns such as edge burning or any other burn as f-stop increments to the primary exposure. It allows you to adjust the fractional f-stop increments for each step of exposure from 1/24 stop to 1 stop. I use 1/6 stop most of the time. It has a function to account for dry down. Once you test for drydown percentage (e.g. 7%) then you program that number in, generate your final, fine, wet print - then punch the drydown compensation button to expose the sheets of paper that will dry down to look like the wet print.

    It is a huge time saver and it allows me to do complex exposure sequences that I never would have attempted with a regular timer, at least without a lot of swearing. There are many threads on this with more details. I think they make regular timers obsolete.

  8. #8
    Richard Rees's Avatar
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    Re: f/stop timer?

    Thanks for all the great info, after reading WAY BEYOND MONOCHROME the idea of a f/stop timer makes sense. Thanks again, Richard

  9. #9

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    Re: f/stop timer?

    I think that there are advantages to each. I own an RHDesigns timer, but sure wish it could display the exposure time directly in stops rather than in seconds. I do not find it intuitive that 13.454 seconds is 1/2 stop more than 9.514 seconds. I understand that the Darkroom Automation f-Stop Timer dispenses with seconds altogether and instead displays similar times as 3.7 and 3.2 stops (relative to 1 second) respectively. After a little practice, I found this handy and intuitive.

    Darkroom Automation published a very hand pdf file of a timer face marked in stops that can be printed, cut out and taped to the face of a common GraLab timer.

    The RHDesigns timer has finer resolution, to 1/24th of a stop vs. Darkroom Automation's 0.1 stop, but I find that 1/6th of a stop change is sometimes hard to perceive in the print so this may not be an important advantage.

    RHDesigns expressed amusement at my suggestion that they incorporate a mode displaying time in stops, and claimed that nobody had ever asked for that before.

    Neither company picked up on my suggestion to use a spin knob to adjust the exposure time. Spinning the knob clockwise past 12 o'clock to the 6 o'clock position would add 1/2 stop, or counterclockwise to the 9 o'clock position would subtract 1/4 stop.

  10. #10

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    Re: f/stop timer?

    aduncanson,

    Interesting thoughts. I think it takes some time to get used to either system, RH Designs of Darkroom Automation. I have never used the DA timer but I suspect it takes time to get a feel for how many seconds are in "3.2" on the timer.

    When I do dodges or burns I still like to count seconds in my head because I can't count in stops. On the RH timer, I might want to dodge a face in a photo by 1/3 stop, but I can easily figure out that that is, for example, 4.5 seconds by pushing the down button twice in the 1/6 stop mode which I usually use. So it is a simple matter of counting 4-5 seconds of dodge time during the main exposure. I am not sure how I would do that with a stops only display without extra steps.

    I agree that the time measurements are not intuitive values for f-stop differences. However, it rarely matters. For example, whatever my base exposure time is, I might do a 2/6 stop edge burn. I just push the program button for the first edge burn and then the up button twice and repeat for each edge. I don't even have to look at the timer. But I like being able to see the seconds so I don't end up giving myself a 1 second dodge/burn that is impossible to do reliably.

    I doubt the differences of 1/24 stop vs. 0.1 stop between the two make much difference.

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