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rthollenbeck
21-Nov-2013, 17:32
Is anyone here contact printing with just an overhead lamp?
Do you feel you have achieved even illumination?
I've heard of using an overhead light but have always contact printed in the past using an enlarger for illumination.



No Doubt this question has be posed somewhere else on the web, so please except my apologies in advance for not doing an exhaustive enough search

vinny
21-Nov-2013, 17:36
Edward Weston did, is that good enough?

Greg Y
21-Nov-2013, 18:58
I do all my contact printing on Azo & Lodima with an overhead lamp..... My darkroom looks funny... a Beseler 45 MX w cold light , A Durst 5x7 138.... & a spun aluminum reflector with a light bulb. Even illumination with all of them...

rthollenbeck
21-Nov-2013, 19:38
Greg

I have had several darkrooms in the past, but I don't have room for one now. In particular I don't have room for an 8x10 enlarger. Fortunately I have access to a L.F. darkroom for printing. Keeping as much of the process at home is desirable. I want to set up to rotary process my B&W negatives by use of dark bag. I was looking at an Inglis Contact Frame and an overhead lamp to contact print in my bath or closet.

A little assurance from someone actually doing contact printing that way, that they get good results, is valuable! Thanks

Vaughn
21-Nov-2013, 19:40
Mine are with overhead lamps...about 12" above the glass of the contact printing frame. The lamps are 750W self-ballasted mercury vapor lamps. I have a few of these set-ups...Mogul bases (picture a huge floating red eyeball with that name...Mogul!) -- over-size lamp fixtures firmly attached to a 1x4, or 1x6, four-foot long board, switches on top. Just prop the boards between two somethings (my favorite are stacked chairs), plug them in and all's ready to rock and roll. A mobile UV - alternative printing exposarama! I try not to hang out in the same room as the lamps. And since exposure times range from 30 minutes to 2 hours, I do not do any burning or dodging. I have to print alone now -- ever since I got busted for operating an unlicenced tanning salon.

I am (slowly) setting up my own darkroom...and I will have more sofisticated ancient UV beasts -- plate-burners (NuArc).

I am quite happy with the even results. The below is a 11x14 carbon print. I think I went with an extra chair up in the stack to lift the bulb a little, going from 8x10 to the 11x14's: two stacks of 4 chairs each, board suspended between the stacks (board-ends resting on the chairs' seats) and over the printing frame on the floor, and there is a large fan blowing air across the top of the printing frame to keep the glass (and carbon tissue) relatively cool during the long exposures (otherwise the gelatin gets runny...and it happens to be in contact with the negative)

PS...I have used a clip-on lamp (with general round silvery reflector) with a low wattage bulb for Azo (contact silver paper) paper. I clipped it onto the enlarger (D5-XL) and could raise and lower the lamp easily, as well as being hooked into the enlarging timer. The reflector kept the light from bouncing all over the room and in my eyes. Exposure seemed even enough.

mdm
21-Nov-2013, 23:02
For silver contacts I just use a low wattage bulb in the ceiling light fitting, at night. My exposures are usually 4 to 8 seconds. Just use a contact printing frame for the paper and negative. Very quick and easy compared to scanning and printing digitally or making alt prints.

Daniel Stone
21-Nov-2013, 23:57
Edward Weston did, is that good enough?

yup, and he did it well too! Despite his "limitations: ;):

105125

C_Remington
22-Nov-2013, 04:54
How do you apply contrast filters then.

mathieu Bauwens
22-Nov-2013, 05:43
You can use graded paper. It's possible to win one grade with Azo paper and a bath of water.

Roger Thoms
22-Nov-2013, 10:20
How do you apply contrast filters then.

Normally if I contact print onto variable contrast paper I use an enlarger, but recently while visiting my folks I set up a temporally darkroom in their laundry. For a light source I ended up with a clamp light from Home Depot, the one they sell with the small reflector and a small 7 watt frosted bulb. I made a filter holder out of card board to hold Ifford VC filters. Here's a couple pictures of the reflector with the filter holder.

Roger

Cletus
23-Nov-2013, 08:12
For contact printing on ordinary VC printing paper, I just use my enlarger, usually at around f8 and in the neighborhood of 30-45 seconds; ample opportunity for dodging and burning if necessary. I also use Lodima graded paper for special prints, in which case I use my "desk lamp", which is a triple 15W halogen bulb fixture, sitting about 30" above the print frame, which would be about where my iPad is in the picture. (See quickie sideways iPhone pic)

105212

Using the slower, graded Lodima paper, which is similar to AZO, requires exposures in the three minute range and I've never had issues with uneven exposure using this lighting setup. If you're worried, you can move your print frame around a bit during the exposure, but after once or twice trying this, I found it made no difference. There's obviously no use for contrast filters using graded paper, but I've found that if you carefully expose and process your film - after spending some time learning your materials - you can usually nail a G-2 contrast negative. I also have G-3 Lodima on hand, but only occasionally need it.

FWIW - I used to lust after an Inglis Contact Printer myself and came very close to purchasing one a while back. Fortunately, I saw the light (pardon pun) just in time and realized that I was getting excellent results using a plain old negative proofing frame, which gives you plenty of "pressure". I do have a quality spring-back CP frame as well, but even this is overkill and more trouble than it's worth for simple contact printing. You'll eventually do what you like, but I'd not be too quick to dunk $500+ on the Inglis CP'er before you've spent some time doing it the 'normal way' and studying your results.

ShannonG
23-Nov-2013, 08:23
I like the look of one bare bulb,even better i like the look of using a small light or flash light to paint with light giving different sections of the print more light than others.I think its a personal preference.experimenting is fun.

John Bowen
30-Nov-2013, 16:24
The OP owes it to himself to visit michaelandpaula.com and check out the Azo forum. There is a wealth of information there regarding contact printing and most of us use bare bulbs. Welcome to the club!
The link to the Azo forum is http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/AzoForum/default.asp

rthollenbeck
1-Dec-2013, 17:32
Great web-site.

Thanks!

John Kasaian
1-Dec-2013, 18:54
I have a second (maybe third or fourth?) hand old 35mm enlarger for a light source--it has a very small base board. I plug it into a no-name Bakelite timer and use some old GE Guide Lamps for a safe light (I have a short string of red led Christmas lights, too, I bought two years ago at an after Christmas sale at the CVS. Those old GE guide lamps are almost 40 years old and ain't gonna last forever!) I use a Printfile contact printer(easier than a plain sheet of heavy glass IMHO, I used to use a small, thick glass table top I bought at a Pier 1) three plastic trays, and just outside the front door my Versa-lab print washer double tasks by watering the gardenias as it washes my prints. I built a half dozen old school drying screens for drying prints and use an old "frog eyes" dry press for flattening with Kirkland parchment paper from Costco for release paper and if I dry mount, I've got a tacking iron off eBay and have a polished agate(?) chess board my parents brought home from a Mexican cruise in '80 to use as a weight. It works for me!:)