Fr. Mark
14-Nov-2014, 15:36
Dear Large Format Folks:
What is a good combination of film, paper and developers (?toner?) for silver paper prints with as little grain as possible, as smooth a tonal rendition as possible, over as wide a tonal range as possible? For comparison sake let's say I'd like to be able enlarge 35mm negs to 11x14 and not see/be distracted by grain. OK at least 8x10.
I've come to realize I need to get one set of "normal" materials under my control before I get too much further into Xray, Ortho-Litho, alt-printing, etc. I know that UV based contact printing usually requires different negs from silver gelatin, I'll deal with that later.
The printing paper must be Resin Coated Multi-grade. For my time and experience level right now, graded, fiber base paper is too much trouble.
The film must have a reliable speed rating on the box and reciprocity data readily available and real data on developer times and times adjusted for different temperatures (my basement darkroom can be very different ambient temperatures summer and winter for example).
It'd be nice if the film was available for all the cameras I own or am building: 35mm, 4x5 and 8x10 (under construction).
The film and paper must be currently manufactured, readily available, preferably from a variety of vendors. Ditto for developers for film and paper.
Since I sometimes go more than a month w/o darkroom time I lean towards developers that are concentrates used one shot and have a LONG shelf life so I don't have to measure powders, but if I have to measure powders, that's o.k., if I get reliable results and have the temp/time/reciprocity data to get control.
I know mixing your own can hold costs down. There are lots of chemical recipes floating around the internet and in Anchell's darkroom cookbooks, many contradictory ones, plus, chemical companies understandably consider the recipes trade secrets and don't publish them. I'm not afraid of mixing my own chemicals, I have a balance and volume measuring tools and used to be a chemist. I'd rather not be trying to figure out what recipe goes with what data set (I ran into this with Rodinal, big time). I want a reliable, works together set of data and chemicals and film and paper so I can predict what the heck will happen when I expose the film, develop it and print it. I'd rather have bullet proof processing than chase magic bullets at this point. Toward this end, I'm tempted to get film/developer and paper/developer that are made for each other i.e. Tmax film and developer.
Other Equipment: I have built a set of plexiglass tanks to hold a single 8x10 film hanger, volume's a little less than a liter for each tank, I also have porcelain over steel trays in 8x10 and a couple bigger and smaller trays. There's a 35mm enlarger with 50mm lens and base big enough to print 11x14. I've got split back contact printing frames in a couple sizes that I built. The main working camera is a busch pressman D in 4x5 with a 135mm lens f4.7 wide open often used at f22 or so. Shutter is reasonably accurate as far as I can tell (by ear and iPhone app) at least in the middle of the range. The tripod I have is barely adequate for it---it was purchased initially for plein air painting purposes. I also develop 35mm film at home, too, in plastic daylight tank. I might consider a 4x5 or 5x7 enlarger someday. Or the 8x10 under construction might be pressed into service as an enlarger with suitable lenses and an ?LED array? as a light source.
I think I'm eventually heading to alt printing, likely Carbon for its wide scale/tonal range and permanence at a manageable cost (no precious metals). My best cyanotype prints so far are from digital generated negatives which were a LOT easier to make than I've been able to do with a hodgepodge of tylenol/rodinal, ortho-litho and Xray films. the home built UV exposure unit based on bug zapper fluorescent tubes hooked to a graylab timer helps a lot too. Even Arista Edu 100 in home brew Rodinal has given better results than some of the weird stuff. I also know I need to (re)test my ancient safelights and film holders, especially recently acquired 8x10 holders, they are old wooden ones. These may also reveal sources of frustration/fog. And, I know that non-panchromatic films (Xray, Ortholitho) have different film speeds with different colors of light/times of day out of doors. I'll deal with that later, too.
Thanks in advance for any help.
What is a good combination of film, paper and developers (?toner?) for silver paper prints with as little grain as possible, as smooth a tonal rendition as possible, over as wide a tonal range as possible? For comparison sake let's say I'd like to be able enlarge 35mm negs to 11x14 and not see/be distracted by grain. OK at least 8x10.
I've come to realize I need to get one set of "normal" materials under my control before I get too much further into Xray, Ortho-Litho, alt-printing, etc. I know that UV based contact printing usually requires different negs from silver gelatin, I'll deal with that later.
The printing paper must be Resin Coated Multi-grade. For my time and experience level right now, graded, fiber base paper is too much trouble.
The film must have a reliable speed rating on the box and reciprocity data readily available and real data on developer times and times adjusted for different temperatures (my basement darkroom can be very different ambient temperatures summer and winter for example).
It'd be nice if the film was available for all the cameras I own or am building: 35mm, 4x5 and 8x10 (under construction).
The film and paper must be currently manufactured, readily available, preferably from a variety of vendors. Ditto for developers for film and paper.
Since I sometimes go more than a month w/o darkroom time I lean towards developers that are concentrates used one shot and have a LONG shelf life so I don't have to measure powders, but if I have to measure powders, that's o.k., if I get reliable results and have the temp/time/reciprocity data to get control.
I know mixing your own can hold costs down. There are lots of chemical recipes floating around the internet and in Anchell's darkroom cookbooks, many contradictory ones, plus, chemical companies understandably consider the recipes trade secrets and don't publish them. I'm not afraid of mixing my own chemicals, I have a balance and volume measuring tools and used to be a chemist. I'd rather not be trying to figure out what recipe goes with what data set (I ran into this with Rodinal, big time). I want a reliable, works together set of data and chemicals and film and paper so I can predict what the heck will happen when I expose the film, develop it and print it. I'd rather have bullet proof processing than chase magic bullets at this point. Toward this end, I'm tempted to get film/developer and paper/developer that are made for each other i.e. Tmax film and developer.
Other Equipment: I have built a set of plexiglass tanks to hold a single 8x10 film hanger, volume's a little less than a liter for each tank, I also have porcelain over steel trays in 8x10 and a couple bigger and smaller trays. There's a 35mm enlarger with 50mm lens and base big enough to print 11x14. I've got split back contact printing frames in a couple sizes that I built. The main working camera is a busch pressman D in 4x5 with a 135mm lens f4.7 wide open often used at f22 or so. Shutter is reasonably accurate as far as I can tell (by ear and iPhone app) at least in the middle of the range. The tripod I have is barely adequate for it---it was purchased initially for plein air painting purposes. I also develop 35mm film at home, too, in plastic daylight tank. I might consider a 4x5 or 5x7 enlarger someday. Or the 8x10 under construction might be pressed into service as an enlarger with suitable lenses and an ?LED array? as a light source.
I think I'm eventually heading to alt printing, likely Carbon for its wide scale/tonal range and permanence at a manageable cost (no precious metals). My best cyanotype prints so far are from digital generated negatives which were a LOT easier to make than I've been able to do with a hodgepodge of tylenol/rodinal, ortho-litho and Xray films. the home built UV exposure unit based on bug zapper fluorescent tubes hooked to a graylab timer helps a lot too. Even Arista Edu 100 in home brew Rodinal has given better results than some of the weird stuff. I also know I need to (re)test my ancient safelights and film holders, especially recently acquired 8x10 holders, they are old wooden ones. These may also reveal sources of frustration/fog. And, I know that non-panchromatic films (Xray, Ortholitho) have different film speeds with different colors of light/times of day out of doors. I'll deal with that later, too.
Thanks in advance for any help.