Strange Negative

[nray]

I was out at my Dad's yesterday rummaging trough old photos. To my delight I came upon two old negatives. One an 8x10 and the other a 5x7 of a gas station near where he grew up. I couldn't wait to get home and scan them. What a mess. Horrible scans.

Please tell me what kind of a negative this is that these dots show up like this. I know newspaper/magazine photos had been printed like this, but I thought that was done on the printing process not in the negatives.

I am confused.

Thanks.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o131/nray53/scan202.jpg

Closeup:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o131/nray53/scan202B.jpg

[bobwysiwyg]

What scanner was used and what were the settings at scan time?

[Bruce Watson]

That's a half-tone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halftone) screen.

[nray]

That's a half-tone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halftone) screen.

But it is embedded in the negative??

Here is how they are mounted:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o131/nray53/DSC_0001-1.jpg

[nray]

What scanner was used and what were the settings at scan time?

I just scanned for a b&w negative, 8-16 bit grayscale.

[Fred Leif]

Perhaps they are copy negatives taken from a magazine or newspaper ? Or perhaps they were half tone negatives made for burning a plate to use in a printing press ... looks like a lot of ruby-lith was applied to it.

[Nathan Potter]

As Bruce says. That's a half tone negative made from the original continuous tone negative. It's ready for plate burning and etching and even has the original edge tape - often used for defining the edge of the image.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[BrianShaw]

23 cents per gallon??? That must be an old picture.

When I was a kid, now a long time ago, Sinclair had a dinosaur (Brontosaurus, I think) as a mascot. I always went with my Dad to fill up the tank... just to see the dino!

[Michael Jones]

23 cents per gallon??? That must be an old picture.

When I was a kid, now a long time ago, Sinclair had a dinosaur (Brontosaurus, I think) as a mascot. I always went with my Dad to fill up the tank... just to see the dino!

Hey watch it! When I was in high school we had a gas war for months and I remember filling up for 17.4 cents per gallon.


BTW, that was his (it's?) name: Dino.

Mike

[r_a_feldman]

When I was a kid, now a long time ago, Sinclair had a dinosaur (Brontosaurus, I think) as a mascot. I always went with my Dad to fill up the tank... just to see the dino!

Apatosaurus. There now is no such animal as a Brontosaurus, as that name was decided to have been incorrectly applied to fossils of the earlier-named Apatosaurus.

[nray]

Ok...thanks guys.

My Dad worked for Sinclair. In fact, I think he co-owned this station and was probably why he had the negatives. Why it was made this way though is a mystery.

[Bruce Watson]

Why it was made this way though is a mystery.

Not really -- it's what Nate said earlier. These are half tone negs for plate burning. Perhaps he kept them on file to be used when he wanted to run ads in the local paper. This is how we got photographs on newsprint before the digital era.

[Merg Ross]

Not really -- it's what Nate said earlier. These are half tone negs for plate burning. Perhaps he kept them on file to be used when he wanted to run ads in the local paper. This is how we got photographs on newsprint before the digital era.

Exactly. As I recall, we used an 85 line screen for newspaper and I don't believe that the lith film had a notch. This is from memory as a process cameraman many moons ago.

[Nathan Potter]

Merg, you may be right. I don't remember notches on the old lith film either that was used for the old Framingham MA News. I'm trying to think if old Kodalith ortho had notches - I'm kinda thinking not.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[BrianShaw]

I'm trying to think if old Kodalith ortho had notches - I'm kinda thinking not.

My recollection: Not.

p.s. wasn't 85 line for the high-brow newpapers? I seem to remember 72 lines for some odd reason.

[Merg Ross]

Merg, you may be right. I don't remember notches on the old lith film either that was used for the old Framingham MA News. I'm trying to think if old Kodalith ortho had notches - I'm kinda thinking not.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

Nate, that's correct, no notches on Kodalith ortho; same for the 3M litho film that I was familiar with. I guess with all of that light in the processing/camera room there was no confusion as to emulsion side.

[sun of sand]

kodalith autoscreen was developed in like the late 50's to do this
probably 10 good years after these negatives but tossing it out there

[rdenney]

As Bruce says. That's a half tone negative made from the original continuous tone negative. It's ready for plate burning and etching and even has the original edge tape - often used for defining the edge of the image.

Or for attaching the screened negative to a bigger sheet of opaque material prior to using it in a contact frame to expose the offset plate. The offset plates are orthochromatic and very slow, and in those days required a carbon-arc lamp to expose them. I made a bunch of those at age 15 when I was learning darkroom and printing processes from an old photographer/printer. I think gas might have been about 23 cents a gallon when I was 15.

To the OP--the offset plates would have been used to print advertising brochures or the like in quantity. The printer probably gave the negatives to your dad as a courtesy.

Rick "no stranger to Ruby-Lith" Denney