ajmartinez
4-Jan-2012, 12:16
So, I have a few negatives to enlarge now and was all set to jump into the darkroom to get that done but I ran into a bit of a problem. My exposure times with the enlarger set for a 4x5" negative are less than 2 seconds at f/22 on a 135mm Rodenstock Omegaron. If any dodging or burning is to happen, it certainly isn't going to happen like this.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6630094301_c49d1a11f2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/macktruckturner/6630094301/)
test print from a test shot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/macktruckturner/6630094301/) by Anthony J. Martinez (http://www.flickr.com/people/macktruckturner/), on Flickr
This example comes from a pinhole camera, but the negative doesn't strike me as anything that ought to be difficult to print. At first, I attempted to make contact prints but I gave up after four sheets of pure black, and three sheets of pure white. In the actual enlarger (Beseler CB7), adjusted to shoot just about a 1:1 image of the negative on the paper, this is 1.5s at f/22 with a #2.5 Ilford MG contrast filter.
I'm assuming that since the light source, and the lens itself, are very close to the paper that's a big part of of the reason my exposure times are so incredibly short. The enlarger itself has the ability to adjust how much juice goes to the lamp, but the gauge doesn't work so I'm only able to consistently use it at full power or minimum power. That's one avenue I may take to see if I can manage exposure times long enough to dodge/burn if needed. My other option, which I know nothing about, is the cold light (if that's what it's called) I have for the enlarger.
Can any of you large format ninjas give me some course of action, or guidance, as to how I might want to approach printing my 4x5 negatives? I feel like the smaller formats are pretty clear, but I was by no means expecting the 4x5 negatives to throw this large of a monkey wrench at me.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6630094301_c49d1a11f2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/macktruckturner/6630094301/)
test print from a test shot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/macktruckturner/6630094301/) by Anthony J. Martinez (http://www.flickr.com/people/macktruckturner/), on Flickr
This example comes from a pinhole camera, but the negative doesn't strike me as anything that ought to be difficult to print. At first, I attempted to make contact prints but I gave up after four sheets of pure black, and three sheets of pure white. In the actual enlarger (Beseler CB7), adjusted to shoot just about a 1:1 image of the negative on the paper, this is 1.5s at f/22 with a #2.5 Ilford MG contrast filter.
I'm assuming that since the light source, and the lens itself, are very close to the paper that's a big part of of the reason my exposure times are so incredibly short. The enlarger itself has the ability to adjust how much juice goes to the lamp, but the gauge doesn't work so I'm only able to consistently use it at full power or minimum power. That's one avenue I may take to see if I can manage exposure times long enough to dodge/burn if needed. My other option, which I know nothing about, is the cold light (if that's what it's called) I have for the enlarger.
Can any of you large format ninjas give me some course of action, or guidance, as to how I might want to approach printing my 4x5 negatives? I feel like the smaller formats are pretty clear, but I was by no means expecting the 4x5 negatives to throw this large of a monkey wrench at me.