Poverty contact printing?

[welly]

Two sheets of glass and a low wattage light bulb? Anything more than this? Any advice/tips would also be appreciated!

[Jay DeFehr]

Why two sheets? Whatever is beneath the film/paper sandwich should be non-reflective as possible. Glass is flat, which is good, but the back of a mirror would be better than plain glass. Something with a little give is even better, like felt, or a mouse pad. And something to provide a little pressure, to maintain even contact. A hinge is handy, but not strictly necessary.

A means of adjusting exposure other than time is nice, like an aperture, or by varying the distance of the light source from the print, or both.

A timer of some kind aids consistency.

A safelight is almost a necessity.

The most convenient way to make contact prints on silver paper is with an enlarger, and the more closely you can emulate one, the more comfortable you'll be.

Good luck!

[Mark Sawyer]

A sheet of glass and a bare light bulb for printing pretty well describes Edward Weston's darkroom. A safelight is nice, and perhaps a timer, and a few primative tools for burning and dodging. How much more does one really need?

[Lachlan 717]

Does the top glass need to be AN?

[Jay DeFehr]

Versatility begs complexity. Weston got by so simply because he didn't require much versatility. If you use one film, one paper, one developer, one lens, etc., etc., you can get by with a very specific set of conditions. There is a lot to be said for such an approach, but it doesn't suit everyone. You can either conform to your conditions, or conform them to your requirements, or find some middle ground. It might be best to start as simply as possible, and add complexity as required.

[welly]

Thanks Jay. I've actually been offered a free 35mm enlarger (an LPL 3301D). Would this suit?


Why two sheets? Whatever is beneath the film/paper sandwich should be non-reflective as possible. Glass is flat, which is good, but the back of a mirror would be better than plain glass. Something with a little give is even better, like felt, or a mouse pad. And something to provide a little pressure, to maintain even contact. A hinge is handy, but not strictly necessary.

A means of adjusting exposure other than time is nice, like an aperture, or by varying the distance of the light source from the print, or both.

A timer of some kind aids consistency.

A safelight is almost a necessity.

The most convenient way to make contact prints on silver paper is with an enlarger, and the more closely you can emulate one, the more comfortable you'll be.

Good luck!

[Jay DeFehr]

Provided you're not printing ULF, or alt process stuff, it should do just fine, and much more convenient than a bare bulb. The enlarger will allow you to us the lens aperture and enlarger column to make adjustments to exposure, so that you can keep your print times convenient/ practical, and it will likely provide some means for using VC filters, should you want to print on VC paper. And you can enlarge 35mm negs, as a bonus!

[Doremus Scudder]

I needed some prints once when away from my normal darkroom. I made contacts in my Vienna apartment with the following.

Contact frame was a masonite-backed clip picture frame in the appropriate size.
Work area was the top of my front loading washing machine with a towel laid on the surface for a little grip.
Safelight was a red Osram party bulb.
Timer was my metronome, but a loud ticking clock would do the job too.
Switch was an in-line footswitch of the type used for stand lamps. I disassembled a stand lamp and re-purposed it temporarily for this.
Lamp was hung over the washing machine with bent coat hangers.

I used the lowest wattage bulb I had and attenuated further with sheets of white printing paper from my printer.

Dodging and burning was accomplished with hands and cut pieces of cardboard on wires/sticks.

Fairly economical, if I say so myself :p

What you'll need is something for a contact frame: glass on a masonite back, etc. will work just fine. Clips or duct-tape hinge and lock to keep the glass flat, or use glass larger than the print and weight around the corners. (Or maybe a thick enough glass will be heavy enough by itself.)

Get your light source as directly over the work area as possible. Choice of wattage is critical for working time. If too bright, move the light further away or attenuate with diffusion material. A switch you can step on is really convenient if you

Safelight can be a cheapie red bulb, but try to find something meant for photography (although red or amber LEDs should do the job well).

Hope this helps,

Doremus

[Jim Jones]

A hard surface beneath the photo paper works if the exposing light is small and not too close to the paper. A large diffuse light source close to the paper should only be used in conjunction with some way to hold the negative and paper in intimate contact. Soft foam works well for this. I used several layers of towel when making 35mm contact strips. Heavy glass is somewhat better than light glass. Some glass which appears evenly transparent to the eye is not so to actinic light. Beware of sharp edges on the glass. They can be taped over or dulled with a whetstone. I've never used AN glass for 35mm contact strips, and had a regular contact printing frame for large negatives.

[Pawlowski6132]

Low wattage bulb unless you're using AZO or Lodima.

[cdholden]

Low wattage bulb unless you're using AZO or Lodima.

I haven't tried the Lodima yet, but I did receive my recent order from the new batch. Even with AZO, I use a 15W bulb in a semi-circular parabolic reflector about 10-12" wide. I think it just depends on your negatives. Some of mine are pretty thin. I've been using Grades 2 and 3 in AZO, Galerie FB and Emaks-888 (aka Nuance). I get times from 3.5-52 seconds, depending on the grade of paper and density of negative. For the faster ones (Grade 2 paper and thin negatives), I bounce the bulb off the ceiling, with the print frame on the floor. This is the minimum amount of time I can get in any dodging if I find it necessary.

[dsphotog]

One heavy, unscratched, piece of glass.

[SpeedGraphicMan]

Does the top glass need to be AN?

What does that mean?

[Mark Sawyer]

AN is Anti-Newton, so you don't get the Newton ring pattern In 30 years of contact printing, I never used AN glass, and never had a problem. It's worth getting heavy glass (I use 1/4-inch thick) to insure good contact. And make sure you have a very flat surface below the glass/negative/photo paper. (I use a second sheet of heavy glass with black 2-ply matt board on top to eliminate reflections.)

[Lachlan 717]

Thanks, Mark.

[John Kasaian]

I have finally settled on a Printfile contact proof printer. Best for the money, IMHO--registration is easy, no danger of finger prints on the glass, it's beautiful! My current safelights are some old GE "Guide Lamp" plug in nite lites which are no longer made (they sold 2 on a card for about a buck at the drug store in the 80's) I also have a short string of red LED Christmas lights bought during the post Christmas close out sales. I use an old enlarger for my light source because I already have one, but a 15 WT in a cheap metal reflector is fine. Add a set of trays, a blotter book, a plastic "Betty Crocker" measuring cup for a graduate, some empty Robitussin syrup bottles (see if your local pharmacist will save them for you) for chemical storage and you're in business.