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Thread: Split grade printing weirdness

  1. #1

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    Question Split grade printing weirdness

    Hi all,

    I've dusted off the Wista and got back into the darkroom after a few years' hiatus. Since I started printing I've always applied the split grade technique by finding the G0 exposure followed by the G5 exposure. Mostly without issues - today however I found that to get a semi decent tonal range I needed 16s G0 base exposure followed by 2s G5 - at f22!

    Print size is 16x9.5" using Ilford MG V RC. Would this be a symptom of a thin, high contrast neg? The neg itself doesn't look too bad, perhaps slightly underexposed. I don't have a densitometer to check. I did scan the neg as a proof and there is no clipping, in fact it looks tonally more pleasing than the print, which is annoying.

    The G0/G5 exposure differences seem very odd to me - can anyone suggest where I'm going wrong?

    Cheers
    Steffen

  2. #2

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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    How is your enlarger set up? Does it have dial in internal filters or Iford 1/2 step filters that go into a filter tray above or below the lens?

    The point that I am getting at is is there any way that you had unfiltered light for the G5 exposure?

  3. #3

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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    It's a BW condenser head with a brand new Ilford under the lens kit. I'm certain that the correct # filters were used as I put them into the plastic lid with 0 on the left and 5 on the right when setting up. Filtration was applied for both exposures.

  4. #4
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    These middle-gray iso-dense curves I made for Ilford Multigrade show that the paper is more sensitive to my blue filter than green. So my green times were almost always longer than the blue.
    15 sec Green and 2 sec Blue in my darkroom would be an ISO(R) contrast around 145 (grade 0) which does not seem too odd.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by ic-racer; 2-Aug-2020 at 08:08.

  5. #5

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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    Hmm that's interesting. In my experience with Ilford WTFB the G0 exposure takes a long time to impact the shadows. In this case though, it was almost as if the G5 was not necessary.

  6. #6

    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    Do you have another set of filters? Maybe an old set that you could compare?

  7. #7

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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    I do have some old filters, but they are at least 5 years old now. Will do some tests next weekend, might also try the G5 exposure first to see I'm able to produce more satisfactory results that way.

  8. #8
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    Quote Originally Posted by stefn View Post
    Hmm that's interesting. In my experience with Ilford WTFB the G0 exposure takes a long time to impact the shadows. In this case though, it was almost as if the G5 was not necessary.
    Yes, the Green light does not affect the shadows much, it darkens the highlights without darkening the shadows that its function. To darken the shadows use more Blue light, because it darkens the shadows with less affect on the highlights.

  9. #9
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

    You can test your filters easily by contact printing against a 21 step scale. If the Blue one gives more than about 4 gray bands it is leaking Green light.

  10. #10
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: Split grade printing weirdness

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    Quote Originally Posted by stefn View Post
    I do have some old filters, but they are at least 5 years old now. Will do some tests next weekend, might also try the G5 exposure first to see I'm able to produce more satisfactory results that way.
    Yes, this is important if using a cold cathode lamp. My lamp diminished intensity during the course of the first exposure (Blue or Green) and this affected the second exposure. So a consistent order of exposure is important with those lamps. Though maybe you have a sensor and feedback loop on your lamp and won't have this issue.
    Last edited by ic-racer; 2-Aug-2020 at 12:37.

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