Hi all,
I just took some time off work to try to figure out how to do RA4 printing. I tried both in trays at room temp and in drums at 35 Celsius / 95 Fahrenheit.
I used the same neg and tried three times in trays. The film used is Kodak Portra 160.
All exposed at 2,5 seconds at f11, and then developed for 1 min 45 sec and blixed for 1 min 45 sec (probably a bit more for both).
Filtering for first: Y40, M50
Filtering for second: Y70, M50
Filtering for third: Y55, M50
With the same neg I also tried one time in drum at 35 Celsius / 95 Fahrenheit. I tried to follow the Tetenal instructions on timing counting from chemistries first contact with film until next bath... I had no chance in doing that. CD should have been 45 sec, stop for 15 sec and blix for 45 sec... my times was probably more like 60, 30 and 60 (at least)...
Filtering was Y55, M50 and exposed at 2,5 seconds at f11 (this came out to dark when using the same exposure - which probably shouldn't be a surprise).
Anyway, I shot this:
And they came out like this:
Top left is first: Y40, M50. Top right is second: Y70, M50. Bottom left is third: Y55, M50. Bottom right is from drum.
I also developed a negative of my daughter the same way and the third one developed in tray wasn't that off in terms of skin color/pleasing to the eye, which is why I tried the same filtering for drum developing despite knowing that the increased temperature would affect color... but I had no idea how much.
Im not really sure where to go from here. Regardless of the filtering alternatives and temp used red came out brownish on all four copies. But might that be a characteristic of Portra 160? If its not Id like to try to adjust this...
I find the ones developed in trays to look more faded then the one developed at 35/95 degrees in the drum... which I think has stronger colors/punch/contrast... but I dont know if this is due to increased temp solely or if it is the combination of increased temp and the spesific filtering. If higher temp in drums actually provides more color/contrast/punch... is there a way to compensate for this with trays?
I'll admit I'd rather do it in trays out of convenience and less stress... however, how important is timing for the various stages when developing the prints in drums at 35/95 degrees?
Also, Im not sure how important this is, but I used the regular Tetenal RA4 kit with trays, and the Tetenal Magic Box RA4 kit when using drums... I assume the chemistry is pretty similar though.
Whoever bothers to respond to this with some helpful advise I'll get a beer when in Oslo, Norway.
Cheers
Peter
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