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Thread: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

  1. #11
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    It's like any other relatively basic darkroom process, including regular silver-gelatin printing black and white printing. You can make it either as simple or challenging as you wish. It takes a bit of time to get on first base, correctly matching your colorhead setting to a standardized reference negative and specific batch of paper - perhaps a few days at first, but now for me, just minutes. You therefore need a reliable colorhead, a means to keep the chemicals at constant temperature like a water jacket or tempering box, reasonably fresh RA4 chemistry itself, plus some basic means of processing like simple drums.

    It takes some experience actually shooting color neg film specifically for sake of darkroom printing, and jockeying that back and forth with your results themselves, to understand the best film and paper combination for your personal needs. A lot has to do with contrast and hue saturation. You can't just fool around with grades like in VC black and white printing. You do have available a modest selection of softer or more contrasty papers, and less or more saturated color films to choose from. That's often sufficient for many people and nearly all commercial purposes. Going past that into more serious control options does involve either digital curve tweaks or supplementary black and white film masking, a whole topic unto itself, which I often use. Very high levels of color quality reproduction are possible with sufficient experience. Anyone who still has old punch and register gear for past Ciba or dye transfer applications can repurpose it for chromogenic printing, though with some distinct modifications in the mask exposure and development protocol, which I won't outline here.

    Permanence is a very complex and controversial topic. But there is consensus that chromogenic papers have dramatically improved in recent years, especially the Fuji Crystal Archive series. Exactly how much I dare not say because I probably won't live long enough to find out. I continue to both pamper my archived prints, and to deliberately torture other samples to see how they hold up over time. I've watched how Ciba prints behave under certain storage and display condition for over 40 years now, know what older C prints didn't do over that same time, but likely don't have another 40 years left on me to see how present chromogenic results hold up.

    I did recently reclaim a large installation of earlier large Crystal Archive Super C prints displayed under far less than ideal commercial display conditions - 18 hrs per day somewhat UV-rich artificial lighting, plus a fair amount of overhead skylight exposure. Fifteen years and they show just a tiny bit of fading, and zero yellowing yet. In fact, knowing in advance that the owners wanted to retire and sell that big building right around now, which they did, I deliberately overprinted them a bit so that they'd look ideal right around now. So if still left under similarly not ideal display conditions, that would equate to maybe 30 years of display life. But now rescued under far better circumstances, they might look nice to me a lot longer. Take the UV out of the equation, and factor in continuing improvements in the paper dyes themselves, and the scenario looks pretty optimistic.

    Comparing this to how inkjet colorants perform over time is a crap shoot. Those are complex cocktails of all kinds of DIFFERENTIALLY behaving colorants - dyes, dyed inert particles (lakes), and very finely ground pigments. It's misleading when labs and galleries market those as "pigment prints". They're not. If you want real pigment prints, they can't be done inkjet, but only by layered "assembly" processes like Bob uses. Of course, those more involved hand processes have their own kinds of inherent looks, and are not ideal for replicating the look of chromogenic prints if that is what you're after. I have seen some of Bob's commercial inkjet work, and it's very well done; he's a real pro at it. Still hope to see his color gum printing work someday. Every medium takes dedication and a lot of experience to really master. And I personally prefer what can be achieved in a color darkroom without any intervening digital steps at all.

  2. #12

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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    I print these days with an inkjet but that isn't because I think it is better. I just don't have the gear to do color. I did it in tubes way back in the 90s and it was fun but I never liked the smell of the chems. I have been printing with inkjets since 1997 or so. Lightjet prints to me are kinds meh too. I keep a few color enlargements around just to remind myself how good they can be. Where you really notice it is in the sharpness. And I don't mean to say that inkjets can't be sharp, but it is different since the sharpness is artificial. You need good negs though if you want "traditionally" good prints, but if you have the inclination to do it, go for it.

  3. #13

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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    Maybe one reason to try RA4 printing now is because you can. Years ago I enjoyed shooting Kodachrome and making reversal prints in my darkroom- but that is of course no longer possible. I find printing RA4 enjoyable. I am not interested in spending more time in front of a screen than I already do! If you’re already doing B&W it is inexpensive to buy a few drums and some chemistry to try it out.

  4. #14

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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    HI, I'm new here and looking for an answer to a big question. I can't reach in the darkroom the look of color photos from the 90s from analog labs, when the exposure was only from the negative, not the digital scan. I do not know if the problem is in chemistry, paper, or in me Thank you for any inspiration. Good light!

  5. #15
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    One just has to iron out and optimize each step at a time. RA4 processing itself is fairly easy, but you still have to pay attention to reasonably fresh chemistry, learn how to assess the color balance (improves with experience), and find the right marriage between a particular RA4 paper and a particular color neg film. Obtaining BETTER results than olden commercial C-prints? - entirely realistic. Surpassing inkjet results? - no problem. Just like anything else; depends on your level of commitment. Nothing beats real home cookin'.

    There is only a limited selection of cut-sheet paper sizes; so you might have to resort to cutting from professional rolls; and like many other things at the moment, pandemic distribution shortages might take some patience. Cut sheet Fuji CA II RC paper is available in 3 surface options and up to 20X24 inch size; it's a decent middle of the road product in terms of mid-level contrast and color punch, and suitable for learning purposes. Kodak roll papers are almost nonexistent at the moment until their new manufacture plant in China is fully up and running again; but there are numerous good roll options from Fuji. I get my chemistry from Freestyle in LA, but there are other sources for that too.

    I won't repeat what I already posted before. But I recently finally got in a fresh roll 30-inch roll of Fuji Supergloss, which will keep me busy this summer. It's a better product than Cibachrome ever was, and responds superbly to true optical enlargement. It's a marriage made in heaven with large format Ektar, PROVIDED you learn to correctly color temp balance your subject right at the time of the shot itself, if needed, which is very easy to do with just two or three filters on hand, like a 1B skylight and 81A or KR1.5 warming filter. Otherwise, Ektar often suffers from a bit of cyan crossover which is difficult or impossible to post-correct.

  6. #16

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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    Thank you very much for the encouragement. I look at old photos from the photo lab and although it is commercial, they have a nice color and atmosphere for me. I am glad that there is hope in the darkroom to achieve these results. Let China hurry Thanks, good light.

  7. #17
    Andrej Gregov
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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    Agree with much in the thread on enjoyment for RA4 color darkroom printing. I love it and it's the only color printing I do (Fujimoto CP-31). One thing not mentioned about analog color which I appreciate is it provides constraints in which to produce to work. For example, shooting Portra negs offer a different color palette than Ektar. Printing on Fuji C papers give you a different color palette than Kodak papers. Combining the two provide even more palettes. I like choosing from different color materials and then work within those boundaries. In the digital world, there are no boundaries. You can make your image look like anything you want. But if your image can look like anything, where do you start? I believe that color inkjet prints can look great. But it takes a very good printer to make exceptional inkjet prints. An average color darkroom printer can produce excellent C prints. Working digitally at a high level of craftsmanship is hard IMO. I find working in the analog darkroom far more straightforward than working in Photoshop. Nail your density and then adjust your color casts (yellow/blue, magenta/green, red/cyan your only dials) and boom, you're done. Simple and elegant way to work.

  8. #18
    Ironage's Avatar
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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    Agregov. You are really on to something. I was taught in art college that the creative process need limits or boundaries in order to foster greater creativity. The teachers said that we must set our own boundaries and then push the limits of our selected materials. The choice of materials is setting boundries. In my current work, I am finding b&w too flexible and confuses my vision. I am beginning to find RA-4 drawing me more and more.

    I like the results better than cibachrome, and it is good to hear that RA4 may be as perminent.
    ...Dilettante! Who you calling a Dilettante?

  9. #19
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    Fuji can be a bit cryptic with what they publish, and things have to be revised from time to time. But it appears that some of their Crystal Archive products have better display stability than Ciba; but you still have to be wise about any kind of display illumination containing UV. Dark storage longevity is an unknown; and I won't be around long enough to comment on that. But at the moment, they're claiming very long dark storage life on their top tier CA products, namely, Maxima and Fujiflex (which appear to be the same or nearly identical emulsions on different substrates), provided the storage environment remains reasonably cool, dry, and chemical-free. The expensive polyester base of Fujiflex would seem to give it an added edge. That's what I'm printing on this afternoon. It can be somewhat over the top for certain images, but is absolutely stunning for others. It achieves higher contrast and better hue saturation than RC color papers.

    Much easier to handle than Ciba, and without the color idiosyncrasies. I marry it mainly with LF Ektar shots, and am now getting to the point these surpass most of my former Ciba work. I still mask the originals sometimes, but not routinely like with Ciba. Masking can be used for both reduced contrast or a contrast boost; but actual color correction masking is rarely needed like it was for Ciba. Sometimes I print using precise contact internegs from old LF chromes; but that is a more difficult skill to get right, a lot of fussy work, and I seem to either get a home-run, clear out of the ballpark print that way, or else a downright bellyflop sometimes. Printing directly from color neg originals is a lot easier.

  10. #20

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    Re: RA-4/color darkroom printing in 2021

    [QUOTE=Deepblue;1648715]Howdy. Figure 1 - commercial analog photo lab 90 years. Figure 2 - my print darkroom, Fuji CA New. I can't get a photo like from a commercial photo lab. There is always some color prevailing veil. Maybe another paper to use, maybe it's commercial RGB printing, where the colors are more separated. Hi, good lightClick image for larger version. 

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