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Thread: How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

  1. #1

    How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

    I want to read pyro negatives with my B+W densitometer. I hear I am supposed to use the blue channel of a color densitometer for this, but I am not about to buy one of those. Can I use a blue gel filter sandwiched with the negative to simul ate the blue channel?

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Posts
    166

    How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

    William,

    Probably not. Use of the blue filter or blue channel assumes a balanced color response from the receptor cell, and there's no reason to assume this is true of a b&w densitometer. The simplest way to check is probably to print a picture and step-tablet together, using the picture to see what makes a good print, and the step tablet to tell what range of values is being printed.---Carl

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Nov 1998
    Posts
    339

    How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

    I agree with Carl. I found that the actual printing contrast is between the ordi nary density reading and the blue-channel reading, a little less than halfway. B est to just make some test prints.

  4. #4

    How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

    Even filtered, a densitometer may give misleading results. A densitometer for photographic purposes usually gives a diffuse density reading, because a lot of the density in the "toe" of a normally developed film is due to scattering by the film grain. The stain or dye generated in pyro doesn't contribute much to this scattering effect, and so the printing density may be significantly different from the densitometer reading.

  5. #5

    How to read a pyro negative with B+W densitometer

    There is one idea I have not tried, but which might work. There is a method for measuring density which involved making prints of test negatives and matchin gray areas. Since it works with actual prints, it should work with pyro or other staining developers. The method was described in a recent issue of one of the photo magazines. I do not have the reference in front of me, but there is a link to it in my website www.vsta.com/~alrob.

    Al Robinson

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