Attitude
I don't know why, but printing in a good darkroom is a real joy, so long is there's no big limitation on time.
Cleaning up afterwards is really the only downside.
An then the next morning when the "perfect prints" from last night have darkened just enough that they've got to be thrown away and redone. Well, THAT part always sucks.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
That, I believe, is called dry-down!
Actually, at my house it's called G.D.M.F.S.O.B. Dry-Down!Originally Posted by Sanjay Sen
That, I believe, is called dry-down!
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Re: Attitude
Oh well, it hasn't happened in a while, but I haven't printed in a while.
I used a Zone VI timer that had dry down compensation built in. Basically if you use a hair dryer carefully you can inspect a dry print in 15-20 minutes. I liked RC paper because it was faster to work with. Once an image is dialed in then switch to fiber and fine tune.
Even though I use a timer with drydown, I've found in my darkroom that viewing the wet print on a vertical surface in low light approximates the drydown of the print. In my case its a 15watt white blub and the print is place on a 20x24 sheet of grey PVC.
Ron McElroy
Memphis
Believe it or not, you can use a microwave to check dry down in about 30 seconds.
AA used the microwave method.
................in his later years.
In my microwave it takes 2 min. for DW paper. I miss Kodak's Polymax Fine-Art F, which didn't dry-down appreciably. The Ilford and Oriental papers that (sort of) replaced it do dry down, but I've got that figured out now. It's not surprising that Adams nuked his test prints- the movie going around shows him using an Amana RadarRange- I believe the 1st microwave on the market.
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