Lodima

[Pawlowski6132]

So, I've tried to answer these questions mnyself recently by searching here, APUG, and Michael's site, but, most posts speak to Lodima availability, recommendations, Amidol formulas etc. But, aside from the recommendations:

1. I assume I can use water stop bath with PhotoFormulary Amidol?
2. I assume I can use PhotoFormulary TF-4 alkaline non-hardening fixer?
3. I assume I do not need a 300w bulb but can use the 250w halogen in my omega enlarger?
4. I assume I can use Kodak Rapid Selenium toner?

thanx, as always for the great info...


Joe

[Merg Ross]

So, I've tried to answer these questions mnyself recently by searching here, APUG, and Michael's site, but, most posts speak to Lodima availability, recommendations, Amidol formulas etc. But, aside from the recommendations:

1. I assume I can use water stop bath with PhotoFormulary Amidol?
2. I assume I can use PhotoFormulary TF-4 alkaline non-hardening fixer?
3. I assume I do not need a 300w bulb but can use the 250w halogen in my omega enlarger?
4. I assume I can use Kodak Rapid Selenium toner?

thanx, as always for the great info...


Joe

Yes, now get to work and make some prints!

[memorris]

In my experience with that paper the 300w light resulted in exposure times of < 5 sec. I used a 75W enlarger bulb and it worked much better.

The other assumptions I can not address.

[Vlad Soare]

The 300W recommendation was for Azo. Lodima is a little faster. I use a 150W halogen reflector lamp placed approximately one meter above the table, and the exposure times are still a bit too short for comfort. I'll probably try a 75W bulb sometime.

I don't think the bulb in your enlarger will give enough light, despite its rated power. 250W may sound like much, but a big part of that is wasted, especially in the mixing chamber. I use an Omega E myself, and the amount of light that reaches the baseboard (even with the lens removed) is just a fraction of the light given by my standalone 150W halogen lamp, even though the enlarger's bulb is more powerful. The color head of the enlarger eats a lot of light.

[Bruce Barlow]

Au contraire, I use my enlarger bulb on my Saunders LPL 4x5 or my Beseler 45MX with a cold light - but I take out the lens and lensboard and let it just blast away. Then, times are reasonable.

[anotherJoe]

I use a 65W BR30 (incandescent reflector) bulb at about 3 ft. -- 35 secs is my usual time. I'm new to the darkroom so Lodima is the only paper I've ever printed. (I'm still working through my pre-production run, heavily curled, stock.)

I've developed Lodima in Amidol (with water bath), Ansco 130, and, just recently Ansco 120/130 2-bath.

TF-5 fixer
KRST -- certainly!!

Joe

[Vlad Soare]

OK, I removed the lens, set all filters to zero, and took an incident light reading on the baseboard. It was 6 EV. The 150W halogen reflector lamp gives 8.9 EV.
This was with the enlarger head set approximately twenty inches above the table. Admittedly I could probably get more light if I brought the head lower, but then I think it might get a little too uncomfortable.

The enlarger is a Chromega E Dichroic II.

So, even though the enlarger's bulb is 250W, it gives three stops less light than a standalone 150W bulb. That's eight times less light, for almost double the power! That color head eats a lot of light. If I get exposure times of ten seconds on Lodima with the standalone bulb, I'd probably get times of around eighty seconds with the enlarger. That's not too bad, but not too good either.
I guess the enlarger can be used for contact printing on Lodima, but I still recommend a separate light bulb.

[imagedowser]

Joe, How did the Ansco 130 and Ansco 120/130 two bath compare to Amidol? I have the black Amidol and I'm going to filter it a la Jim Galli but if I have problems my path will be Ansco then diff Amidol.... unless someone has another method with the black... I have 2 lbs and would rather use it. Thanks, Bill

[anotherJoe]

Joe, How did the Ansco 130 and Ansco 120/130 two bath compare to Amidol? I have the black Amidol and I'm going to filter it a la Jim Galli but if I have problems my path will be Ansco then diff Amidol.... unless someone has another method with the black... I have 2 lbs and would rather use it. Thanks, Bill

I've had better luck controlling contrast with the Ansco developers. It's also much easier to clean up my post-printing session mess. To my un(der)trained eye, I can't see much difference in the tonal range. (I am still a novice printer!)

That said, I know that I have a long way to go to understand, much less master, the full potential of Amidol/Lodima development. It's amazing stuff. I'll keep going back to it as the quality of my negatives continue to improve.

Joe