Contact printing 8X10 negs

[JMB]

It's funny, I was so glad when I got a scanner that would handle my large negs. I was very tired of spending hours in the dark room. Now I can't wait to make some contact prints.

Right on, Brother. --Joe

[CG]

... The only difference is that the dodge tool must be exactly the size of the dodged area, because it must be held in contact with the glass, I mean you cannot vary the dodged area's size by moving the tool up or down, like you can do under an enlarger. The same stands for burning. ...

Why not? I can't see why raising a dodging tool a few inches would cause any problem, but maybe I'm missing something. Can you elaborate?

[Ramiro Elena]

hey Vlad, where do you get your Lodima, US or EU?

[Daniel Stone]

the only place to get Lodima anywhere, unless its 2nd hand, is from M+P themselves.

http://store.michaelandpaula.com/ind...=index&cPath=1

-Dan

[Vlad Soare]

... The only difference is that the dodge tool must be exactly the size of the dodged area, because it must be held in contact with the glass, I mean you cannot vary the dodged area's size by moving the tool up or down, like you can do under an enlarger. The same stands for burning. ...

Why not? I can't see why raising a dodging tool a few inches would cause any problem, but maybe I'm missing something. Can you elaborate?

Because the light coming from a bare bulb isn't collimated, like the one that's projected through a lens. If you raise the dodge tool, the area underneath it will still receive some stray light. The dodge tool will make just a penumbra, not a true shadow.

hey Vlad, where do you get your Lodima, US or EU?

I've got it directly from Michael Smith. This time I was lucky, he gave it to me in person, but next time I'll have to order it via his web site. I believe he can arrange to have it shipped from a European location, so we pay lower postage and no customs.

[Ramiro Elena]

I believe he can arrange to have it shipped from a European location, so we pay lower postage and no customs.

Awesome! Shipping and customs was one of my worries apart from x-ray... although I've read people from the UK who had no problems with it (only customs.)

I can't wait to start contact printing again.

[John Kasaian]

I've used a painter's light from a hardware store to good effect, but an enlarger is more convenient if there is no place to hang the painter's light from.

[Drew Wiley]

A small f-stop under an enlarging lens will act much like a point light source and allow crisp dodging and burning, but of course, might also diminish the light a bit too
much for convenient printing of slower papers like Azo. A high quality contact frame
will work just as well as a vacuum frame, but these aren't easy to come by. I use the same 8X10 Condit masking frame that I use for making duplicate transparencies,
which is a far more demanding application than contact printing per se, and the results are superb. It is also a myth that high quality contact prints can only be made with special papers. Ordinary projection papers are capable of excellent results if your film is developed appropriately. Slower silver chloride papers like Azo or Lodima have some special characteristics which make them their own look, especially with respect to microcontrast in the midtones and so forth, but learning to contact print well does not necessarily require these papers. It's certainly nice that
we have the option of them once again, however.

[Bruce Barlow]

In my experience, a small f-stop under an enlarger (45MX/Cold Light, LPL) doesn't work for Azo at all. Nor does a big f-stop. I barely get an image with 5-minute exposures. I can use my enlargers as Azo light sources if I remove the lens and lensboard and just blast away, and even then exposure times can be long (90 seconds). Just bought 300W bulbs to hang and use instead. Much more workable for the impatient.

Were I just learning, I'd use cheap RC like I use for proofing, just to get the hang of it. They'll be just fine. Save the really good stuff when I'm familiar for the best of negs. Yes, there may be development time differences for RC vs. Lodima or Azo, but if I'm just learning that becomes part of the learning process.

On the other hand, life's too short to use less than the best...and grinding my way through on Lodima helps support Michael and Paula, because then I need to buy more.

Either way, 8x10 contact prints are delicious, and I find them easier to print than enlargements from 4x5.

[Vlad Soare]

I find them easier to print than enlargements from 4x5.

Yup. So do I. Not only easier, but also much faster, which is a great boon when one's only time for darkroom work is when the kids are asleep.

The suggestion of learning on cheap RC paper is a sound one, but it's a double-edged sword. If one tries to learn on a paper that's incapable of looking good, then one might start to question the benefits of contact printing. I got better pictures from 6x7 enlarged on FB than I could ever get with 8x10 contact printed on RC. If I hadn't seen prints made on Lodima with my own eyes, I would have never taken up 8x10.