Anybody use RH Designs timers?

[Cletus]

Hi All,
I've been looking "interstedly" at some of RH Designs darkroom timers, particularly the 'Stopclock Pro' of maybe even the 'Analyzer Pro' in search of a little more consistency and precision in my printing. I haven't really dived into F-Stop printing with my little Kearsarge timer, although I understand it isn't too great a leap. Figured it'd be a less painful transition with one of the RH timers.

I actually have an older (I think much older) RHD 'Zonemaster' meter, which is supposed to simplify exposure / paper grade choice / test strip generation, but even after printing out the manual for this thing, it seems like a pretty steep learning curve and none too intuitive at all. I have had no success with the Zonemaster but have not "given it my all" either, to date.

Anyone own, or have any experience with the newer RH stuff? Any recommendations for F-Stop B&W printing with one of these, or maybe similar Darkroom Automation models?

Thanks for your advice!
Phil aka Cletus

[Tony Lakin]

Hi Phil
I have 3 RH designs Stopclock pro's, one is the vario version which monitors lamp intensity and adjusts the time accordingly, a straightforward Stopclock and a Stopclock 500 for use with my Multigrade 500 head, they are all solidly built and extremely reliable they all have two channels for split grade printing as well as many other useful; features, I fully recommend them

Regards

[36cm2]

Stopclock Pro is awesome. Just get one. Lots of threads on this here and over on APUG.

[Peter De Smidt]

I have a Stop Clock Pro. It's my favorite piece of darkroom gear.

[Cletus]

Wow! That's encouraging to hear - and sorry for not doing too much research prior to posting, the question occurred to me this morning sitting in my darkroom frustrated!

That looks like three solid votes for the Stopclock Pro, what about the Zonemaster? Isn't that kind of a Stopclock Pro with a built-in metering "densitomiter" function? From reading RHD literature it appears this would be useful for evaluating negatives and really being able to "fit" them to the correct paper grade. This looks to me to be about the most attractive thing about the whole works, but I could be overrating this capability.

Lately I seem to be wasting a great deal of paper and time trying to nail contrast and getting the full range of the neg onto the print. Partly I'm just in a slump and doing a little "magic bullet" chasing, but I really think some positive changes to my methods would eventually lead to a breakthrough. I don't know....thanks for your comments though!

Phil

[resummerfield]

I have a Stop Clock Pro. It's my favorite piece of darkroom gear.

+1

[Peter De Smidt]

Phil,

When I bought my stopclop pro, I also bought a Zone Master II analyzer. The SCP does such a great job with test strips, that I never really got around to using the ZMII, which I recently sold. I use a color head for printing, and I used Paul Butzi's method for coming up with settings that would keep my highlight exposure the same while changing contrast. This system, along with the Stop Clocks test strips, allow me to find the right exposure and overall contrast very quickly.

[UlbabraB]

Another vote for Stopclock pro,full of useful features and easy to use.

[jeroldharter]

+1 on the Stopclock Pro. I have 2 of them. Their flasher unit and process timer are good to.

You should compare with the Darkroom Automations timers which are similar for f stop printing.

[bigdog]

+1 on the Stopclock Pro.

+2

Besides the quality of the product, I have found f-stop printing to be a revelation.