Help! with Rockland tintype kit

[Tmann]

Hi, I'm brand new to LF photography, (and anything you develop yourself, for that matter) and need suggestions to maybe remedy a problem I'm having.
I'm trying out the Rockland Tintype kit, and having trouble with fogging on the plates, with only a bare minimum of the shot coming up with development.(shooting with open shutter, and exposure times from a few sec. up to 25sec.)
I'm also a dedicated cheapskate, so pretty sure that the problem lies in my setup.
I have a converted bathroom completely darkened out for a darkroom, and am using a 25 w GE red party bulb for light.
The light is slightly around a corner in the room from where I'm developing, but every plate is white going into the developer, darkens up, then gray's out in the fixer solution.
Any suggestions from anyone else with a similar problem?

Thanks, TMann

[Light Guru]

Hi, I'm brand new to LF photography, (and anything you develop yourself, for that matter) and need suggestions to maybe remedy a problem I'm having. I'm trying out the Rockland Tintype kit

Honestly my BIGGIST suggestion is DONT start out large format or developing film doing tintype. Start off using using standard modern films and standard modern developers.

I have a converted bathroom completely darkened out for a darkroom, and am using a 25 w GE red party bulb for light.

Just because the light is red in color does NOT mean it is blocking out all the other wave lengths of light that can expose your film.

It could also be an issue with how you mixed the chemistry.

[Light Guru]

It could also be the plate holder you are using, or a light leek in the camera, or operator error in working the camera.

LOTS of possible issues.

[DanK]

What fixer are you using? Did you get the kit with the fixer (kodak)? or using something else?

Cheers,
Dan

[axs810]

You could possibly be developing it too long...maybe?

[Tmann]

Thanks for the suggestions- I agree- probably should have jumped into a shallower end of the pool to start with... but I'm in now, so will try to work through it.
I think I have eliminated light leaks, plate holder, etc. as a source of my problem, but Definitely could be camera operator error.
Also have been pretty meticulous with chemicals (using only developer and fixer supplied in the Rockland Kit)
I've stopwatched developing/fixer baths, although instructions sent with the Ag-Plus emulsion doesn't specify exact developing time- just going on what I've read from different sources.
Just got the idea of not having the right safelight from one of the FAQ's on the Rockland site.
Will try another light source.............and hopefully have better results to report (or show) later.

Thanks again for the help

TMann

[adelorenzo]

Yup, one of the first things I learned with my new darkroom was that my safelights weren't so safe... Definitely something to check out.

[sergiob]

Collodion is very demanding from a technical point of view. It can sometimes, for no apparent reason at all, start behaving in very unexpected manners. The same batch, the same developer, the same exact process suddenly fogs, or does weird things. Fog is precisely one of the hardest things to diagnose precisely in the collodion process.Trying to control this process without mastering the technique of regular film LF craft first, is going to be frustrating in the least. You will have a more pleasant journey and far more rewarding results if you learn slowly from the basics. Film is beautiful too, and and can be as challenging as you want it to be too. You state in your post you are new to doing your processing. LF film is also a pretty steep path to begin with. Try roll film first to get hold of the processes involved. You need to get all those skills under your hand before you can really start to take advantage of what LF has to offer, which is a lot more than frame real estate. You´ll probably get there faster if you instead take the long road.

[jnantz]

what do the plates look like before you expose them
with the rockland ag+ they are supposed to be
no white, but greyish kind of in-between ...

did you get the bulk kit ?
the smaller one "tintype parlor" they don't give you the
emulsion in a light proof container, so if you have it close to your
safelight, you might have fogged all of it ...

the more you melt it, the more it gets fogged too
( like any liquid emulsion )

the fixer is old fashioned hypo, not speed fixer
so you need to leave it in there a while so it does its work ...
it takes a while for hypo to do its thing ...

[Tmann]

Thanks so much for all of the advice. Since starting, I've taken the advice of trying film developing-just finished setting up to do B&W. I've also tried and successfully shot and developed some Photo paper, although finding the right exposure times seems to be the hardest thing for me to master.
Have actually accomplished one good (at least what I would consider good) tintype using the Rockland bulk kit-out of about 10 attempts.
Consistent results continue to elude me, though.
Pouring the stuff out to a consistent thickness is a Real challenge, and even with consistent exposure times, etc. results seem to vary a lot from batch to batch. It seems that you only get one chance to pour and spread, because any emulsion smeared or poured a second time to fill in corners, etc., only gives me crap results.
Good to know that reheating affects the emulsion that much, also, because the closer I get to the bottom of the bottle, the worse results I seem to get. Don't know about other users of the AgPlus, but I seem to have to bring the water the emulsion is sitting in to a full boil to even be able to pour it out with any real consistency.
Haven't done anything this interesting in years, though, and will continue to slog on-hopefully learning some finesse re: photography in the process. Certainly makes me appreciate some of the pro results I see you guys post.

Thanks

TMann