Re: Shooting long range negs?
Ross,
I don't know Fomapan 200 but Kodak TXP is not a good film for salted
paper. You would be much better off with TMAX-400 or Ilford FP4+.
Also, I would suggest the use of a staining developer as the stain
will give a big boost to the overall contrast of your negatives since
stain density blocks UV light.
Chris Anderson's comments about sizing and fog are very appropriate.
Salted paper is very sensitive to both and results can be very ugly
if you don't pay attention to detail.
Sandy King
At 6:06 PM +1000 8/9/07, Ross Chambers wrote:
Dear Folk,
I'm trying to achieve salted prints from 5x7 camera negatives.
I'm a little hampered by regular lack of access to a densitometer
(occasional access is not impossible -- I just don't want to strain the
friendship until I feel more confident of results) so I'm eyeballing them as
best I can using the step wedge on the light box comparison method.
I would appreciate recommendations on the filmstocks / developers that I
have available (I've used Fomapan 200 and Kodak 320TXP; Xtol and D76 thus
far with results which printed OK on Ilford MG IV VC at grades 2 - 0, but
are still flat, but not totally hopeless, on salted paper).
I'm paying regard to John Barnier's recommendation to extend processing time
by 30%.
I have also Arista Ultra Edu 100 and APHS Litho (Jim Galli's evil influence)
neither of which I have tried.
My developers option is D76, Xtol, HC110, Rodinal and a bunch of raw
chemistry.
I haven't tried my preciously hoarded Arches Platine yet, I'm using some
cheap Canson 100 and realise that this could contribute to the short
contrast range.
What would any of you successful salt printers grab off my shelf to set out
for a printable negative?
Thanks - Ross
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Ross Chambers
Blue Mountains
New South Wales
Australia
maelduin@ozemail.com.au
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