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Marek,
I agree totally about using step wedges for every
testing--I have 3 so I can print 3 at once.
But my Stouffers numbers are blackest black circles
(maximum film density) with clear numbers--hence when the printed number is
as dark as the area surrounding the step wedge on the print (the gum borders),
and the circles are clear paper white, I know I have exposed and developed
correctly. So I am intrigued that your step tablet has middle gray
numbers....as my step wedge appears to be the same Stouffers as yours--did they
change it recently?
Chris
Chris,
the
8 hour developmet was to get some differentiation in the two darkest strips of
the test wedge, that is fully developed strip. It took so long with this
exposure. Whites cleared before that.
I minute is (or was) my standard
exposure time for all the layers of the tricolor gum( a bank of UV
tubes). This one minute thalo test strip illustrates it very well. You get a
full dark and clear whites with about 6 steps on the wedge, negative
density of about 0.9. This would illustrate "gum works best with thin
negatives" statement that has been around for so long. You can hardly see the
letters because they are a middle gray on the step tablet and are washed
out (step 4 or 5).
It really takes printing these tests strips to
unlearn the gum process and start learning it again on a new
level.
Marek
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