This machine is not in my vocabulary, but I surmise you can't just remove
it from its moorings & roll by hand...???
> One example when it comes to cyanotypes; in an attempt to get low contrast,
> I used a pinhole camera with the Arista film.
This is the biggest puzzle -- why you need "low contrast" for cyanotype.
The normal range of a good cyanotype negative in our experience here is
*more* than a normal silver negative. For instance, though I tell
students they can't generally use their regular view camera negatives
for cyanotypes (unless they're super contrasty) they (naturally) try &
are nearly always disappointed .... the prints come out too flat.
As I recall, with shadows in the negative from step #2 to #3, highlights
would be about #12, for a good cyanotype on, say, Strathmore drawing
paper. My suggestion would be to get two 21-steps, and see George Smyth's
*excellent* Website for my explanation of how to use them in lieu of
densitometer. .... Little ones are fine, sold in the US for $5.50 each
(from Stouffer) & surely in Europe too?
(I, alas, boohoo, do not do Website, inexcusable to be sure.)
Meanwhile, sounds to me like something could be making your cyanotype
emulsion too contrasty. Are you adding dichromate somewhere along the
line? That will do it... Or one of your chemicals could be bad. What
paper are you printing on? There are some papers are outrageously
contrasty for gum. Have you tried another? A good quality typing paper
(rag content) usually gives you the ballpark range....
If you printed a 21-step you'd know if it's the emulsion or the negatives...
> Too much overall density just adds grain and time in the
> darkroom.
Our time for cyanotypes at school is average 8 minutes under a bank of BL
bulbs about 3 inches away.....
> I really had hoped I could avoid buying more gadgets for processing. I
> could use the Jobo 2500 tanks with the 2509 reels for hand-processing, but
> by using the small tank (4 negatives) it needs one-and-a-half liter of
> developer, and the double for the larger tank. In a daylight tank, I
> believe I could develop something like 12 negatives in about 1,6 liter?
> I have read about the BTZS tubes, but are the not to be used in darkness?
I used 600 cc developer for four 4x5's in my old Jobo (theoretically it
could take 6, but did 4 better), actually almost twice as much as the
instructions called for but so little made me nervous. (I see they've
*really* improved the equipment!)
Cheers,
Judy