Re: Pin holes in my litho

Tom Ferguson ()
Wed, 22 January 1997 9:51 AM

Are you sure your problem is "pinholes"?? I had this problem with all
litho films, until I figured out that what I was seeing was dust spots.
Dust settles on the film before or during exposure, resulting in unexposed
(clear) spots. Litho films seems a LOT more dust prone (static electricity
??), and because I share my darkroom with the washer and (EVIL) dryer, I
finaly had to give up on litho films. Also, I could never get them (litho
type films developed in HC-110) to give decent contrast in both the
highlights and shadows on the same neg. Look to see (under magnification)
if you "pinholes" have shapes, which could indicate dust.

I'm currently experimenting with shooting Agfa Scala in 4x5 (black and
white positive transparency film), then enlarging this onto 16x20 "Pan
Portrait" (the mystery film from Photo Warehouse, 1-800-922-5484, seems to
be FP-4). Thank you Kerik for suggesting this material! Seems to work
nicely, the Agfa is ASA 200, seems a bit less contrasty that E-6 films, and
you only have one darkroom step (because I got from Pos-Neg, not
Neg-Pos-Neg). Also, unlike the work I did for Gum a while back, where I
shot E-6 then enlaged to HP-5, You don't have to worry about the "color" of
you light enlarger source (seeing as mine is a "cold" light, this was a
real problem. Boy, were my skies white!). I'm still experimenting with
the Agfa, don't know how much N-Plus, N-Minus is posible. Development is
also a problem, only a few labs are set up for this stuff (I don't believe
anyone home processes it). Even in Los Angeles I have to have my lab send
it off and get it back 3 days latter.

tomf2468@pipeline.com

>In the making of enlarged negatives using litho film and dilute developer (eg
>HC-110 1:7 in 1:4 dilution) nasty little pin holes show up. I know the problem
>is not mine alone and seems somewhat better with some films (eg Agfa n31p) than
>other brands, but present in all to some degree. I have not had this problem
>with conventional film development Karen_Molloy.PILOT@pilotsw.com (eg, TMAX, Tri-X)<SNIP> Joachim

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