Re: Vandyke Variables

Philippe Moroux (philippe@knoware.nl)
Tue, 16 Jun 1998 21:26:04 +0200

A few years ago, I brought my portable "Van Dijke" set to Morvan (300 km
south of Paris). The results of a whole week of tests were awful. Then I
decided it was the water. Since that time I use distilled water for the
DEVELOPMENT. I even tested the difference with the water of The Hague (The
Netherlands).

With water containing a lot of chlorides I noticed that the highlights were
light rose. And with water containing iron, the paper was getting light
sepia.

The drying of a processed paper could be done by ironing. Quickly dried
papers
were becoming darker.
Of course most of those remarks are sometime based on feeling.

I once made 300 Van Dijk postcards in four days using the distilled water
method. ALL of them were satisfying and have not bleached in two years time.
I think that if the developing water contains elements which would turn the
non-exposed emulsion insoluble, then there will be a problem.

Good results with Hahnemulle paper (Germany).

philippe

http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/philippe/
http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/philippe/academie.html
(the site of the students photography at Sint Joost Academie/NL)