Re: film emulsion formulas


Charles Steinmetz (csteinmetz@redneck.efga.org)
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 04:15:18 +0000


Bob Mazzullo wrote:

> Hello everyone.... Ê Does anyone have any information / web sites / book
> info / tech documentation, etc. on film emulsion formulas? Color, B&W,
> infrared, UV, spectroscopic, etc.... or am I asking to see the Holy Grail ?
>ÊIf anyone has any leads, I would greatly appreciate it if that info could
> be passed along.

Not really the Holy Grail, but an awful lot of information, and someone
would have to key it all in. I'll start with a bibliography of sources
that have been the most useful to me:

Photographic Emulsion Technique, by T. Thorne Baker
   2nd ed. 1948 American Photographic Pub. Co. Boston [1st ed. 1941]
   This is the single most useful book I've seen, as far as practical
   emulsion-making is concerned. That said, please do not give the
   internet photo-book pirate/pimps the >$100 they are asking.

The Photographic Emulsion, by B.H. Carroll, D. Hubbard, & C.M. Kretschman
   n.d. Focal Press London & NY
   A collection of seminal papers from the late '20s and early '30s. No
   instructions for making emulsions, but lots to help you understand and
   improve your methods once you are over the beginner's hump.

The Theory of the Photographic Process
   1st ed. 1942 Macmillan Co. NY C.E. Kenneth Mees, ed.
   2nd ed. 1954 Macmillan Co. NY C.E. Kenneth Mees, ed.
   3rd ed. 1966 Macmillan Co. NY C.E. Kenneth Mees & T.H. James, eds.
   Very technical compendium of all things silver-gelatin. Again, no
   recipes for the beginner, but most all the public-domain information
   on silver in one place.

Aristotypes and How to Make Them, by Walter E. Woodbury
   1893 Scovill & Adams NY
   Paper emulsion recipes, both gelatin and collodion.

Photographic Materials and Processes, by Stroebel/Compton/Current/Zakia
   1986 Focal Press Boston & London
   A fairly detailed overview chapter. No recipes.

C.B. Neblette has a very basic, but good, overview chapter in the
   various editions of Photography: Its Materials and Processes (and its
   succesor, Neblette's Handbook of Photography and Reprography), and in
   Photography: Principles and Practices

Kodak published a pamphlet with a recipe for slow in-camera film, called
   Making a Photographic Emulsion, publication AJ-12 (long out of print,
   but sometimes available by calling Kodak's 800 number -- it depends on
   the representative you get).

Jim Browning has posted his recipes and methods for making dye-transfer
   matrix film, from which you can learn a great deal.

Best regards,

Charles



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Nov 06 1999 - 10:06:54