Re: Lith film

Hi:

It is possible to get continuous tone negatives with lith film, but it
very dependent on the deveoper used. I don't think any of the
commercially available developers are effective at producing continuous
tone negatvies.

I use lith film for negatives for all my pinhole cameras. I use my own
developer that works pretty good, but needs more fine tuning. The last
time I checked I was able to get an 18 step negative, from a stouffer step
tablet.

/lists/alt-photo-process/2002/aug02/0488.htm

When I get my darkroom put back together I have a couple of other
approaches to try.

Gord

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003, Clay Harmon wrote:

> I think the trick is that all of these processes use a staining
> developer and have higher UV densities (effective printing density)
> than the strictly visual density might indicate. I know they all use
> the bare minimum of contrasting agent in their printing.
>
> But the stain may not me the only answer. Another worker has recently
> sent me some actual curve data using lith film and a modified version
> of the Soemarko LC-1 developer that show a very straight line response
> all the way from a minimum density of 0.30 to a maximum density of 4.0.
> He is still working on some final tweaking of the formula, but the
> preliminary data I have seen show a very nice linear continuous tone
> response. I'll let him decide when and where to reveal all, but I think
> he typically 'listens' to this list and he may chime in..
>
>
> Clay
> On Dec 11, 2003, at 11:18 AM, Sandy King wrote:
>
> > Irrespective of the question of whether or not you can get a density
> > range of 3.2 with lith films, which by the way I know is possible from
> > my own work, why in the world would anyone need a negative with such
> > an extreme density range. Pt/Pd requires a negative DR of only from
> > around 1.4 to 1.8.
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Clay,
> >>
> >> I checked it. The link shows an abstract rather then a paper. No
> >> process mentioned, no curves.
> >> I believe you saw Pt/Pd print made with PMK processed lith film. I
> >> also believe they retain all the subtleties in tone that you could
> >> want for this process. What I hardly believe, is that this was
> >> printed without contrasting agents. I want my neg to suit my process.
> >> Therefore I need a density range (w/ or w/o stain) adapted to pure
> >> palladiotype.
> >> My point is: there is no lith film / developper combination that will
> >> provide that 3.2 density range (visible light density).
> >> My tests and curves I received today confirm that.
> >>
> >> Philippe
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Clay [mailto:wcharmon@wt.net]
> >> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 16:03
> >> To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
> >> Subject: Re: Lith film
> >>
> >>
> >> I really don't agree that the lith film approach is a total dead-end
> >> for making enlarged negatives. I have seen real-life results from
> >> several workers (e.g. Stuart Melvin, Bob Herbst, Michael Kravit) who
> >> are producing long scale pt/pd type enlarged negatives using APHS
> >> that are very fine indeed, and retain all the subtleties in tone that
> >> you could want for this process. Naturally, it takes a little
> >> practice and a lot of care, but dismissing this approach completely
> >> is a little premature. For instance, check out :
> >>
> >> http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/Technical_papers/
> >> Stuart%20Melvin's%20Pyro%20System.html
> >>
> >>
> >> Clay
> >
>

---------------------------------------------------------
Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
holtsg@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place
http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2
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Received on Thu Dec 11 16:59:17 2003