From: Christina Z. Anderson (zphoto@montana.net)
Date: 02/02/03-12:22:48 PM Z
For my first foray into 2 step enlarged negatives, for those of you who
have to do the same, here is what I found (I hope you don't get sick of me
sharing these tidbits??); the reason I am sharing this is I could never find
in any book I have a plain old "try this at such and such amounts of
seconds" practical advice for this process:
Yesterday I did 70 (YES, 70--12 manic hr solid with no break; I'm
nuts--but hey, no students in the darkroom on saturdays so I have to make
hay while the sun shines) 4x5 interpositives from 35mm and 6x7mm negatives.
Now, since it was my first attempt at such and I didn't want to waste a lot
of money in the learning process (I have always used SO 132 before
this--easy film, *very* slow, very nice and contrasty, but Kodak has
discontinued it as of April, altho BandH had boxes left. Very expensive,
tho--$6 a sheet) I decided to use some leftover film I had had from 3-4
years ago--boxes unfrozen, mind you, sitting in a backpack, 30 of them even
loaded in 4x5 film holders, I confess. I used Plus X Pan, Tri X, Bergger,
FP4, and believe it or not, an old box of unfridged Maco 820 infrared.
What I found (thank you, Eric Neilsen, for getting me in the ballpark)
was that with an 80mm lens, 16" above the base, a 1/2 second exposure at F11
was great for 35mm to 4x5" with the 100 speeds. With Tri-X I stopped down 1
1/2 stops. Bergger I treated as a 100 speed film, but it actually could be
about a 1/2 stop faster. Developed in Dektol 1:1 for 2 min (don't gasp,
those of you grain haters, they came out great). This only made me stay in
the dark for 2 min at a time. I got to doing about 6 exposures quick in a
row, and developing all 6 at once. With the 6x7 and a 105 lens it was 1/2
sec, lens 11-12" up, f16.5.
The surprise I found was that the Maco infrared film worked
wonderfully! Since, with most alt processes, you need a contrasty final
neg, the maco interpositive was the most punchy of all, and very fine
grained. Next most punchy (this is my unscientific term for a nice DR
range) is TriX. Grainier, tho. Bergger and Plus X both produce a dull neg,
but still OK. I just printed my first 8x10 Bergger final neg (this exposed
at F8.5, 1/2 sec, 19" high, Bergger 200 Pan film, developed Dektol 1:1 for 2
min altho I might try straight Dektol next) and it looks great.
Oh, one caveat: Maco is a very soft emulsion, so I would only tray
develop one neg at once and use a hardening fix and no temps higher than 70.
Chris
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 03/04/03-09:19:08 AM Z CST