Re: Ultrafine Clear Film and Epson 2200

Hi Judy,

I haven't had time to do extensive testing on how long it takes negatives to
cure and stabilize in terms of density. To be on the safe side, I print my
negatives the day before I do my printing but sometimes it might be 2-3 days
before I actually print them and I don't see any variation in my negatives'
density ranges. It would show up most niticeably in the highlights of my prints,
since I have the density range of the negative matched exactly to the exposure
scale of the coated paper or the contrast mix of PD I am using. I tend to
print with highlights right at the threshold of paper white so that there is
just the slightest bit of tone. If the negatives continued to cure more and
lose additional density, I think I would have ended up throwing a lot of prints
out.

With your oiled negatives, is it possible the oil oxidizes or turns rancid
and cloudy? It wouldn't surprise me that oil would take a lot longer than the
inks to dry. I do know that many custom printers (giclee printers if you are
from France) cure their prints done on matte papers for about 24 hours.
They use a light paper interleaved between the prints and they report that a
latent image of the print will appear on the interleaf papers due to the
evaporation of the ink/carrier. I think that would be a pretty good estimate. With
Pictorico OHP film, you can see the drying process if you hold the negative
right in the light—it's milky looking and then clears as it dries. I like to
sit and watch them dry—sometimes I take them out on the front porch and dry
them there so I can sit in my rocking chair.

Mark Nelson
Purchase the book @
www.PrecisionDigitalNegatives.com
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www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com

In a message dated 10/20/04 10:32:43 PM, jseigel@panix.com writes:

>
> > Mark Nelson said:
> > Regarding waiting for negatives to dry.   On Pictorico OHP film usng the
> > Epson Ultrachrome inkset (and I am sure this is also true of other inks
> and
> > substrates),   You can take UV readings of the negative with a UV
> > densitometer after
> > it comes out of the printer and watch the UV density drop over a period of
> > time—up to a couple of hours or more.   It's not just an issue of whether
> > inks
> > will smear if you use the negative right away. It is extremely important
> that
> > negatives be "cured" after printing so that the UF densities of the inks
> > stabilize.   Otherwise you are not going to get consistent results when
> > printing.
>
>
> Mark, for how long a period did you test exposure time?
>
> I realize these are two different things, but still the thought comes to
> mind -- I found that oiled paper negatives dried for about a month. I
> don't remember the exact schedule, but something like that -- and when
> they did stabilize they were much less translucent than they'd been at
> first, in fact, if memory serves, not that much better than unoiled paper.
>
> Is it possible the inks behave something like the oils?  Are those
> negatives good indefinitely once they're "stabilized"?
>
> Judy
>
Received on Wed Oct 20 22:02:47 2004