Vics
Veteran
My wife and I have been thinking of living the first year of our retirement abroad, and I've been thinking about the photo aspects of all that. Perhaps just take a couple of Rollei TLRs and a VERY modest darkroom setup.
One of the great things about the format is that a whole roll contact prints onto an 8x10 piece of paper, and one could consider the job done at that point. (Wait until our return home to do the printing.)
So my question is this: does anyone have any ideas for making proof sheets without the use of an enlarger? I was thinking along the lines of a small light table, but the flourescent light is too slow to start, and too bright as well. Any Ideas out there?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Vic
One of the great things about the format is that a whole roll contact prints onto an 8x10 piece of paper, and one could consider the job done at that point. (Wait until our return home to do the printing.)
So my question is this: does anyone have any ideas for making proof sheets without the use of an enlarger? I was thinking along the lines of a small light table, but the flourescent light is too slow to start, and too bright as well. Any Ideas out there?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Vic
FrankS
Registered User
Contact printing frames are common. Light with a consistent light source a consistent distance from the glass/neg/paper sandwich. A 60 watt light, 1 meter away, experiment to determine the exposure in a darkened room. You could try an led light source flashlight.
clarence
ダメ
How about a flashgun? I'm just throwing an idea.
Clarence
Clarence
FrankS
Registered User
clarence said:
Yep, I was just about to mention that.
Vics
Veteran
Do you mean a strobe? I have a Vivitar 283 with one of those knobs that turns the power down incrementally. I could turn it all the way down and put a Sto-Fen diffuser on it. Do you think that would work? What kind of distance for MGIV? Any guesses?
FrankS
Registered User
No need for the diffuser I don't think. Sure it will work. No idea about what power setting to use, a lower one for sure though - experiment.
Vics
Veteran
OK, Thanks for that suggestion. It's one I hadn't thought of. I'll try it as soon as it gets dark. My darkroom leaks in daylight. I'll report results.
VS
VS
Limpovitj
Established
FrankS said:
I would get something like a 15W bulb instead. Printing times would be much to short, especially to keep exposure accurate without a dedicated darkroom timer, methinks. With a 15W bulb and longer exposure times, you would just need an ordinary stop watch, and just turn the lights on an off with the switch. Otherwise as Frank said!
Also, you really don't have to carry a dedicated contact frame. Any sheet of glass bigger than the paper will do. Along the lines of keeping it simple: you don't have to carry trays with you, either. I have developed contact sheets in a tall, round plastic can. Just roll up the paper, stick it in the can (picture sruface inwards) and pour the chemicals in and out as needed. Not practical if you're developing several sheets, of course, but good enough for the odd contact sheets. Put a lid on it, and roll it back and forth for agitation. That way you only need a very small amount of mixed chemicals for each session. The good thing about these items is that they should be readily available wherever you go. Just a sheet of glass, a stop watch and a can. The can I used was intended to hold pasta. You would only need to bring chemicals and a red darkroom light, really (as well as your usual film developing stuff). That, and a windowless closet or bathroom. Stick towles on top of and below the door and its usually dark enough for developing, espeicially at night.
I hope this helped a bit!
Limpovitj
Established
Just one more thing! If you don't hve one already. get a darkroom light that has a red filter and uses ordinary bulbs, rather than the usual red bulbs. That way you don't have to start off with trying to find replacement bulbs when you discover that the ones you brought don't work anymore after the airport people threw your bags around.,,
Old photography books from the 50's (the ones that covered just about everything you ever wanted to know, and then some) usually has information on setting up basic darkrooms like this. I have a great one by Andreas Feininger, but it's in a moving box somewhere, and I can't remeber the title right now.
It just might be wothwhile to have a look in one of those for tips as well.
Old photography books from the 50's (the ones that covered just about everything you ever wanted to know, and then some) usually has information on setting up basic darkrooms like this. I have a great one by Andreas Feininger, but it's in a moving box somewhere, and I can't remeber the title right now.
It just might be wothwhile to have a look in one of those for tips as well.
Tom Harrell
Well-known
Vic,
I don't know where you live, it isn't in your profile. If you live in a country that uses 115 volts a.c. don't forget to take a step down tranformer for your 115 volt bulbs to work. Also U.K., Italy, and Germany uses diferent A.C. plugs. You will need a few adapters. Should be fairly easy to obtain.
Tom
I don't know where you live, it isn't in your profile. If you live in a country that uses 115 volts a.c. don't forget to take a step down tranformer for your 115 volt bulbs to work. Also U.K., Italy, and Germany uses diferent A.C. plugs. You will need a few adapters. Should be fairly easy to obtain.
Tom
markinlondon
Elmar user
Tom Harrell said:
Or buy 220/240v bulbs when you get there. They cost pennies and will be far less bulky than a step-up transformer. Just be sure to check which one is fitted before hitting the power.
Ronald M
Veteran
Hang a bulb on a wire. Use off on switch or plug/unplug.
Worked for Ed Weston, should work for you.
Worked for Ed Weston, should work for you.
Vics
Veteran
I'm beginning to think you're right, Ronald.
Tom, I live in California and the trip we're hoping to make would be to Europe, probably basing in France and traveling around from there. All the processing would be done at the home base between excursions.
Thanks for all your help, Everyone! I'm going to test several solutions tonight. I'll let you know.
Vic
Tom, I live in California and the trip we're hoping to make would be to Europe, probably basing in France and traveling around from there. All the processing would be done at the home base between excursions.
Thanks for all your help, Everyone! I'm going to test several solutions tonight. I'll let you know.
Vic
eli griggs
Well-known
Way back in 'the day' when I need quick contact sheets and only had paper and chemistry avaliable to me, I would shut myself up in a washer/dryer closet that had a 60 watt overhead bulb with a pull string and 'printed' by arranging negatives on a sheet of rc paper on the dryer, in the dark. For the printing frame I used a piece of glass borrowed from a picture frame (after first running tape on the edges to guard against sharp edges) and hinged it to a 8x10 piece of cardboard. I pulled the cord on/off, counting on thousand one, one thousand two,,, and got pretty consistent results. A three tray developer, water stop and fix on top of the washing machine, and a few minutes latter a perfectly good contact sheet.
It did take a few tries to get the initial timing worked out, counting the bulb and stop timing and using a watch's illuminated hands to time out the developer and fixer, but it really is easy to do and I had to do 'reprints' in my real darkroom less often than you might imagine.
For a traveling safelight, I recommend a small quality led with a red bulb. You can go as inexpensively as a thin "Streamlight" or shoot the moon for a "SureFire Kroma Digital LED" that offers a lot to the traveler. Heck, you might even be able to print with it.
Cheers, Eli
It did take a few tries to get the initial timing worked out, counting the bulb and stop timing and using a watch's illuminated hands to time out the developer and fixer, but it really is easy to do and I had to do 'reprints' in my real darkroom less often than you might imagine.
For a traveling safelight, I recommend a small quality led with a red bulb. You can go as inexpensively as a thin "Streamlight" or shoot the moon for a "SureFire Kroma Digital LED" that offers a lot to the traveler. Heck, you might even be able to print with it.
Cheers, Eli
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spyder2000
Dim Bulb
How about printing-out paper? Expose it in a contact frame in daylight, then fix in subdued light. No darkroom necessary for that process at all. I think Centennial still makes it, and you might be able to find some old stock from the great yellow father.
It's funky to say the least and if you don't fix it after exposure, you can store the sheets in the dark for quite a while before they fade away. It's just an idea and the paper is more expensive than non POP papers, but it could eliminate your darkroom for this step completely.
It's funky to say the least and if you don't fix it after exposure, you can store the sheets in the dark for quite a while before they fade away. It's just an idea and the paper is more expensive than non POP papers, but it could eliminate your darkroom for this step completely.
R
RML
Guest
POP paper is on my mind, too. Fotoimpex.de sells it and I'll be trying some this summer vacation with my daughter.
martin-f5
Well-known
hello,
it's a quite good idea,
but you should do it at night in your flat or cabinet.
(of course, that's clear, shame on me)
when I do some contact sheets I need about 5 sec. at f 5,6 with my enlarger,
the bulb in the enlarger is a Opal 60 Watt and the distance is about 0.5 m.
it's a quite good idea,
but you should do it at night in your flat or cabinet.
(of course, that's clear, shame on me)
when I do some contact sheets I need about 5 sec. at f 5,6 with my enlarger,
the bulb in the enlarger is a Opal 60 Watt and the distance is about 0.5 m.
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
I've been travelling with a friend who used to carry a low-cost 6x6 darkroom-in-a-suitcase and a Flexaret. Here's a couple of tips from the experience:
- The best thing about a mobile darkroom IMHO is not having instant contact prints available, but keeping a regularly updated photo diary of prints while you travel. This is not only enormous fun, but you also reflect on your journey and it's a great conversation piece. Get an empty photo book and just put the prints in there as you make them, and take notes of where and when you took a picture and where and when you developed it in the corners of the pages
- If you want to keep your setup light and small, don't do large formats. If you want to do 8x10" proof sheets, you have to carry an 8x10" pack of paper, one to three 8x10" trays and either an 8x10" contact printing frame or an 8x10" glass plate. My friend ended up doing contact prints of individual 6x6 negatives on 9x13cm paper, which was much more portable: a pack of 100 sheets of 9x13cm is smaller than a paperback book, trays are small, the frame is light. His darkroom fit in an attaché case except the film development drum.
- Contact printing frames are overrated IMHO. A glass plate will do. You can also take one of those small clip-on frames with you which consist of a board and a glass plate. Put in the paper, put the negative on top of it, clip the glass on top of the package, and you're ready for exposure.
- Trivial, but important: choose your chemistry carefully. For film use a one-shot developer where you don't have to carry an extra bottle of working solution with you. For paper see how many times you will change location, to see if you want to carry working solution around with you or not. Powder developer is more compact, but you either again have to carry the working solution with you or open a new package of powder at each new darkroom location, so get developer in small packages - using only parts of a bag of powder is risky at best, because if the powder consists of a mix of multiple substances these are likely to unmix in the bag.
- Exposure can be done with switching the light on and off. Not particularly precise. If you want more precision (my friend didn't) take a step wedge with you, do a contact print off the step wedge and then you will have a reference value how bright your hotel room's bulb is. If you don't need precision, just guess exposure and then develop to sight.
- Even if you expose by switching the light on and off, you will still want a safelight. You can take a bulb with you, or build yourself a battery-powerd red LED safelight if you're into electronics, or take some of the filter foils used in some darkroom safelights and put them in front of a flashlight.
- POP paper is great fun and gives amazing prints. For proof sheets it's a waste of money, though. You need hypo fixer, which you can buy in the form of crystals or powder. (IIRC this is one of the powders where you can actually use part of a bag because it's only one substance.). POP paper is a fibre-based paper, though, so you need some solution for drying your prints.
Philipp
EDIT: cleared up terminology in two cases and a couple of grammatical errors, the joy of not being a native speaker.
- The best thing about a mobile darkroom IMHO is not having instant contact prints available, but keeping a regularly updated photo diary of prints while you travel. This is not only enormous fun, but you also reflect on your journey and it's a great conversation piece. Get an empty photo book and just put the prints in there as you make them, and take notes of where and when you took a picture and where and when you developed it in the corners of the pages
- If you want to keep your setup light and small, don't do large formats. If you want to do 8x10" proof sheets, you have to carry an 8x10" pack of paper, one to three 8x10" trays and either an 8x10" contact printing frame or an 8x10" glass plate. My friend ended up doing contact prints of individual 6x6 negatives on 9x13cm paper, which was much more portable: a pack of 100 sheets of 9x13cm is smaller than a paperback book, trays are small, the frame is light. His darkroom fit in an attaché case except the film development drum.
- Contact printing frames are overrated IMHO. A glass plate will do. You can also take one of those small clip-on frames with you which consist of a board and a glass plate. Put in the paper, put the negative on top of it, clip the glass on top of the package, and you're ready for exposure.
- Trivial, but important: choose your chemistry carefully. For film use a one-shot developer where you don't have to carry an extra bottle of working solution with you. For paper see how many times you will change location, to see if you want to carry working solution around with you or not. Powder developer is more compact, but you either again have to carry the working solution with you or open a new package of powder at each new darkroom location, so get developer in small packages - using only parts of a bag of powder is risky at best, because if the powder consists of a mix of multiple substances these are likely to unmix in the bag.
- Exposure can be done with switching the light on and off. Not particularly precise. If you want more precision (my friend didn't) take a step wedge with you, do a contact print off the step wedge and then you will have a reference value how bright your hotel room's bulb is. If you don't need precision, just guess exposure and then develop to sight.
- Even if you expose by switching the light on and off, you will still want a safelight. You can take a bulb with you, or build yourself a battery-powerd red LED safelight if you're into electronics, or take some of the filter foils used in some darkroom safelights and put them in front of a flashlight.
- POP paper is great fun and gives amazing prints. For proof sheets it's a waste of money, though. You need hypo fixer, which you can buy in the form of crystals or powder. (IIRC this is one of the powders where you can actually use part of a bag because it's only one substance.). POP paper is a fibre-based paper, though, so you need some solution for drying your prints.
Philipp
EDIT: cleared up terminology in two cases and a couple of grammatical errors, the joy of not being a native speaker.
Last edited:
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
Does that mean you will be in Berlin? If you happen to be there after September 1, drop me a line and we can have a beer together.RML said:
R
RML
Guest
rxmd said:
Philipp, I may be in Berlin in Oktober for a very short while (like part of a day to collect my mother-in-law from the airport), but nothing is certain yet. If I have time, I'll give you a call.
I'll call FotoImpex to place an order of POP and have it send to Holland.