got enlarger? I do.

Ducky said:
Nice thread, I'll be following it. I got tired of dealing with curled negs and a flatbed film scanner so decided to try scanning contact prints from my MF. Then, being impatient, I ordered an enlarger on the *bay. Paper etc. from freestyle. This time next week I'll be into wet printing as well. I wish us both luck, I'm looking forward to it.
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Cool, we can compare notes ;)

Todd
 
Todd, great to know you'll be printing. There's another book that I found extremely helpful when I began shooting, developing, and printing. It's called "Black and White Photography" by a guy named Horenstein. I highly recommend it.
 
Todd, to begin with make it easier on yourself and use multigrade resin coated RC paper rather than graded fiberbase. I use Ilford's multigrade RC, pearl surface. Once you're up to speed, you can decide to use the good stuff to print the good stuff.
 
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I will be starting up soon as well. The darkroom is close to being done... just setting up the comfort features :) I like the idea of a light for checking your prints after the fix... I have heard this several times so will have to setup a simple light for this like Al suggested

This week I did take the time to make sure the enlarger is level... it was very simple with the Versalab level and I like the fact that I can check easily and often with this device... spendy tho.

I will be contacting Freestyle for my chemicals this week, going to try Silvergrain. Hope to report back in a couple of weeks with results.

cheers.
Jason
 
My first print, let me know what yall think. This print was shot with a digital camera to upload here, quality is better in the analog world ;). Printed using Franks advise, Ilford multigrade IV RC paper.

3370571577_9273cff0f0_o.jpg


I would like to add some contrast, am using a dichroic head...should I dial in a bit of magenta?

Todd
 
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Sweet! Isn't it wonderful?

I also use a color head on my Vivitar enlarger, if you dial in more magenta, the light will become dimmer so you have to compensate with more time.

Aside from the hassle of darkening room and preparing chemicals (and washing up afterward), darkroom printing is way more fun and rewarding than inkjet.
 
I use Silvergrain Tektol Standard (1+9) is a good developer, ecological and easy to mix; but its exhausted before than the Kodak Dektol (1+3) for example. Its totally true in my opinion what Photo Engineer mention in APUG above Tektol.

http://www.apug.org/forums/461045-post24.html

The Dmax (maximum black density that have each paper) dropped evidently in my tests at the 7-9 days of the dilution was created.



Good luck, Todd.


-

David
 
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Al Kaplan said:
This applies to anybody interested in learning the B&W darkroom:
...but always keep a spare bulb handy for the enlarger.
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Al,

Believe me when I say I read your whole statement BUT this advice really jumped out at me having just replaced the bulb in my Beseler a few days ago...It seems they do get so hot that any bump to the enlarger (while the bulb is still very hot) will cause the bulb to fail...
I had three spares in the closet so I was able to contunue printing...and just the other day I picked up 7 more bulbs off ebay...
Just as Al has stated "...always keep a spare bulb...":D :D :D
 
pesphoto said:
....or a spare enlarger.........:)
The bulb went out on my Omega B22 a while ago, luckily I had another enlarger to use while I waited for my replacement bulbs to arrive.
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I've got that covered too...I have a spare enlarger and spare bulbs for it...
 
I am a test strip guy. Locate it thru important areas such as the eyes of a portrait.

You will also learn a well exposed and properly developed negative requires the same printing time at x magnification regardless of film type. 8x10 print is say 20 sec at f8, use that as your test exposure.

A contact sheet can also be used to get a start time for the whole roll. Have the enlarger at the height for 8x10, then if the exposure for the contct is good, the print will be close.

I have a meter and never use it, not for color or black&white.
 
If you can find one, get a Nova slot processor - it works well with RC, I'm not sure how well it will work, if at all, with regular paper. It keeps the chemistry fresh for up to a month - even the developer. That makes it much more convenient to go to the darkroom and make a couple of prints with minimum setup time.
 
Well...
the prints are coming out fine. I spent the weekend printing and it's a blast. Besides the common newbie mistakes of leaving the lens wide open, loading the paper in the easel while the enlarger was still projecting the image, forgetting to turn off the white light while projecting etc., I'm having fun!

The process is amazing, for me at least and the images are really nice. Sharpness and tonality is amazing, not to mention no color casts from the black inks ;).

C-ya,
Todd
 
Todd.Hanz said:
Well...
the prints are coming out fine. I spent the weekend printing and it's a blast. Besides the common newbie mistakes of leaving the lens wide open, loading the paper in the easel while the enlarger was still projecting the image, forgetting to turn off the white light while projecting etc., I'm having fun!

The process is amazing, for me at least and the images are really nice. Sharpness and tonality is amazing, not to mention no color casts from the black inks ;).

C-ya,
Todd
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All of the above and it is indeed fun. I did a few 5x7s and contact sheets. My enlarger has aperture settings, I guess they all do, and I did not know that at first and was adjusting only the exposure times.
The best book so far is the simple "Kodak Workshop Series" on bw darkroomk techniques.
I'm trying to be consistant, as recommended in most books, and am using all Arista (freestlyphoto.biz) products.
So far, so good.
 
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