KP Graphics

[Ash]

I glanced at the box of Kodalith Ortho Type 3, sat to my side (if anyone has more of this stuff PLEASE PM ME!!) and I noticed it had a website printed on it.

Turns out www.kpgraphics.com is Kodak Polychrome Graphics.

Any idea what the films listed on their website are like?

I kinda like the 4x5 Kodalith Ortho. Great tones when pulled out properly. I can't track down any more of it though, so if the film on KPG is a good replacement, then please let me know!

 

[Ash]

And here's the neg from today... the reason I want to track down kodalith ortho!

unedited neg scan - possibly needs to be re-scanned to pull out the blown highlights, but not bad for a >3min exposure, 1/100 Rodinal for 15mins (in fact it was slightly higher concentration, but only by 2 or 3ml to the 600ml solution).

 

[DavidH]

Some nice tones in there Ash - with a bit of play it would really come to life. No idea about your film though - have you tried over at apug.org ...?

 

[Ash]

David, thanks for the comment.

I managed to track down another box of Kodalith Ortho...a bargain at £6 unopened - the box I'm working through cost me £35!!

I'll give KPG another look, then google a few words, see if I can work out what it's all about.

 

[RayPA]

I used to work for Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG). This is probably one of Kodak's only profitable divisions. KPG deals strictly with pre-press (printing press) equipment and materials, so anything you see there should be related to that. I spoke with an old co-worker last year and he said that KPG had made several acquisitions and now practically rule that market. When I was there I worked with digital proofing, computer-to-plate, plate-writers, stuff like that.

 

[Ash]

So by plates, they really do mean the printing plates that are made for each colour (CMYK) on the printing press?

One of the films noted 'hard dots'. I guess this means the grain is actually pretty blatant, maybe for more correct record/repro of the plates, especially on edges?

 

[RayPA]

So by plates, they really do mean the printing plates that are made for each colour (CMYK) on the printing press?

One of the films noted 'hard dots'. I guess this means the grain is actually pretty blatant, maybe for more correct record/repro of the plates, especially on edges?

Yes, exactly. Plates refers to the actual metal plate(s) used on a printing press (one for each color) And no, the grain is not blatant at all when used for this purpose.

In printing it's all about 'dots'. Drop a loop onto a magazine or a newspaper (you may not need a loupe on a newspaper) and you'll see the dots. In situations where you still are using film to burn a plate (as opposed to writing directly onto the plate) you'd want the best possible transfer, meaning you'd want a good hard dot to start out with (no fuzziness or graininess). The film is laid on the plate and "contact printed" then that plate is processed and the image (the dots) are etched (for lack of a better word) on the plate. Then that plate is used on the press to make thousands of impressions (sometimes 100,000s), so the quality of the original (film) has to be good and tight, because each step and each impression adds a level of degradation.

If that sounds wacky, when the ink hits the paper the pressman start talking about 'dot gain' and how much the ink spreads on the paper, which factors in a whole bunch of stuff, but usually goes all the way back to the dot on the original film and that original transfer. The same film is used to generate "proofs" that the customer sees and "approves" and that the pressman uses to compare against. It really is a crazy kind of science.

sorry for the extended explanation. I haven't thought about this stuff for a while.

 

[Ash]

Ray, your explanation is great. It adds only a little to what we were taught during the art course in college.

The dots thing didn't click in my brain properly, it all makes sense now (I'd always used the analogy of pop art and bronze-age comics colours)