RA4 Printing - Complete newbie

[Lilserenity]

Hiya,

As part of my ongoing 'thing' to start selling prints over the coming years I have figured it is much more economical (read that as: I can make more profit -- let's be honest here!) to do my own printing. My scanner is not great (Coolscan III) not due to resolution but the colour depth of 8bit per channel blunts reds/purples so brutally in many cases.

I'm also a darkroom/film junky so colour home printing is the next frontier for me. I have largely solved the issues with black and white film processing marks (thanks to advice here), I can turn out a decent B&W print too, with good borders etc. etc., basically -- I feel that I am not running before I can walk.

Next step, colour.

I don't anticipate doing much colour film processing at home (I will eventually look into a Jobo system) -- it's cheap to get processed by someone else -- but printing, yes that I want to do.

At the moment I have a Meopta Axomat 5, and a pack of the Cibachrome/Ilfochrome 3x3 filters (so I can use my B&W enlarger), and I'm about to buy the Nova room temperature RA4 chemistry which can be processed in trays, my darkroom is the bathroom so even though it'll be completely dark, it's not too big to get lost in. (I'm far more likely to suffer a brain injury due to walking into something than get lost in my bathroom! 😀)

I also picked up some Kodak Endura Supra paper today in my local shop, 10x8" glossy pack of 100 £21 -- superb price.

I was wondering what were people's experiences of doing colour printing at home? I have gotten wet prints from elsewhere of Portra 160VC/NC, Reala and 1 Ektar print and I really do love the whole look.

Also, are there any good guides on this on the web. I've tried searching but surprisingly not much comes up (maybe duff keywords.)

Also the one thing I'm unclear about is the impact of the filters, ie: what are the compliments (people talk of adding magenta if the print is too green, presumably this correlates to green being complimentary to red in the colour wheel thing?) -- if it was too blue, would I reduce the cyan level -- that bit I know will take experimentation but some kind of a hint before hand would be good.

Any other useful tips would be appreciated! Although suggesting don't do it at home isn't what I'm looking for, well -- I'll still have my 6x4s and 7x5s done digitally on RA4 down at Jessops or Boots as that is much more economical but for 8x10s, 12x10s, 8x12s, 16x12s and so forth -- this seems much more economical ie: at current rates, I can do 8x10" at roughly 40p a print)

Ta muchly!
Vicky

 

[Sparrow]

I use a local lab, if I do all the pre-press a 12x18 Agfa-dlab, silver-digi costs £1.20

 

[timpppa]

RA4 is relatively easy to do at home darkroom.
One thing that would help a lot is color (dichroic) head in the enlarger.

You can make correct filtration with one exposure, if you have normal "gel" filters you have to make several exposures and change the filter for every exposure.

I have used tetenal's RA4 kit, I don't recommend it because of the blix.
I does not last very long or could be exhausted before you even use it.
Try to avoid those mono concentrates...

 

[kshapero]

I assume we are not talking about a CV Bessa R4A here. eh?

 

[Ronald M]

It is not cheaper when you figure paper and chems go bad. Inexperienced workers waste gobs of material.

Scan an do dodge burn stuff. Then send it to MPIX via internet. The prints come back in the mail in a few days. There is no way to set up to make a print or two like you ca with black and white.

 

[Lilserenity]

In the event, not to be a party pooper but I have done 40 or so prints now and they have all come out fine over the week or so I mixed up the first solution.

I mixed up some more last night and that came out fine too.

So far it seems to be working out fine but I'll keep people posted.

I have no interest in scanning as I'd need to purchase a better scanner than my Coolscan III which has only 8bit depth per channel; which tends to completely blunt reds and magentas. A Coolscan IV/V would be good, an 8000/9000 better still but that's out of reach and besides, I don't want to work digitally -- I do that all week at work 🙂

So far it has worked out cheaper but that's not the main consideration really, it's something I enjoy and it's working out.

What I do intend doing as I slowly build up the level of more commercial work I am doing (and that's very very slowly!) I can scan my prints on a flatbed.

I guess there's not too much pressure on me to deliver results yesterday, when that happens I'll be better off doing those jobs with a digital camera from the get go.

I am looking at a Colour 3 head for my Meopta Axomat 5 which is pretty darn cheap.

Anyway, I'm not oblivious to the deficiencies of optical printing and these room temp chems; but I think its worth me pointing out that it's been pretty successful so far so if people do want to give it a shot; it could be worth trying if you fancy it. I also heard that Kodak now sells the Endura Supra paper in packs of 50 which might be more economical and sensible for the casual film/darkroom user.

I'll post some of the results here soon!

Vicky

 

[ZorkiKat]

If you're going to get serious on colour printing, you might as well get a table top automatic roller print processor. If 8X10 is the largest you'll do, try looking for one of the used Durst RCP 20s converted to work for RA4. These probably go for low prices now. Similar processors may be available at bargain prices too.

A roller print processor makes a lot of things easier to do, makes you more efficient, and cancels out most of the variables that can affect your colour printing. For instance, you don't have to worry about process temps or timing- the machine does this for you.
And since the machine also does all the dunking and squeegeeing, you can turn on the room lights once the paper goes in and the machine lid goes on. And then wait for the semi-processed (still needs to be washed and stab'ed) paper to emerge from the other end.

You won't have to rinse tanks (as you would when you use drums) between prints. Chemical efficiency is better too if you do a number of prints. The RCP-20 for instance uses 1,8 litres of developer and blix. You can do perhaps two dozen or more 8x10s with one load, and then replenish the developer by just adding some replenisher. The machine also allows you to use lab processor chemistry that allows replenishment.

 

[Ronald M]

It lasts several weeks. Not three months. Plan on grouping work to use it up.

I use a Nova slot processor.

 

[AusDLK]

Oh, man. Go digital for color. It will be SO much more affordable in the long run. Your results will be far superior with much less toil.