keeping color chemicals right temp.
MBurbaugh
I have a small darkroom and am wondering if there is anyway that I can
keep constant heat to develop color neg. and prints. My instructor at
college had a submersable heating element, but I have a problem with
finding such an instrument. Please help!
Larry A. Warsinski
In response to your question, I can only tell you what I did. I "borrowed"
an older electric frying pan with a removable heat/thermostat/dial/cord. I
measured the color chemicals I intended to use and placed them in a water
bath in the frying pan.
It took some experimentation to get the pan to exactly the right
temperature, and then I simply unplugged the cord from the wall, leaving
the thermostat setting alone. Each time I wanted to process, I made
certain I had enough water in the pan, plugged it in, and let it all warm
up. It took some time, but not more than about a quarter hour.
I seem to remember doing all this at about 90-100 degree F -- but would
have to go back and check my notes to make sure.
--
--Larry A. Warsinski--
lwar...@up.net
MBurbaugh <mbur...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970125145...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
John & Karen Douglas
MBurbaugh wrote:
>
> I have a small darkroom and am wondering if there is anyway that I can
> keep constant heat to develop color neg. and prints. My instructor at
> college had a submersable heating element, but I have a problem with
> finding such an instrument. Please help!
Check out the Nova "processor" sold by Jobo. I've had one for 2 years
for my PA-4 printing and it works relatively well. Thier are a number of
improvements that can be made, but right now it's the only realistic
alternative to tube processors.
Also you can check out Adorama. They sell water bath trays and heaters.
Or you could go to a pet store and buy a really big, or 2 med. size
aquarium heaters.
--
John & Karen Douglas
Spectrum Photographic Inc.
"To the limits of reality and
across the bridges of imagination we go!"
Bill Lawlor
mbur...@aol.com (MBurbaugh) wrote:
>I have a small darkroom and am wondering if there is anyway that I can
>keep constant heat to develop color neg. and prints. My instructor at
>college had a submersable heating element, but I have a problem with
>finding such an instrument. Please help!
For prints, Tetenal Mono PK is sold by JOBO dealers. It is an ambient
temperature RA-4 procesing kit. I tried it in 11X14 trays at 66
degrees and it was as easy as black and white. Jobo distributes the
NOVA which I use also up to 8X10.
Bill Lawlor
Bob Spencer
Don't get an aquarium heater it won't hold temp accurate enough for C41. I
use a Dev Tec 750 watt heater in an ice chest, for a water bath. For RA4 I
just dump the chemicals in the drum (at 100F) for a minute, RA4 has enough
leeway that you don't need to submerse the drum in a water bath (unless
maybe your darkroom is really really cold). You can purchase a Dev Tec
heater from B&H or Adorama for about $100.
MBurbaugh <mbur...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970125145...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
MSchaf7081
A high quality fish tank heater in a two gallon water bath will hold
accurate
temperature very well in my many years of experience in doing just that
before I could buy more expensive equipment.
The 100 degree RA4 approach may work very well but what you are doing is
"Drift By" processing and there are several other variables that the user
needs to
understand before they do this.
I am constantly surprised at all the myths I see about how difficult it is
to do
color printing in a home darkrrom. To combat these myths I have put
togather
a booklet that explains how easy it is to do. I will be happy to send this
to
anyone that is interested if you will send me an E_Mail requesting it.
I don't mean to contradict anyone in a mean spirited way but I am getting
a
little tired of seeing half truths and myths on these boards.
Bob Spencer
Sorry, but I used a high quality aquarium heater and it does not hold temp
well enough for C41...in a couple of gallons of water, or 10 gals, I've
tried both (it was a 250 watt heater) -- note that I made no mention of
it's accuracy for RA since the question include C41, and good negatives are
important, get sloppy with your negatives and the reults will show. The
drift by method is just fine, the reason I use 100, is I don't like to
readjust my heater from C41 temp to RA temp. As I said the RA has more
leeway, so the dirft by method works fine. Since after a minute in the
drum the chemicals come out at about 99 it's hardly drift by anyway. With
the older longer processes it was a different story. The first time I did
color prints, it was something like 6 or 7 minutes in the developer --
that's long enough for for a serious temp drop. Unless you are working in
a really cold dark room, you are unlikely to experiance a temp drop long
enough for a drift by effect (I use Beseler drums -- I supose other brands
could have more heat loss, but again 1 minute is a SHORT time).
There is certainly nothing difficult about my suggestions.
I think it is always wise to try and be consistant even if the process has
more leeway such as RA (and there are many fine darkroom workers who agree
with me -- or I with them whatever). 1: it's easier to produce consistant
photos, if needed (some people, like me, tend to reintrupt the photos
between printing sessions, and may change the color balance, but
consistancy helps here too eliminating a possible variable and wasted
time/paper). 2: if something starts going wrong it may make it easier to
pinpoint the problem. And when I say consistant, I don't necesserally mean
absolute 100% exactly the same, and I don't think my message suggested any
such think...maybe I should say reasonably consistant. And ultimatly it is
up to the photographer hem/herself to find standards that work for them,
but Kodak, Tetenal et. el publish standards and tollerances for a reason.
I have made color prints from everything from a b&w darkroom to my current
darkroom (all at home, some quite primitive), not to mention darkrooms in
college that ran from the really rinky dink to those that would make any
home darkroom user jealous. I've run the gammat, and I only base my
comments on my experiances, and they are not half/truths or myths.
You must remember the original question and it concerned both RA and C41.
Did you know, BTW, that people have accidently mixed RA solutions up to
25% to strong and too weak, and come up with photos indisinguishable from
those run with the correct solutions? I am amazed at how many
photographers don't read anything published by others and who never
gain/learn by the experainces of others. Have you looked at such things as
the DoMac roller transport processor which uses concentrated chemicals and
105F to give fast prints that have the same color balance as those run at
standard time/temp?
And yes I am aware that you can screw up C41 pretty badly and still come up
with reasonable negatives (depending on film type), but that doesn't mean
you shouldn't just go and slop through. The more consistant your negatives
the easier they will be to print, the better your prints will be and by
being consistant you reduce the chances of error so bad that you end up
with unprintable negs. It can also give you a basis for expermentation.
And what if you learn sloppy technic and that extend into say E6 where you
can more easily ruin your final product (the transparancy) by sloppy
technique?
The person who originally asked the question obviously had instruction from
someone who took the time to make sure things would be consistant and
improve a students chances and that really make it easier on the students
and instills good habbits.
> The 100 degree RA4 approach may work very well but what you are doing is
> "Drift By" processing and there are several other variables that the user
> needs to
> understand before they do this.
>
> I am constantly surprised at all the myths I see about how difficult it
is
> to do
> color printing in a home darkrrom. To combat these myths I have put
> togather
> a booklet that explains how easy it is to do. I will be happy to send
this
> to
> anyone that is interested if you will send me an E_Mail requesting it.
>
> I don't mean to contradict anyone in a mean spirited way but I am getting
> a
> little tired of seeing half truths and myths on these boards.
Or really? This supposed to be an advance appollogy doesn't sound like one
to me. And again I refer you to the original question!
>
>
>
>