color enlarging beginner
Lewis Wright
need a tank or drum or tube. ive been doing my b&w 16x20 in trays for
some time. its so easy.
now i'm statring to fear that the big bucks i laid out on a color
enlarger may be wasted?...is it going to be radically difficult? where
do i get drums that will fit 16x20 paper? ive never seen them. and wont
it take several gallons of chemicals to fill one?
if someone could just slap me to my senses or help me with some
wisdom.....i'd sure appreciate it.
lewis
Pam Niedermayer
8 X 10 Ciba prints for evaluation, then go to a good printer
(real lucky, have a close friend who worked for a major
Boston color house, he's a great printer, unfortunately for
me he no longer works as a printer) for the big prints. So
I'd say that your investment need not be in vain.
Pam
--
Pamela G. Niedermayer
Pinehill Softworks Inc.
1221 S. Congress Ave., #1225
Austin, TX 78704
512-416-1141
512-416-1440 fax
http://www.pinehill.com
Tom Raymondson
Lewis Wright wrote:
> uh oh.....im being advised that to develope my color enlargements, i'll
> need a tank or drum or tube. ive been doing my b&w 16x20 in trays for
> some time. its so easy.
>
> now i'm statring to fear that the big bucks i laid out on a color
> enlarger may be wasted?...is it going to be radically difficult? where
> do i get drums that will fit 16x20 paper? ive never seen them. and wont
> it take several gallons of chemicals to fill one?
If you're talking prints from negatives, you can do them in trays with
room-temp chems such as Beseler RA-4AT.
COLETTE LANE
You're gonna have lots of fun doing color. Don't give up, this is when it
gets to be colorfully creative. There are so many ways to do color that I
could write for days, so I'll give you the basics. Color can only be done in
total darkness, or with a very dim, and I mean dimmmm! safelight, you better
stick with the dark. You can do it in a drum, in a slot processor(like stand
up trays or pods), regular trays(but is nasty messy), or an expensive(but
very convientent automatic processor). I can only give you suggestions, you
can see for yourself and shop around. Good Luck.
Colette Lane
www.jobo-usa.com
Lewis Wright wrote in message <3870DB27...@cbnn.net>...
>uh oh.....im being advised that to develope my color enlargements, i'll
>need a tank or drum or tube. ive been doing my b&w 16x20 in trays for
>some time. its so easy.
>
>now i'm statring to fear that the big bucks i laid out on a color
>enlarger may be wasted?...is it going to be radically difficult? where
>do i get drums that will fit 16x20 paper? ive never seen them. and wont
>it take several gallons of chemicals to fill one?
>
Manny Bhuta
processors. I suggest that you get yourself a drum and
the Tetnal AT RA4 chemicals. The drum will allow you
to process the prints in with lights on and give you more
consistent results. The AT chemistry is designed for room
temperature so you will not have to worry about maintaining
the chemicals at precisely 95şF. Following the directions
that come with the chemicals, making prints is very straight
forward.
I am not sure but I believe you can use Jobo 2850 drum
($66.95 at B&H) with a roller base. This drum is actually
an
8x10 drum and an extension to allow 16x20. This allow you
to make 8x10 prints and waste a lot of chemicals.
Since you are beginner with color, your biggest problem will
most likely getting correct color balance. I suggest that
make
some standard negatives, on your favorite film, with some
close up shots that include blue sky and a person holding a
gray card. If you do not have a gray card, go to your local
Home Depot and pick up a Formica color chip #928 (free).
Make sure that the person is holding the gray card such that
you get the color in the picture and not reflections from
it.
This standard negative will make it a lot easier to get good
color balance.
Make a prints of the standard negative until the image of
the
gray card matches the card itself. It is better to get
proper
exposure first. The filtration you use to make this
"perfect" print
would be an excellent starting point for prints for
negatives from
the same make and type of film. The reason for including a
person and blue sky in the standard negative is in case you
later
decide to get a good color analyzer. You can then program
channel for gray, skin and blue sky. With this you are
ready to
analyze most negatives.
BTW, I use JOBO Colorline 5100 analyzer, ATL-3 rotary
processor and Fujimoto CP-51 roller transport print
processor.
This makes my work in the darkroom a lot easier. But
honestly,
if you give up convenience and are willing to spend more
time
per print, you can get just as good results without all this
expensive equipment.
Good luck
--
Manny Bhuta
Randolph, NJ USA
________
"Lewis Wright" <lcwr...@cbnn.net> wrote in message
news:3870DB27...@cbnn.net...
Wayne
>
> uh oh.....im being advised that to develope my color enlargements, i'll
> need a tank or drum or tube. ive been doing my b&w 16x20 in trays for
> some time. its so easy.
>
> now i'm statring to fear that the big bucks i laid out on a color
> enlarger may be wasted?...is it going to be radically difficult? where
> do i get drums that will fit 16x20 paper? ive never seen them. and wont
> it take several gallons of chemicals to fill one?
>
> if someone could just slap me to my senses or help me with some
> wisdom.....i'd sure appreciate it.
>
> lewis
You can get 16x20 drums. I think that they may even come bigger than
that. Theres a huge one sitting at my local camera store right now. You
can also do Ilfochromes in trays, though I havent tried it many people
do it that way. I almost gave it my first try tonight but there were
other people at the darkroom so i couldnt shut the lights off.
I dont know how much chemistry a 16x20 drum takes-maybe 4-500 ml?
Thats wild guess, 8x10s usually talke 75 ml and 11x14 takes 150. You
will probably want to start with something smaller than 16x20 until you
get the hang of it. You can pick up smaller drums and motor bases on
ebay or used camera shops or buy a jobo. I paid 40 bucks for a used
Beseler 8x10 drum and base, and another 20 or so for an 11x14 drum.
The price of doing 16x20s will probably slap you to your senses. <G>
Wayne
David Cosgrove
I used to do color prints in tubes with the Bessler ambient temp chemicals.
I took very little chemistry in the tubes. Just enough to make sure that
the print was covered end to end plus a little. They worked ok but I could
have used a lot of help in getting the colors right. I don't do much color
any more but I use the head for a couple things including ilfochrome. I
have been real happy with prints from the ilfochrome stuff.
Glenn Stewart (Arizona)
> uh oh.....im being advised that to develope my color enlargements, i'll
> need a tank or drum or tube. ive been doing my b&w 16x20 in trays for
> some time. its so easy.
> now i'm statring to fear that the big bucks i laid out on a color
> enlarger may be wasted?...is it going to be radically difficult? where
> do i get drums that will fit 16x20 paper? ive never seen them. and wont
> it take several gallons of chemicals to fill one?
> if someone could just slap me to my senses or help me with some
> wisdom.....i'd sure appreciate it.
> lewis
Lewis,
Wayne gave you some good info with regard to buying used. 8x10 and 11x14
drums can run from $10-20. A used Beseler motor base shouldn't run over
$70 (probably closer to $50). The motor is a convenience, not a
necessity. You can make perfectly acceptable prints by rolling the drum
across a counter top.
DevTec makes a drum that can handle either 16x20 or 20x24 paper for
about $50 new. I bought mine several years ago from Freestyle in LA.
I use 100ml (~4oz) of solution for 8x10 or 11x14 prints. This is enough
to provide chemistry 3/8 - 1/2 inch deep at the bottom for the full
length of the drum. As the drum rotates, the paper rotates with it, but
the chemistry stays at the bottom, due to gravity. Thus, the paper keeps
rotating through the solution at the bottom of the drum. The drum MUST
be level. If it's off, the solution won't be deep enough at one end,
which will result in uneven development. You probably won't have this
problem if you roll the drum across a counter top, but with a motor base
you'll need to check level. I use water and a couple sheets of clear
plastic food wrap. Remove the end caps and wrap one end of the drum
tightly with the plastic wrap, then secure it around the end of the drum
with a rubber band. Stand the drum, open end up, and pour in the same
amount of water as the volume of chemistry you will be using. Now, wrap
the open end of the drum with the other sheet of plastic wrap and secure
it with a rubber band. Place the drum on the motor base and run it.
Adjust the leveling device on the motor base until the water level is
the same, as viewed through the plastic wrap, on both ends of the drum.
This method is more accurate than using a carpenter's level because the
'bubble' is the entire length of the drum, not just the 2 inches or so
in a carpenter's level.
The 16x20 DevTec drum takes about 8oz of solution to cover the length of
the drum. I use plastic measuring cups I bought at the supermarket for a
couple of bucks each to hold and dispense my chemistry. They're made of
Lexan, so they're nearly indestrucitble, they're graduated in both
ounces and ml, and they're clear and easy to keep clean.
Color correction hasn't been mentioned yet, so here's about $.25 worth.
Printing from color negatives is, in all respects, a negative process.
If the print is too light, you'll have to add more light (longer
exposure time or wider enlarging lens aperture) to make it darker, just
as in B&W. Likewise, if the print is too yellow, you'll have to ADD
yellow to the filter pack to take the excess yellow out of the print.
You'll learn to think 'negatively' pretty quickly. You'll also need a
starting filter pack. Your results may vary, but I find that 90Y 50M is
a good starting point for Kodak paper.
Best regards,
Stew
--
Photo Web pages: http://www.inficad.com/~gstewart
Educate yourself and stop fearing that which you do not understand.
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The opinions expressed herein are mine, not those of Intel Corporation.
DrHuggsNT
instructor who was very ingenious. I picked up 2 tubes for processing....1 for
8 x10's (which I use mainly) and 1 for up to 16 x 20's. I bought these at a
used camera shop...both for $23.00 (the larger one was brand new!).
Chemicals...2 oz per 8 x 10 in the tube processor. You don't need an expensive
setup for processing either. Just roll the tubes on a flat surface!
Wayne
Though that would help keep a person awake during the excitement of
drum processing, you can also find used motor bases for $20-40. I bought
mine for $25 and have used it going on 4 years now.
Wayne