Fujimoto Color Processors or Similar?

[Vikesh Kapoor]

Hello!

I'm looking to construct a color darkroom at home.
Anyone looking to sell a tabletop color processor ie. Fujimoto CP-31/CP-51, etc.

Thank you!

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

so there are still people intending to print colour photos
manually!!processing manually RA4 colour prints I would call at this
time and age the embodiment of masochism. as I so foolishly gave all my
gear away thinking that digital photography is the next best thing
besides sliced bread, to set up a new colour darkroom seems extremely
difficult, to procure a colour enlarger and a paper tank in the least,
and the chemicals and papers from Germany since noone stocks them
anymore here. I scan them and print them on my Canon Pixam MX925.I have
a traditional darkroom for B&W.With a meopta enlarger.as for your
question there must be plenty of them on surplus, just as there are
enlargers, and I was looking for years until I found the match!

[Abandoned_Trolley]

Have you managed to resolve this problem yet ?

AT

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

Have you done anything about it? Because I'm also looking for a
second-hand colour enlarger, plus lens, plus paper tank. It's not really
that difficult, I have done it in the past both with RA 4 and
Cibachrome, and it's very exciting, and fruitful. No algorithm, no
photoshop and no inkjet printer can reach the beauty of a colour print
printed by hand by an experienced printer, IMHO. I hope I can find
something locally. Unless someone has to one, to sell me a "turntable"
of blue, red and green filters that go under the lens of a normal B&W
enlarger,and wishes to ship it in Greece, preferably with a paper tank.I
can pay with paypal for shipment and a reasonable fee for the goods.
where normally the red filter goes, and with the additive system you do
three different exposures on the same piece of paper. I have put adds
OTOH here locally for an enlarger.

[Abandoned_Trolley]

My apologies, I didn't realise you lived in Greece so did not appreciate
the difficulties which you are having

Anyway, right at the moment I don't need to do anything about it as I
have a Meteor Siegen roller transport processor which handles paper up
to 40cm wide. but its not exactly a "table top" arrangement - the dev
and blix tanks are 9 litres each.

So, I dont know if any of this is any use, but here's a few things which
might possibly help.

First, before I got the Meteor processor I was using a Cibachrome
processor which I picked up cheap on eBay. You probably know that
Cibachrome is a 24 degree process which I think is 3 minutes per bath. I
fiddled about with the thermostat bit and changed the drive gears so
that it was running at 45 seconds per bath. I don't think anybody is
processing Cibachrome any more so its possible that some of these things
are still around. Anyway, it might be possible to adapt something for
your use. Failing that, there's some other tabletop processors from
Durst and other makers which may be worth considering.

Alternatively, you might be able to develop a technique for daylight
processing by popping the paper in to a film developing tank. If you
leave the film spirals out then you can easily stick a 5x7 paper in
around the edge then pop the lid on and carry on in daylight

Second, I have heard some reports from somebody on photo.net saying that
they have had some success with RA4 processing in open dishes. Obviously
this has to be done in total darkness unless you can find one of those
(almost useless) colour safelights. If you are working in the dark then
45 seconds per bath can be a bit tricky, so I think he ran the dishes at
maybe 20 or 24 degrees, and adjusted the time to about 3 minutes ?
Keeping dishes at a constant 38 degrees is a bit of a non starter
anyway, so you need to spend a bit of time fiddling about to work out
some sort of process.

Basically, there is a number of ways that you might consider RA4
processing WITHOUT using a roller transport processor at all.

Third, unless you have some overpowering reason for not doing so, I
would strongly advise you to forget about the "filter drawer" techniques
and simply get a proper colour enlarger. You then dial up the filter
density required.

If you are doing any B&W processing then multigrade papers seem to
assume the use of a colour enlarger anyway - I don't even know where to
get graded papers from these days (no - DONT bother to tell me)
Also, don't forget that a large chunk of B&W printing is done using B&W
RA4 paper anyway, to save the labs running a separate "normal" B&W process.

One of my earliest enlargers was a Durst 606 with a filter drawer but I
am sure that it dated back to the sixties. Basically, I think additive
systems and filter drawers went out with the Ark

AT

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

thanks a lot for replying. yes I live in Greece in the island of Crete
which is the southmost place in Greece, halfway to Africa. My city
(Iraklion) is quite big so I have some opportunities of finding used
darkroom and photo equipment. My current enlarger (meopta axomat II)
doesn't even have a filter drawer so I had to buy a set of multigrade
filters (Ilford of course) that goes under the lens, from the excellent
macodirect.de site. I don't mind using a paper tank, that's like a
normal film tank in the sense that you load it in total darkness but you
process in daylight. It has some special grooves and can accept several
paper sizes. My old enlarger (Meopta opemus 6) had two heads, one
condenser with a filter drawer for B&W and a diffusion colour head with
regular subtractive filters. This with all my equipment I foolishly gave
away when the digital came, I never thought I'd go back. Anyway since
I'm a humble electrician I'm looking for a solution that won't cost an
arm and a leg and preferably, something local or at least in Athens. I
did also Cibachrome back in the day, but it's discontinued, alas. I also
did RA 4 and the also discontinued R3 (reversal chromogenic paper like
Cibachrome but with different process). I'd rather not use a film tank
for paper processing as it doesn't have any grooves and the paper might
slip and I'd rather use a bigger size than 5X7, maybe 18X24 cm. A packet
of 100 costs 50 euros in macodirect plus tetenal chemicals for 18
papers, 15 euros, so the cost is not prohibitevely high. No, I'd rather
not develop RA4 in dishes as my darkroom is quite cramped up and I'd
have difficutly with it, anyway I found even in ebay used paper tanks
for every wallet. They're very convenient. I'm sure that such a
processor doesn't exist here in iraklion. I know how to use a colour
enlarger, but I haven't done so in almost 20 years. And I lived to tell
the tale :-) Macodirect has many kinds of paper I think even graded a
search is quite easy. My enlarger must be at least from the '70s because
in the infamous lightmaster there was A Siemens capacitor dated
2/1972!!!But it was completely free and with a ton of other goods,
including papers, but alas, no easel or multigrade filters or even a red
filter (it was destroyed). I don't even know how its late previous owner
printed at all.
D.T.

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

> D.T.check this out, www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk, excellent site, has even
some processors but no fujimoto, delivers all over Europe, for Greece
has a 30 pounds surcharge, and has literally everything! I'm thinking of
getting a Meopta Axomat 5 colour, a Jobo 2850 drum (IIRC) it's all for
¬200 pounds plus 30 plus the import VAT when they arrive. I can either
get an enlarger lens from them (they start at 15 pounds!!) with a
different order, and maybe a philips colour analyzer for 35 pounds, or
from an excellent shop in Athens which has marumi enlarger lenses for 50
euros. Chemicals and paper from macodirect.de HTH.HAND. (I don't know if
there's something similar in USA;B&H in NY has obviously everything but
with hefty prices!)

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

update: I chose an Axomat versus the Opemus which I used to have. The
Axomat is 35 mm only while the Opemus can also enlarge 120 film, with
the proper lens goes without saying. The Opemus has a much bigger and
heavier condenser lens, which would be a disadvantage my enlarger being
shipped from the UK. The Opemus uses an 150 W opal lamp while the Axomat
only an 75 W. The Axomat has a much more robust friction drive, while
the Meopta has a less good cog drive, which is made of plastic and in
the case of my Opemus wore out and my enlarger was almost bricked. As
for the Jobo 2850 it costs 89 pounds and is out of my price range.the
4551 costs 39 pounds and looks much more robust than the 2850 which had
a "tooth" system to seal which was much more difficult to use in total
darkenss and I was always afraid to break something. I used to have it
too. The Philips PCA 061 analyzer sells for 55 pounds (not 35!!) and I
can't afford it. as for the marumi lens-
https://www.giannatosfoto.gr/?product=%cf%86%ce%b1%ce%ba%cf%8c%cf%82-%ce%bc%ce%b5%ce%b3%ce%b5%ce%b8%cf%85%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b7%cf%81%ce%b1-50mm-f35-102
seems quite a good choice I pay only 10 euros for shipping from Athens.
Only Fuji manufactures RA 4 paper now 100 18X24 only 40 euros.
https://www.macodirect.de/papier/farbpapier/fuji-crystal-archive-farbfotopapier-glaenzend-17-8x24cm-7x9-5-100-blatt?c=25
there's practically only one 1L kit for RA 4 from Tetenal
https://www.macodirect.de/chemie/farbchemie/ra-4/tetenal-magic-box-ra-4-entwickler-kit-fuer-23-blatt-18-24-cm?c=51
16 euros macodirect does deliver in Greece as the orders are shipped
with trucks something very important with chemistry as they're not
accepted as cargo in planes.
I choose to do the whole developing process preferably on a hot summer
day, with plenty of hot water from the solar boiler. I fill the sink
with hot water at the correct temperature and put all the chemical
bottles in it. I also need a digital thermometer with a 0,1 C precision
a friend has one in a store here. Strange enough macodirect has none
precise enough.

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

I finally ordered these in one big order from the UK, Meopta Axomat 5 35
mm colour enlarger,
https://www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk/product/meopta-axomat-5-colour-35mm-enlarger/
Jobo 2850 , Fujimoto 50 mm F 2,8
https://www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk/product/fujimoto-50mm-f2-8-lens/
now the only thing missing are paper and the chemicals,
https://www.macodirect.de/en/paper/color-papers/4315/fuji-crystal-archive-photographic-color-paper-glossy-7x9.5-17.8x24cm-100-sheets?c=25
https://www.macodirect.de/en/chemistry/color-chemistry/ra-4/6313/tetenal-magic-box-ra-4-kit-for-23-sheet-18-24-cm?c=651
they have also this excellent E-6 kit only for one film unfortunately
but I have 2 exposed ones,
https://www.macodirect.de/en/chemistry/color-chemistry/e-6/6312/tetenal-magic-box-e6-kit-for-1-color-slide-film?c=650
and here' also a wide choice of B&W graded papers! the works!
(unfortunately only in German I'm afraid)
https://www.macodirect.de/papier/schwarzweiss-pe-papier-feste-gradation/
you can search in English there will appear everything they have in B&W
papers you can narrow the search only in German. Mostly Czech Foma
papers which are excellent. I bought some 40X50 multicontrast. there's
also 30X40 colour.
https://www.macodirect.de/en/paper/color-papers/4317/fuji-crystal-archive-photographic-color-paper-glossy-12x16-30.5x40.6cm-50-sheets?c=625
I also bought an Amprobe immersion thermometer, digital, with an
accuracy of 0,1 C.

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

The Thursday before last came the packet from the UK. Everything in good
condition, the lens is as agood as new-only thing the cable for the lamp
house of the colour head is a bit charred an easy fix for an
electrician. The only thing missing now is paper and chemicals from
macodirect. It's amazing the packet came intact from the other corner of
Europe. Everything was packed very carefully in its own packet with
bubble wrap and all of them in an enormous box.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/167258532@N02/51448734455/in/dateposted-public/

[Dimitris Tzortzakakis]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/167258532@N02/51659732884/in/dateposted-public/
the packet came from macodirect.de, a packet of Fuji Crystal Archive
18X24, a tetenal Ra-4 magic box, a Velvia 50, a Pan F,a Foma 10X15 silk,
plus some more goodies, a small bag of gummy bears (!!!), some cards
about Michael Zirn who claims he can make an emulsion to any arbitrary
size, and he has made one to 258 sq.m. in the 2009 Biennale of Venice
and offers courses online about his technique. He uses Rollei Black
Magic which is on sale in macodirect, although he would be using it with
the bucketful-:)