ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (09/18/85)
While I'm asking questions of the net, I suppose I might as
well explore the area of darkroom methods too...
I have gathered together the materials and supplies to do contact
printing of B&W negatives on the cheap. (a picture frame for a
contact printer, room light for the light source, etc.)
I have even made a few proof sheets and they seem to be OK.
Now I'm thinking of the big jump into COLOR. Does anyone have
a favorite technique (or even one they hate, but works and is
easy and cheap) for making color contact proof sheets? I am
interested in proofing both negatives and slides. This weekend
I am going to try Panchromatic B&W paper and see how it does,
but I would rather have real COLOR proofs to look at. Can one
use a regular tungsten light bulb for contact printing color?
Thanks,
--
E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems
This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but
not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) (09/23/85)
> Now I'm thinking of the big jump into COLOR. Does anyone have > a favorite technique (or even one they hate, but works and is > easy and cheap) for making color contact proof sheets? I am > interested in proofing both negatives and slides. This weekend > I am going to try Panchromatic B&W paper and see how it does, > but I would rather have real COLOR proofs to look at. Can one > use a regular tungsten light bulb for contact printing color? Well, you may not believe this, but back when I first started experimenting with color printing, I made color contact prints using one of these "high intensity" desk lamps, the ones that have a transformer in the base, and a bulb of about 2" diameter on a telescoping stalk. I made these prints by putting the film and paper in a contact printing frame on the counter in the bathroom (i.e., about waist high), held the light as far overhead as I could, and turned the light on for a VERY short time (with some practice it was possible to do it intuitively for the right time, although it wasn't long enough to count up to any number). The surprising thing was, the color correction came out more or less right! Actually when I got my enlarger I was puzzled to discover that considerable color correction was required to contact print with it (I generally use 80Y+40M; this is an enlarger with a quartz halogen lamp, similar to those used in transparency projectors). In those days, I used 78RC paper, which required a different color correction from the new Ektacolor papers, so I'm not sure how well it would turn out now; but it is sort of surprising to me that the color turned out right. I think the 78RC required 60Y+40M, so probably the Ektacolor prints will turn out a little yellow; fortunately that is OK for contact prints, since people are more used to seeing things in yellow light (due to incandescent lighting) and thus it is less apparent than if it was, say, magenta. Now when I make contact prints I usually buy these notebook-page sized plastic sheets for the film to go in, and contact print from those. The prints don't turn out as sharp as if you use a contact printer that has the clips built into the printing frame, but it makes it possible to print a variety of different sizes of negatives using the same printing frame. The above, of course, was for prints from negatives; if you print from slides with Cibachrome, you probably will find it fairly trivial anyway, since it's hard to print wrong with Cibachrome (if you like Cibachrome colors). In any case, just experiment... you can always buy some low-cost color correction filters like those made by Unicolor and tape them over your light source to get the proper color correction. The much harder part is getting the exposure time right; if I remember right, toward the end of that time was when I built the darkroom timer I use now, using a 555, triac, and triac optocoupler to time it. This was because the time was so short that it was hard to get it exactly right. -- Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos UUCP: Ofc: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer Home: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jerpc!jer US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642 "Jryy, V qba'g guvax gung gur YBEQ zrnag hf gb rng puneerq png- recvyynef, ab znggre jung pbaqvgvba bs fgvssarff gurl'er va!"