Print color negative

Hi,

 

I'm printing my BW negative in my dark room with an enlarger Durst 670 Color,

now I'm asking how could print also color negatives. The workflow and the

development of paper is very different from the BW workflow?

Printing color paper from color negatives is very different than printing B&W.

 

Color paper is sensitive to all colors of light, so you have to work in total darkness.

 

Color processes use chemicals at elevated temperature (around 100F) and the temperature needs to be controlled to a tight tolerance (1 degeee F) otherwise you will not get consistent results. Processing is done for a fixed time and chemical temperature, so everything (chemical temperature, exposure, agitation and processing time) has a major effect on the finished print.

 

Color balance is controlled by color filters in the enlarger (it's best to have an enlarger with a color head). Determing the correct color filters to use when exposing the paper is a trial and error process. If you have a color analyzer, this will speed up the process once you have calibrated it using a trial and error process. Don't expect pirst print success if you want excellent color balanced prints.

 

Photography is my hobby and I have printed from color negatives for over 30 years. I use a Omega enlarger with a color head, color analyzer, enlarger timer, and a Jobo CPP2 processor with lift. The Jobo CPP2 processor has a water bath to control both chemical and processing tube temperature to 0.1 degeee C. It also keeps agitation consistent from cycle to cycle. I process both film and paper in the Jobo CPP2 processor in drums using one shot chemical process (this reduces variations in chemicals since they are fresh for every cycle). You need to reduce all process variables to a minimum to get consistent results.

 

Color chemical do not last long after you mix them. I only mix what I need for each processing session.

 

Good luck if you decide to try color paper processing.

This does not come from my experince but from what I was told from other users: printing colour at home is easier with Ilfochrome (cibachrome) from slides than colour paper fron colour negatives.

Ilfochrome is still in production (on the contrary to what most people think and all lab say) and is sold even in kit to be used at home.

I used to print color all the time. What I would do to make it easy on yourself is to get a drum processor, which I don't know if they make anymore, but Unicolor and Beseler used to make them with a motorized base. You load the sheet of exposed paper in the drum (only 1 sheet though) and add chemistry as needed, then let the motor do the turning for you. That way you can work in some light anyway, and the result are fine. You can do color negative and transparency prints this way with different chemistry. I'm sure you can find some decent used stuff on fleabay.

Cibachrome/Ilfocolor printing is very expensive and since color is harder this method is not a good method to learn with unless you don't worry about expense.

 

You can use a WR13 safelight with Kodak papers. Follow their directions and you will be OK.

 

You can tray process Kodak papers at 68 deg F using Kodak RA-RT developer replenisher and 2' development time. Doing this is no more difficult than doing B&W.

 

Ron Mowrey

Scan it and print it degitally by ink jet, it is faster and works well.

 

Lynn

I print color all the time. Since the chemistry doesn't last, I wait until I have enough negatives to print, buy the chemistry, a box of paper and go to work. Once you get the filtering correct it's not very hard, and the results are better than a lab, as you have total control. I use a Jobo and can't comment on doing it in trays.