AZO paper under an enlarger?

[per_volquartz1]

My 8X10 Enlarger has an Aristo head with a ton of light output - in combination with my 300mm El Nikkor I have to stop down to at least 45 just to get a comfortable long printing time.

 

<p>

 

 

I wonder if this would allow me to make enlarged prints on AZO paper?

 

<p>

 

 

Have never tried AZO - but heard a lot about it - wonder how it compares speed wise to f.inst. Brilliant #2 and #3???

[stephen_longmire]

It'll work, but Azo's slower. You may want to open up!

[michael_a._smith1]

Someone recently told me that Azo was 32 times slower than most

enlarging paper. From that, figure out how much time you would expect

to need for your exposures. If you estimate the times won't be too

long, give it a try.

 

<p>

 

Now for the shameless plug. I suppose you know that Paula and I are Azo

dealers (sell nothing else) in our attempt to keep this paper in

production. So if you give it a try we hope you'll get your Azo from

us. If we stop selling it, it will go out of production in relatively

short order. Azo comes in 8x10 and in 20 x 24 Grades 2 and 3. We are

the only ones in the world who have Grade 3 8x10 in 100-sheet boxes.

That was a discontinued item. It took over three months of discussions

with Kodak to convince them to reinstate this item (they were only

going to produce 500-sheet boxes of Grade 3 8x10). I knew that if they

only produced 500-sheet boxes few would buy it, then they would

discontinue that and with only one grade left, Azo would soon

disappear. So they agreed to keep 100-sheet boxes in the catalogue, but

only as a special order item. That means that we must buy 108 boxes

minimum, and at a higher price than Grade 2 100-sheet boxes because it

is a "Special Order." Not great, but at least it is in production.

Other places that sell Azo (and there are very few) will tell you that

8x10 Grade 3 in 100-sheet boxes is no longer available. They lie. It is

available, but they have to be willing to make an almost $8,000

commitment to stock it. We're faced with having to get another 108 box

order in a couple of months (yearly minimum purchase required). We've

only sold about 30% of the Grade 3 8x10 100-sheet boxes. Do we reorder?

If not, it will be discontinued forever (yearly evaluation by Kodak and

if there are no sales in a year, that's it). So we'll get it again, but

it sure would be nice if those of you out there who use Azo would get

it from us. We have to borrow to buy our yearly quota and while we

don't mind stockpiling it for our own eventual use (our becoming Azo

dealers is not 100% altruistic) there is a limit. (We would stockpile

500-sheet boxes, not 100-sheet boxes.) Full information is on our web

site at www.michaelandpaula.com (look under "Azo"). Or give us a call

at 610-847-2005. Many thanks for the indulgence of the group for

tolerating this "commercial" posting.

[michael_a._smith1]

I forgot one thing above. Azo is prefect for printing enlarged digital

negatives.

[pete_caluori]

Greetings,

 

<p>

 

I use an Omega DichroII head which has fairly good light output.

Using it I've enlarged 4x5 neg's 2x onto AZO, with print times that

averaged 4-8 minutes at f8-11.

 

<p>

 

Regards, Pete

[nathan_congdon]

I have done this with several enlargers. For all of them, I had to

just pull the lens off the enlarger, which gave very reasonable

exposure times, once I figured out what distance to use. Removing

the lens seemed to increase light output by several stops, and on the

enlargers I have used, it is the difference between being able to

make this work and not. Ability to control the distance reproducibly

is a BIG plus to using an enlarger for this purpose, as opposed to a

lightbulb or whatever!

 

<p>

 

Good luck,

 

<p>

 

Nathan

[jani finland]

Anyone figured out, could a flashlight be used instead of the

conventional enlarger light ? It shouldn't be hard to use a smaller

studio flash as a lightsource. 20x24 AZO prints, wow !

[dave_mueller]

If AZO is 32 times slower, that's 5 stops, that puts you at F8.

[tim_atherton2]

Why not just use a bare bulb with a reflector? Works for many, many

people, worked for Weston... cheap too!

 

<p>

 

Or hunt out one of those old used variable lightbox/contact printing

thingies..

 

<p>

 

 

tim

[dmin-99]

C'mon guys the thread isn't THAT long - the original poster wants to

enlarge the negatives.

 

<p>

 

Mike - I'm very interested in contact printing digital negatives, can

you point me to reference sources?

[tim_atherton2]

oops - okay, enlarging them - dump the cold light head and get a high

wattage bulb is what I came across recently

 

<p>

 

for Contact printing digital negs, do you need information on contact

printing them, or making the digital negs for contact printing?

try:

http://www.danburkholder.com/Pages/main_pages/page1_main.htm

even tells you how to make them on your inkjet....

 

<p>

 

tim

[dmin-99]

I've read the Burkholder materials - but I also subscribe to the

Alternative Process newsletter and it seems that all is not as rosey

as it appears. I'm just trying to find all of the links that I can

concerning the various methods used in the making of the negatives so

that when I decide to jump in I'm as well-informed as is practical.

[michael_a._smith1]

Wayne,

 

<p>

 

Sorry, but I don't know anything about printing digital negatives. I

also suggest you consult Dan Burkholder's fine book on the subject.

 

<p>

 

I do know that the negatives can be printed on Azo.