Contact printing

[wally_hess]

OK .... I have my 8x10 camera, my lens, film and am ready to do real

pictures now, after practicing with paper negatives.

Printing with the paper negatives gave me mixed results - sometimes

the print was sharp, other times blurred, as if the paper moved

during the exposure.

My questions - I plan to conact print the film. What is the best or

correct method of contact printing? Do I need to buy / make a contact

printer (like I've seen on Ebay), or is there some standard proven

metod of printing that will yield sharp contact prints?

I've tried using glass over the paper, used glass together with a

foam substrate.

Thanks

[christian_olivet]

Lucky you! I too have my 8x10 and am almost ready for contacts

again. I was doing them with 4x5 negatives but could not do it

anymore, too tiny to appreciate fully. All that I have learned was

through Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee. They are at

michaelandpaula.com. I suggest you read their papers on

contact printing because they are extremely helpful.

I don't know what you want but let me tell you that those little 4x5

prints that I have made with real negatives on Kodak AZO paper

are incredible in tonality, detail and sharpness. It is quite

addictive, try it yourself!

Have fun

[joe_lipka3]

Spring back frames are good. The absolute best is a vacuum frame if you have the space in your darkroom. The tighter you can get your negative to the paper, the better off you will be.

[tim_atherton2]

these guys make a very nice contact printing frame:

 

http://www.fineartphotosupply.com/printframepg2.htm

 

it's nice to ahve one that's just a bit bigger than 8x10 rather than exactly 8x10.

 

And read up everything on Michael Smiths site - great articles:

 

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/index_skip.html

 

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/writings.html

 

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/azo_main.html

 

Forte also makes a nice paper for contact printing - just experimenting with it.

[carl_weese]

Two pieces of heavy plate glass will ensure excellent contact for

silver-printing of 8x10 negatives. For contact printing on

hand-coated papers, ie, Pt/Pd, cyanotype, etc, a spring back

frame of vacuum frame will be preferable. On ordinary double

weight silver paper I've found the plate glass sandwich entirely

satisfactory up to 7x17 inch negatives.

[john_kasaian1]

Wally, my outfit is very low-tech---a heavy piece of glass I got from an import store, originally intended to be used as a table top for an end table, and a scrap of THICK rubber mat(3/8-1/2" thick) from the hardware store(NOT the thin ribbed stuff!) I also have a printing out frame for alternative processes, but for normal use I prefer using the glass. Good luck!

[brian_ellis3]

When paper moves during exposure in contact printing you get a double or triple sort of ghost-like outline around the edges of everything, not really a blurred image. Assuming the negative is sharp to begin with, blurred images in contact printing are usually caused by a lack of good firm, uniform contact between the negative and the paper, which in turn is usually the result of a cheap contract printing frame or some other problem with how contact between the paper and the negative was made. If this is something you plan to puruse for a while I'd definitely buy a good quality contact printing frame. They aren't expensive these days. I bought mine from a guy named Doug Kennedy in California who made very nice ones, Great Basin Something Or Other also made nice ones. I have read that the Zone VI contact printing frames were also good. I'd avoid a foam substrate. It might work fine but it seems to me that you'd be better off with a more solid base. The base of mine is wood with a thin cloth covering.

[tim_atherton2]

What tripods - say Gitzo for example - are people using with the Phillips 8x10?

 

I have a big (ser4?) gitzo I used with my Deardorff, which I think will probably be overkill with the Phillips. And a lighter (reporter? - I've had em so long I can't remember the models) Gitzo I use for 35mm and 4x5.

 

How light a tripod have people found they can use with the Phillips.

 

And what about heads - again, I have a couple of big gitzo heads I use with the Dorff - mainly the big gitzo low profile one, and an Arca B1 for 35mm and 8x10.

 

what's peoples experience?

[jay_wolfe]

Bostick and Sullivan also has a nice 11x14 print frame at a reasonable price.

[sal_santamaura]

"What tripods - say Gitzo for example - are people using with the Phillips 8x10?"

 

Currently using a Linhof 3414 + Gitzo 1370M under Compact II.

[wally_hess]

I guess this is a dumb afterthought question that I should have asked in my orginal post - after looking at the contact printing frames mentoned above, I now wonder - do you contact print with the light above the frame, or are they used with a light below the frame? Does it matter? I've been using my paper and negative under glass, with the light source coming from above from a 6x6 enlarger, yet I've imagined a box with the light source within, and the negative facing down with the paper behind it.

[ed_ogrady]

Wally, unless you have a contact printer, illumination from below would make it very dificult to do any burning or dodging, unless of course you like laying down when you print.