James G. Dainis

It would be cheaper and faster to develop the 8ix10 sheets yourself. An Arista E-6 one quart kit costs around $35. That should be good enough for 8 sheets. I used to develop 8x10 Ektachrome film in the laundry sink in my basement. The developing tray would sit in a 101F degree water bath in the sink. With the door closed and a heavy blanket over the window it was plenty dark. Easy-peasy. I did learn that if I put six sheets of film that were at room temperature of 70F degrees into developer at 101F degrees the film would almost instantly cool the developer down to 98F degrees resulting in magenta cast results. After that I would start with 104F degrees developer before I put the cold film in. In retrospect, I suppose it would have been better to pre-soak the film in water at 101F degrees.

Moderator note: Several posts have been deleted which were little more than two posters exchanging ad hominem attacks.

"Oh, and it’s rare, rare, RARE. Did I mention that it was RARE?" You mean it is no longer available at K-Mart?

By "analog" for you mean film or print? For clarity I would suggest that you do not use the word "analog". There are several meanings of that and not all having to do with photography

The No. 3 Kodak special camera, produce from 1911 to 1914 produced 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch exposures for 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch contact print photos. It was discontinued in 1914 when the Autographic feature was introduced - a flip door on the back of the camera that could be opened and a stylus used to write comments on the film.

Enlargers were not in common use at that time. Most prints were made by contact printing a negative onto photo paper. If you wanted an 8x10 inch photo, the photographer would use a camera holding an 8x10 negative/plate, for an 11x14 inch photo he would use a camera holding an 11x 14 inch negative/plate, etc. Today silver gel emulsion is the norm. Back then you had your choice of silver or platinum prints. Platinum cost a little more but rendered finer tonal qualities. Amateurs would also buy the camera that produced the size of contact print photo that they wanted. A No.1 Kodak Autographic made 2-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch exposures on No. A116 film for 2-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch photos. A No. 3A Kodak Autographic made 3-1/4 x 5-1/2 inch (postcard size) on A122 film. I read an old mystery novel written in the 1930s. To destroy evidence the detective took the glass plate out of a camera and crushed it under his heel. I found it interesting that even into the 1930s some people were still using glass plates in their small cameras rather than roll film.

"However, in retirement I have found that I have much less time to do all the things I had put off before." So true.

Most Americans aren't that familiar with British profanity or vulgarity. Those words are not use on TV or movies. At least they didn't use to be. I only learned of the word w--k-r two years ago and I am 74 years old. I would suspect, now that it has been brought up, that s---z has something to do with sex. A google search turns up several definitions. = Lose physical or emotional control, A reaction to something crazy or weird, Another word for "freak out", To become more angry than a situation warrants, To twitch.

You just have to understand eBayspeak. Some examples- antique = no longer available at K-mart patina = rust rich patina = heavy rust with pits

How does the negative look compared to a film that prints well? Is it very "thin" or not dense? If so then the negative has been undrexposed.

Some people seem to be suggesting that it is a failure of the law of reciprocity that is causing the problem" - Rubbish! Short exposure (high intensity) reciprocity failure doesn't set in until you get into fractions of a millisecond exposure time, and then the effect is to lower contrast, not increase it. I agree. That is what I didn't understand - the previous suggestions that shooting at 1/500 sec (Tri-X) will get dark skies but shooting at 1/100 . sec will get normal skies. At least the suggestion to use a blue filter to lighten the dark sky is a good try.

Most of the time the problems I see with sky is that a bright mid day/afternoon sky appears too light when printed. That is why people use graduated ND filters to darken the sky. I don't see why shooting Tri-x at around 1/500 sec should create a dark sky. Some people seem to be suggesting that it is a failure of the law of reciprocity that is causing the problem when they suggest using a slower film.or ND filter. What would be the opposite of a grad ND filter to lighten the sky? Or, even sillier, mount the ND grad filter upside down so it darkens the foreground.

Okay. I went back and deleted any post that had the confusing and ambiguous word "analog" in it.

Moderators had more control in the old version of photo.net. If that was still around I would use the old Bozo filter to add the word "analog". If someone used the word "analog' then the post would not take with the appearance of this = "Analog? Do you mean film? If so write the word film." As it is the only thing I can do is edit out the word "analog" in a post and substitute the word "film". I suppose I could delete and entire post that had the word "analog" in it and substitute "Note: post deleted for use of the word "analog" instead of "film ". If you are talking about film say so."

Chuck, good for you. I was in a strange camera store for the first time and the salesman was just the opposite of you. Two old ladies came in and said they were going to Hawaii for the trip of a lifetime and wanted the best camera the could get. He immediately started to show them a Hasselblad. I left without bothering to make the purchase that I intended and never went back to that store.

At one time in the early days of Photo.net, the word "cannon" would get the poster a pop up stating, "Cannon makes towels, Canon makes cameras. Please correct your spelling." I had the devil's own time trying to discuss a photo taken of a cannon at an embrasure. I finally had to substitute the words "old artillery weapon" to get anywhere.

Unless the film became really loose and spread apart, the anti-halation backing on the film should have prevented light from passing through the layers of film and ruining all of the exposures. The cassette may have turned so the film gate of the cassette is facing up preventing the back from closing. (And check the spelling of "Canon".)

To answer the OP's question, "Why are full fstops the numbers they are?" I don't know. Most people who use cameras aren't lens makers and don't know how to calculate that f/ number anyway. Why not make it simple? Change the numbers on the lens and on exposure meters etc. so f/1.0 = 1 f/1.4 = 2 f/2.0 = 4 f/2.8 = 8 f/4.0 = 16 etc. If a meter calls for 1/500 sec at No.8, the user would just turn the aperture ring to No.8. Why bother to think that is 2.8 on the old aperture ring?

As I read through these posts I am reminded of one thing that I sometimes find confusing, the use of the words "prints" and "photographs" as synonyms. I myself would often say, " I made these prints last night in my darkroom." I guess it sounded classier than saying photographs. So, is the OP asking about prints made on an offset printing press or photographs made in a photo lab? I would also like to know what her intent is. Does she need several dozen of each print or photograph for inclusion in a book or for mass sale or does she just want a few to hang on her walls? What lab is she using? MPIX?

I don't see any legality issues being raised by the neighbor. She just says she (and probably others) would prefer it if you didn't post her photo on Facebook. I can understand that. In this day and age many people do not like themselves to be exposed on line where total strangers and perhaps sickos could see them.

Tintypes are the direct image exposed on the plate. They are very sharp with no grain. To copy an image from a book would show the dots of the offset print. If one has larceny in his heart, one could take a tintype camera to a modern Civil war reenactment site and take several photos of men in authentic uniforms with weapons. Tintypes of Civil war soldiers with weapons sell for hundreds of dollars. Modern tintype plates are made on aluminum not iron which would be a give away.

Mike, congratulations on your new granddaughter, Gramps. Try to limit posting pictures of her to two dozen or so.

Fred, Thank you. We can always rely on you to give accurate information. This site wouldn't last long if the only information provided was to "look it up".

"Look it up in an "urban dictionary". In order to look it up in an urban dictionary I would have to first know that it is urban slang. I did look it up on Google and got nothing that would seem to apply to the context of the post. But I did learn that there are a lot of photographers with the name Chad.

I don't understand the "Chad" reference either.