scott_walton2

I would also go with a silver rich 400 speed... souped in a compensating, speed raising developer like Diafine or a split developer like Divided D23. These will keep your highlights under control but give you great shadow detail like you should have.

'Tis a wonderful profession and hobby as far as I'm concerned. Don't toss the negs... keep them to look back on! Make it a learning experience for yourself.

When shooting, have your subject, the flowers, about 5' from the background... on a stool or small table, ect. Two stops is a bit harsh and you run the risk of bleeding or flare. When shooting with white paper, especially Savage paper which has brightners, one stop is totally sufficient. Another thing you might want to try for a more "classical" look... go to a large fabric store and look around. White muslin is cheap and you can get it up to 102" widths, any kind of lacy material usually comes in wider widths. I have 5 different muslins at the studio, one I keep white, another I took 5 boxes of Black RIT dye and it came out a great "moddled" grey (about 20% grey) and others I dyed other colors with one just having paint spattered on it. I put the muslins up and create folds and drape it the way I want for a different look.

All depending if you have a small (or large) set of studio strobes, you can set a light facing the background and gel it. Colored gels on a light background will come out a pastel like color and on a black background will be very saturated and almost neon... just something to think about. The richer (read more denser) colors are going to gobble up light... just be aware of that when setting up your main light.

While walking around the fabric store, look for materials with texture. You can use these by side lighting the background light and through DOF, get it out of focus just enough to have a wonderful separation but a texture that doesn't compete with your subject. Try some stuff, have fun and make pictures!

You might be able to find a Satzman 10x10 for about that price. I do recommend spending about $40 on some foam for the cross members... to protect your head! They are wonderful enlargers but do take up a good deal of floor space.

For an article that is step by step, go here: http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/Technical_papers/Digital%20Info/Dave_Fokos/davetech.htm

When I used to do alot of this Darcy, I used a large diameter (3/4") dowel. You get the corner opened first, put the dowel down and roll it off onto the dowel. If your doing B/W's why not just use a liquid emulsion and print directly on the canvas?

Email me and I'll send you a PDF file of the Diafine recipe I have used for years.

The reason your getting the "reddish" look is because of your RGB scan setting. As Pat says, scan in Grey scale and boost your DPI. Printing on digital paper cannot really duplicate the "look" of silver wet process... oh sure, you will get grey gradations from your scans but the look and feel isn't there.

It is B/W film and judging from the packaging, old, slow Verichrome type stuff. You'll need to push the stuff so Diafine would be good with an addition of some Benzotriazole or (something a bit easier) Edwai's Liquid Orthrozite. It is a benzo liquid restrainer buffered with Sodium Sulfite. Does a really nice job and has a REALLY long shelf life. It also does a nice job with sulfite type developers to make the grain finer and a better gradation... handy stuff to have in the darkroom.

A regular, cheap metal shade or rubber shade will work fine. You can get them in a good camera store and are distributed under the name of Kalt/Brandise.

If you have your developing process nailed down... dimming will boost your contrast similiar to using a red filter. Shooting anything that has red in it will be effected more so the dimmer you get your lights. You'll have to pull your film accordingly to compensate for the changes to equalize but depending how much you dim you'll need to test... it is always safe to test!

With my Tec III I use the Linhof 360mm with no problems at about 15+- ft for some "close" work. The 240 is a nice lens but if your talking about the Linhof 240... it is heavy.

Wayne...

Bravo! Ben... thank you! Here at work, we have gotten into digital because of immediate turn around times... on a personal level, I still prefer and shoot film when the time allows, preferring 4x5 all the way... but after being told by one of the directors, get rid of the antiques (Linhof Tec V's for locations and RB's also), the look of film, the enjoyment of film and the smell of darkroom still charges my batteries. I too have been approached by people who are either fledglings or respecting people of the know and those with the respect and or knowledge of equipment and that it isn't digital or an alien life form with 5 legs (my two legs and 3 tripod legs).... I give them the same respect and converse. It does do my heart well to hear the opinions and feelings of those who still like/respect film as I enjoy it too and have told my wife that she will have to pry my Linhof out of my stiff rigamorticed hands to pass on to my son...! HA!

We have a few of these in the studio and they work fine...with the single sheet 54, 59, 52 type. They do not work with the film packs like the 664 film packs. You can get a polaroid holder that does though.

There is a liquid called "Dip-it" that you dip tool handles in. It is very opaque and works well although the smell will last for a few weeks... maybe it is time to get a new bellows made. Camera Bellows in the UK did a fantastic job for me and were extremely fast.

This is commonly called "bromide drag". Using SS hangers, you need to test to see how much you need to agitate to get rid of this. "Usually", the agitation has to be a bit more than one might think but testing is definitely warranted here.

It truely amazes me that Diafine has been around for so long (I used it back in the mid '70's and have enjoyed it ever since) and basically, up until recently it has been such a "quiet" developer. When I started mentioning it, I received emails with some people asking me if I was correct in stating what I stated about Diafine... no I wasn't crazy then and I'm not crazy now! The stuff is and always has been an AMAZING developer with silver based films. Side by side comparisons of the same film developed in say, D76 1:1 or HC110B, when compared to film developed in Diafine and printed to an 11x14, is short of astounding. The acutance is beautifully high yielding very sharp, fine grain (close to the results of Rodinal as far as acutance goes) with gentle tones and subtle gradations that result in an almost glowing print... not to mention the longevitity of the shelf life of Diafine! I love shooting the stuff rating my 4x5 @ 400 (TXP) and printing it on my cold lights (without filtration!)... nothing short of amazing! Henry, welcome to 2 Bath developing!

Ilford Pan F is stunning (becareful of the added contrast and develop accordingly!) and I have heard wonderful things on the Efke 25 but I haven't tried it yet.

Microdol-X is a long time, line grain developer. Typically, when you see developing times of 12-20 minutes, these are because the developer is slow (read gently) working. They are not "active" developers like HC110 so they give very fine grain. Microdol-X 1:3 has been and always will be a stunning developer that yields absolutely stunning results! The only down side is... in the 15+ minute developing times. When your used to 3-8 minutes... 15-20 minutes (just being in the developer) is almost like an eternity but believe me when I say... the results are worth the effort! Don't forget to do the appropriate testing!

Diafine does work almost forever and with filtering (to remove the particulates), I have put hundreds of rolls (both 35mm and medium format) and thousands of sheets through the one gallon kit. Your right, Bath A does deplete faster and that is due to the molecular carry over into B Bath. What I have done, in the past early on, was to buy a gallon kit and a Qt kit. I would mix up the gallon kit and seperately mix up the Qt kit Bath A only. The Qt kit gave me the extra volume I needed to cover the carry over and added only what was needed. I then tested some recipies I have (from raw stock) and found the recipe I have for a Diafine substitute is an almost exact duplication as far as the densitometer is concerned. I wouldn't dilute the Diafine if I were you but the addition of phenidone to a newly mixed up batch would give you the added shadow depth or boost when using Diafine in cloudy situations. Diafine can be used over and over, provided that you do not mix A and B together! It is a great developer that I have used since the early '70's and is an excellent developer for all non T-grained films.

Michael, When I sent you the recipe, I included a conversion chart from grams to spoons. Just look up the chemical... Bath A's Sodium Sulfite is 35g... that equals (1 TBLS + 1/2 TBLS + 1/8 tsp). Make your spoonfuls rounded on top and it will be very close. With B/W chemistry, you don't have to absolutely exacting... especially with Diafine! Hydroquinone @ 6gr equals 2 tsps ect.

If you email me (I tried looking up your email but you don't have one listed), I can send you a recipe I have used for years.

At a company I worked for years ago, we had several Saltzman's. The column itself was a chore on the 11x14, to move. It took 5 guys just to pick it up! The 10x10's, even with a shorter column, has some real weight. To answer your question... you might have to have it trucked and even that would be expensive.

I have had better negs using Divided D23. Rich in tones, gentle gradations, long toe and very fine grain. Using DD23, your negatives won't be to contrasty due to it's compensating nature which if you use Rodinal in a psuedo compensating dilution (1:200), your times will be in the 16-20 minute range. A bit to long for me! If you want the recipe and times, email me. Very easy to mix and develop with perfect results and rating TMX @ 100!

The 75mm will get REAL close and all depending on how the trunk is, you can do some incredible macro work with. the 150 and the 210 will be ok too, you just have to consider and factor in your bellows factors! The 300 Tele, isn't really a good choice... you may be 6' out but what the heck, try it.