phillip_p._dimor

Vacuum sealed in polypropylene bags with silica gel.. works for just about anything.

I've never noticed many health concerns, other than dry and crackled skin on my hands from Dektol. I have poor ventilation in my darkroom which limits the amount of time that I can comfortably work in there.

Not that I get sick or anything, I just become tired.

 

I do play loud music and drink whiskey while I print. Maybe it's the whiskey?

I really like Acufine. I've used both Acufine and Microphen (haven't tried Diafine, can't find it around here) and keep going back to Acufine. I reuse it. It works well with a floating lid tank and lasts forever.

 

What I don't like about it; Lack of information on the net about it.

I use a stainless steel 8 reel tank once in a while. The lid doesn't fill or empty very quickly, certainly not as quick as a Patterson.

 

You might want to think about filling the tank with developer in the darkroom and then dropping the reels in and closing the tank if you're doing a full run of 8 reels.

See;<br>

<a href="http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f11/f11.jhtml">For long-term keeping, treat duplicates on this film with KODAK Rapid Selenium or KODAK Brown Toner.</a><br><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009R3G">.."Skip the hypo clear, wash the heck out of it and tone it (brown or selenium) for the longterm." -DK Thompson</a><br><br>

I wouldn't say that selenium toning negatives is of 'dubious' value.

Slight off topic but I selenium tone any and all negatives made with duplicating film. Both for permanence and the look.

Didn't Ralph Gibson selenium tone his negatives? Don't hold me against that quote but I thought I had read that somewhere.

...still way easier than trying to find anything from the Kodak website, aside from using Google.<br><br>

 

Here it is for anyone else who wants/needs it. I'll email it to Marc too.<br><br>

 

<a href="http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/tempconv.pdf">Ilford Temp Conv. Chart</a><br><br>

Oliver; For a while I was shooting a lot of 120 Ilford Delta 400 and souping it in PMK. My old thermometer was off by 10 degrees Fahrenheit (didn't know it at the time). About 14 rolls of film were processed with that thermometer and I loved the results. It made me rethink my development strategy :) Used Kodak thermometer for $2.. No wonder...

Unless the difference in temp. between developer and stop/fix is greater than 10F, I wouldn't worry about keeping all three exactly the same. Use the chart (Ilford has a good one, the one from digitaltruth might be easier to read) and save the ice cubes for your drinks.

 

My developer, stop and fix are all at room temp, which varies from 75F to 60F depending on the season.

 

I develop lots of film at and around 72F, as long as you compensate for the time (and your fix/stop is close to the temp of your developer) you'll be golden. And you'll have more ice cubes for your drinks too.

I own one lens in shutter and the shutter is broken, so for what it's worth..

 

My longer 24" or so release won't trip the FP shutter. However my two smaller (and older) releases will.

 

Find a cable release and place a fingertip over the bottom of the cable. Press the plunger down HARD. If you can keep your finger/thumb on the bottom of the release without the pin moving from inside the sheath then you most likely wouldn't have enough force in the throw to trip the shutter.

 

The ones that work best for me are the ones where no matter how much force I apply to the bottom of the cable, I can push my finger away.

 

I have two older 'Made in Japan' cloth-covered ones that work well for me.

 

Also, I see no camera shake from the FP shutter. At all.

Is it not a Ries?

Look at this as well; <a href="http://www.jobo-usa.com/instructions/instructions_load_reels_ss.htm">Jobo: Loading Stainless Steel Reels/35mm/120</a><br><br>

 

I learned on a Hewes reel but can now load anything, even cheap ones with no clip. Do you have a plastic reel that you use for 35mm?

Some of them are adjustable, allowing you to load 35mm or 120 in it.

I prefer stainless myself after having figured it out.

Perhaps you could have an emergency kit? A gallon of water, stop bath, rapid fixer and an empty bucket for used developer? Throw in a timer, funnel and changing bag and you could have students finish things outside or in a bathroom possibly? You could keep most of the small goods in the empty bucket and have other students carry the water, stop and fixer.

 

Not sure how your school works. My school (before public schools turned into mini-prisons) used to have students congregate outside where the teachers and police would oversee the students.

 

Just a thought, sorry if this doesn't really answer your question about emulsion separating from the film base..

I agree Tim, but I also feel that offering advice and experience to those who need it is one way to give back to this site. I've taken so much from here without offering anything in return. Replying to repetitive posts and helping someone out is the least I could do.

 

There are different ways to look at it, i'm sure.

Mine does the same, personally I like the travel. Just make sure to tap/bang the tank as to dislodge air bells/bubbles.

 

Actually, just about all of my tanks have some degree of reel travel.

Nikkors, Telesars/Generics, etc.

I like Ilford Delta 400. I don't think you could go wrong with any of their films but HP5 is practically failproof.

No idea about microdol, but try to get some microphen if you want to push tri-x to 1600.. It's worth it. Honest.

I like Lee's suggestion. After having used D76, Microphen/Acufine, Microdol-X, Rodinal, Tmax dev and PMK..

 

I've found myself rounding it all down to Acufine for pushed film and D76 for everything else. I've spent years running around in circles with developers and development in general. Once I started sticking to one film, developer and paper things started to become more uniform. There was less room for error and I knew when something wasn't right.

 

I still use Acufine for pushing film, and I love the look of 120 Tri-X in PMK Pyro. As well as Delta 400..

 

I like D76 because it's easy to find and I like the results. It works well with 4x5 sheet film in my uniroller.

 

I don't like the price (I like diluted and replenishable developers, but I don't care for replenished D76) and I don't like the shelf-life of mixed developer in half-full bottles.

 

Sorry if i've made things worse, just wanted to share some thoughts on the matter.

Couldn't you sandwich or enlarge the original onto a sheet of Arista APHS? I've done this to make duplicates of sheet and 120 film and it works well for me. Just a thought..

I only have good things to say about them as well.

Just wish Montana wasn't so far from Massachusetts..

 

I've never ordered from Artcraft but New York is MUCH closer to me.

 

I've had great results from the Formulary's PMK and Traditional Cyanotype kits as well.

David, I actually like the taste of Ilford sticky tabs. Almost minty. Kodak sticky tabs make me gag. There's a thread in the archives somewhere about Fuji sticky tabs tasting like candy.

It's not hard to learn, but it is much easier if you can have someone show you what to do. Are there any local community colleges or universities that offer photography?

 

I'd say you could pick up a workable 35mm enlarger and some trays/chemicals for $100 easy (used). Not sure about buying new.

I've been running my own home darkroom for almost 7 years now and i'm still buying things :)

 

I bought my first kit from a friend who was never really that interested in it. Decent first enlarger, trays, timer, paper and chems, loupe, changing bag and patterson reel for $100

That's all it took for me to fall in love with the hobby! Good luck!

While I don't do 8x10 (i'd love to start, though!) I do have a little bit of experience with pushing 4x5 film and using faster lenses.

 

When I pushed TXT to 800 and 1000 (developed in Acufine and Microphen)

I lost a bit of shadow detail. More contrasty, that was my major observation. I have friends who can't sit still, and me with no real studio lighting or even a way to trip my flash.. It's tough.

 

As far as lenses go, I only own one lens in a shutter (broken shutter at that). Everything else is a barrel lens, generally older Kodak Anastigmats. Those old KA's have large apertures, like 4/4.5

The image quality is pleasing to me.

 

I have a 10" Kodak anastigmat that I believe would cover 8x10, they did make them longer too. It's one of my favorites.

 

You'd probably have to use a packard shutter with the barrel lenses.

 

Even a petzval Darlot, or a Wollensak portrait/soft-focus lens..

 

Just my opinion and all but I hope that helped a little.

If you are handy with fiberglass, you could always make a box with 2x4's and use that as a cast for the fiberglass. A few layers would make it fairly thick and would be waterproof. You could also use a marine-grade epoxy or similar waterproofing agent to further waterproof it.

 

Just an idea I had as I didn't want to pay that much for a tray either.

I use JetDry. You know, the stuff you put in a dishwasher?

 

I have trouble finding photo flo around here. Works fine and I have less problems with it. I use two drops in one liter of water and soak with that. Works well for me. Can be found at any supermarket too.