trooper

<p>Jim - Does Fred use this to see some level of initial emergence of an image as part of a routine before the actual EI testing?</p>

<p>In high school (about 1967), I started shooting with my father's 828 Bantam and ordered a Spiratone enlarger... Still remember watching the image coming up the first time! Never quite got over it, either!</p>

<p>As a general rule, increased agitation intensifies density in the highlight areas, which leads to more difficult printing (to not blow out highlights in the print). I've had better luck with less aggressive agitation routines, leading to much easier-to-print negatives, holding detail in the brighter areas of the scene. With chemical in motion less (longer intervals), chemical activity depletes more quickly where it is being consumed most in the process...converting the highlight areas. I'm over simplifying for brevity but this also allows the less dense shadow areas of the negative to process more completely with less chance of blowing highlights in order to fully pull the information from the negative's less exposed areas. As mentioned, this behavior varies by film and developer, too.</p>

<p>Many (many!!) years ago when first learning darkroom techniques, I had a respected photographer suggest a single drop of wetting agent in the pre-soak water. I function with eye dropper bottles that my Agfa Agepon gets transferred to (only used because of a lifetime supply from an old Porters' grab bag!). It became a habit that continues and can't say it's the reason but a sharp rap and this pre-soak practice has had me air bell free for 50 years. I would develop a habit of consistency, even in this step as some developers are said to vary in performance based on emulsion softening, which can be affected in the pre-soak. Part of why I continue to pre-soak is that my darkroom tends to be colder than ideal (year-round) and this aids in tempering my gear through the whole process.</p>

<p>I did this successfully once. I had a new-old stock Copal shutter but the wrong f stop strip (it had a blank installed) and I fumbled a bit getting my own markings in the correct position but it worked. It sounds like yours could be a direct match-up but keep that in mind.</p> <p>I also recall being nervous about how tightly the lens was mounted in the DB board and only after being assured about things with on-line help, I gripped and turned the lens much harder than I expected would be needed and it un-threaded properly. People tend to resist bidding on these DB mounted lenses and I see them selling much below what would be normal pricing.</p>

<p>Format? Is the film old enough that it could fog? That might steer you toward a developer, too.</p>

<p>Just for fun, I just tried this with an M6 TTL and the ƒ2.8 35mm ZM vs Minolta Flashmeter F and Sekonic L-718 with spot attachment. These 3 maintained consistent readings (within 1/3 stop). Your episode had me paranoid enough to check out my gear! Best wishes in getting it sorted. Would you post back on the outcome, please?</p>

<p>If it's the ƒ2.8, it will easily outpace your darkroom skills as a newbie. Check on-line for some alignment information on the Beseler as its alignment will influence your results about as much as the optics. A grain focuser is an inexpensive aid for quality, too. Enjoy your new journey!</p>

<p>Is anything visible on the roll? Edge markings? If nothing is there, it seems like it could only be some film issue as mentioned. If the markings are there, film was not being exposed in the camera, likely from a loading error. Was the leader showing exposure?</p>

<p>1g = 15.4234gr</p> <p>I use a reloading scale (grains) for my very small measures as when you get into amounts such as 0.2g and then perhaps less in partial, test batches, measuring in grains is much easier to be repeatable and accurate. Most digital scales (outside of extremely high priced units) are not accurate at their load cell extremes. If you must measure small quantities, you will get more consistent and accurate results if you first tare a pre-load such as 50g or so, then weigh the small quantity.</p> <p>My recipes are held in spreadsheets and the smaller quantities are also stated in grain equivalents for use on the reloading scale. These scales are quite affordable, especially used.</p>

<p>Once the old trademark issues were cleared up (from not using the trademark for a period of time by Agfa), the batches after February of 2014 were being shipped into the US labeled as Rodinal again. There was some discussion of this on another photo site and the company (Adox) issued a clarifying message explaining this.</p>