charlie_strack

They appear to still be in business.

<p>

www.leedal.com

Yesterday I got a digital print wet, and the colors ran. That never

happened to me with a silver gelatine print.

Just a thought: Kodak is saying the new films have increased scratch

resistance--perhaps that's the reason for the increased times (more

time to dissolve a coating, or penetrate it) rather than a change to

the light sensitive part of the emulsion?

Don't know about the film, but it's very common for manufacturer's to

tinker with proprietary formulas.

Store in the original box (outer box, inner box, foil or plastic

envelope) after exosure. Use an old, empty box. Don't hold them in

water--that's likely to cause major problems over the extended time

period.

<p>

Consider shipping via FedEx or UPS overnight (to avoid any long term

travel at high heat) back to a friend who can hold until you are back

home.

<p>

I don't know of any way to get film through airport security without

possible x-ray exposure, save carrying it on your body. I got away

with this with some 120 film, since they now use plastic packaging,

and I'm fairly hefty so a few rolls of film in the pockets of my

baggy clothes won't show. Probably can't get away with this for sheet

film, though.

<p>

Maybe it's time to consider using 120 with a roll film back?

<p>

Another alternative, if you shoot color, is to use a local pro lab

for processing. For B&W, shipping back is the only method I know.

<p>

Somebody needs to make a "film belt"--the photographer's equivalent

of a money belt.

<p>

You can consider lead foil bags, but I don't know if they are safe

enough these days, or if they would arouse suspicion.

A 180 lens usually provides a very large image circle, so that is

worth considering. Many 150's have limited image circles.

<p>

If you don't do a lot of close up work, consider using the 135 and

plan on cropping the 4x5, or use a 6x7 or 6x9 roll film back, where

the vignetting would be out of the image area.

<p>

For still lifes, though, the usual rule of thumb is to use a long

lens (say, 210 to 250 or even longer) to keep the perspective

rather "normal" looking. Using a short lens gives an exaggerated

perspective compared to how the eye interprets the scene. If your

studio is short on space this isn't a real alternative, though.

Sorry for the duplicate posting. I wasn't finished.

<p>

Jorge, to be specific:

<p>

I regularly used Verichrome pan until the announcement of its demise.

<p>

I used SO-132 film about 2 years ago to get a useful, printable

negative from an antique negative. It worked out very well, but

NOBODY else makes a similar film.

<p>

I used Prof Copy film about 2 years ago, and Ilford Ortho Plus is as

close as I'll get, so I'll use that.

<p>

Why did I post? I was shocked to find everything I still had an

interest in will soon be gone.

<p>

Why won't I buy other Kodak films? For color, I find other films I

like as well or better. For black and white, they will no longer

manufacture anything I want. Will this hurt Kodak: not from me alone,

but in the aggregate it will.

<p>

I certainly don't expect Kodak to make films when their business

model doesn't justify it. I also don't expect them to be in business

25 years from now (if they last that long.)

<p>

It's just very sad to see the one company that had the greatest

knowledge of film and black and white processes throw it all away.

But if that's what happens, that's what happens.

<p>

Why should I support any company that treats its customer (in this

case for over 40 years) so shamefully?

Jorge:

<p>

I regularly used Verichrome pan until the announcement of its demise.

<p>

I used SO-132 film about 2 years ago to get a useful, printable

negative from an antique negative. NOBODY

I visited Kodak's site today. Most of the B&W films are being discontinued, including:

<p>

Commerical Film, Ektagraphic HC, Ektapan, SO-132, High Speed Infrared Sheets, Spectrum Analysis Film, Pan Masking Film, Verichrome Pan film, Professional Copy Film.

<p>

It looks like the only ones left will be the revised TMax Family and revised Plus-X and Tri-X families.

<p>

Some of these, we've known, were going away for quite some time, but others were, at least to me, news.

<p>

So, I'm not buying anymore Kodak product of any kind. I'll support those companies that support B&W.

<p>

"Alas, poor Kodak. I knew him well."

Looks like Tri-X Pan is being replaced by Professional Tri-X 400 and

Tri-X Pan Professional is being replaced by Professional Tri-X 320.

Don't forget blowing sand acts an abrasive, so use a sacrificial UV

filter as mentioned above. All the more reason for the plastic bag.

<p>

This is one arena where a wood camera has a definite advantage.

Abrade wood a little, and you have wood underneath. Abrade a metal

camera a little, aand you've started oxidation.

The most common ortho films today are, indeed, those high contrast

films used for printing. But continuous tone ortho is available (from

Ilford and others), and could produce the skin tones shown. An

alternative is to use panchromatic film and a filter.

The one Kodak is now discontinuing: Verichrome Pan. I don't think a

better film has ever been made.

I purchased a 7 foot Arkay fiberglass sink. If you use stainless

steel 16x20 trays, you can get 4 in the sink. 3 trays really isn't

enough for b&w processing, unless you have a separate out-of-sink

holding tray. It was about $1000, and more than the Delta sinks, but

I couldn't find any Delta that would handle 4 16x20 trays. One of

them looked like it would, but it had a faucet mounting area that

protruded into the sink, which cut down on the real working area.

<p>

By the way, if you have a SS sink fabricated used 316L steel. Kitchen

grades of stainless will rust with some B&W photo chemicals.

I've got a 45A (supposedly the same design as the AII, but different

cosmetics). Anyway, the focussing lock is thoroughly tight so you are

seeing abnormal behavior. I don't know if there is an adjustment.

Suggest you e-mail Robert White and ask him.

Do what you like to do. If you like managing, go for it, and managing

can be fulfilling, but it is much different from doing. But if you

don't like managing, don't do it.

<p>

If you don't know, see if they would let you try it as a temporary

assignment, with the option to return to photo work if it isn't your

cup of tea.

Don,

<p>

Diafine is a proprietary formula and unpublished. Published divided

developer (2-bath) formulas include Divided D-76 and Divided D-23.

There are variants on each of these.

<p>

I get my Diafine from Calument.

I have both Fidelity and Lisco 4x5 holders. I prefer the Lisco

because it has a depression where you stick your fingernail to remove

the film and it works for me. On thie Fidelity it is done differently

and is harder to do.

<p>

But that's about the only difference.

I had a Zone VI VC setup and sold it. It was OK for 4x5, but with

only blue & green light, I had trouble fo"cussing" smaller formats.

You should realize that you are wasting 95% of the light on a 5x7

diffusion head when printing 35mm, which explains why the image was

so dim. Also, the bellows didn't compress enough to make very large

enlargements from smaller formats.

<p>

So I can recommend the Zone VI for 4x5, and it would likely be fine

for 5x7, but don't expect it to handle all formats equally well. And,

at least for the way I work, it had some drawbacks. The VC light

source, though, was just fine.

<p>

On the other hand, I wanted to tighten the focussing mechanism

because it was slipping a little, and couldn't get any real support

out of Calumet.

<p>

I've always liked working with Durst products, so I suggest you check

it out. If reasonably priced, I'd probably opt for it.

<p>

I saw a used Beseler 57 (kind of like a 45 on steroids) at my local

photo store. It looked OK, so you might keep your eye's peeled for

one of those.

I really enjoyed the drive from Merced into Mariposa. It's the start

of the Sierra foothills, and very interesting terrain (sp?). Well

worth spending some time photographing this area.

<p>

Motels in Mariposa are very reasonable compared to the valley and &

in the park. Merced, probably even moreso.

Fred Picker used to say that any flat bed field camera (not talking

press cameras, like the Graflex) had more movement than anyone would

ever need. I think he was right.

<p>

I prefer a field camera outdoors, and a monorail indoors.

You raise a very important issue, the only place I've seen this

addressed is in a book from Kodak.

<p>

Our negatives, and prints, are compressed (that is, the overall

contrast is reduced) when compared to real scenes. While a density

difference of 0.3 represents a 1-stop difference, or a

doubling/halving of the light level for any real scene, we purposely

develop negatives so that this light difference is represented by a

smaller density difference. This keeps a scene with a big range in

light within the more limited density range that film and paper are

capable of producing.

<p>

Your own measurement of this film shows that it cannot produce a

density range of 2.4--it maxes out at nearly 2.

<p>

If you consider each step on your tablet as a zone, then the step

tablet represents 50% compression--and 8 zones on this tablet gives a

density range of 1.2, 9 zones gives a denstiy range of 1.35. Right in

the neighborhood of AA's recommendation.

<p>

Try this: take your reflectance meter, and measure the black and

white parts of your printing paper. (If you don't have a spot meter,

print a fully black sheet of paper, and just fix a sheet of paper for

full size sheets to meter). Take the log of the difference in stops

of these two readings, and you've got the density difference your

paper can hold. Now you know why this compression is needed.

Vinegar comes in pint and quart glass bottles. Some of the house

brands have a snap on/off lid, but Heinz still seems to be screw-on.

These are plastic caps, so either won't be bothered by the chemistry.

<p>

Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the vinegar & throw it out than buy an

empty glass bottle. Go figure.

I don't use tray racks, but use a Jobo tank with hand inversion and

never have gotten air bells.

<p>

Do you process "rotary" or by hand? In any case: rap the tank on the

counter after it's filled.

I guess I'm luck to live across San Francisco Bay from Palo Alto,

home of Stanford University. There appears to be enough darkroom

trade, and photo artist types in the area that the Keeble & Shuchat

keeps their darkroom supplies well stocked. I get decent prices on

supplies, especially Agfa. For some reason their Agfa prices are even

better than most mail order houses.

<p>

Maybe you'd like to move to SF area?