Recent content by ProfessorC1983

If you are considering a small "open house" to let a few local folks peruse your basement of wonders, I would happily make the drive over, but am certainly not in a position to take it all.

A few years ago I was able to track down a copy of the book and DVD set via interlibrary loan, I believe from the University of Texas. There are 2 or 3 copies in the ILL system in the US. It's not simply a matter of "getting the resources out to the community" since the material is copyrighted.

I find the same as the above, and typically add a drop of liquid soap to the cleaning solution, followed by a soft wipe with a clean sponge under running water, and then a final dip of the plate into a mix of distilled water and ethanol before the drying rack. That seems to cut down on "trouble...

Oh no. Oh. No. OH NO. I will do my bank account the very difficult favor of waiting a few hours for some other motivated soul to relieve the sudden outward pressure you've created on my wallet. But then all bets are off.

Blast from the past thread! OP update: I ended up building a sink with 3/4" plywood, caulking the joints, painting with white enamel, and coating the inside with standard 2-part clear epoxy. It worked a treat and has now survived an additional move and second darkroom buildout!

Wow, thanks so much for following up here. I suspect something similar may be happening to me. I did buy the $10 spectroscope and tested my red LED bulbs (single-color, not wifi-enabled) and the lines seemed to light up right at 600nm, but given the low resolution of the device, that feels a bit...

Looking for a set of strong, vintage-y wooden tripod legs, ideally the Ries J100, Berlebach Report 312, or very similar. Capable of supporting ~20-25lb (Deardorff V8 plus a Gitzo 1570 head) with style. Willing to pick up within 100mi radius of Washington, DC.

I'd love to join this round too if the rolls are still open! My prints may be slower than most, but I'm good for 'em.

Hmm, interesting. I just stick a sheet of nonreflective "flocking" paper to the insides of all my plate holders and that seems to eliminate all the halation that I can see, but perhaps my eye is not as discerning and/or I'm just lazy. 🤪

Yes that ISO is without any sensitizers. Certainly its speed could be improved by at least a couple of stops with slower precipitation and addition of sulfur/gold, but I've not yet tried as I'm happy with that speed for now (it's about 7 stops faster than my plain silver emulsions!). You're...

Yes, silver addition time is one of the main variables that will determine emulsion speed and contrast. My goal is a high-contrast emulsion to use for making alt-process contact prints, so I use a very fast "dump" addition of 10 seconds with fast stirring (on a magnetic stirrer/hot plate), then...

I've had some decent success with ammonia after a lot of trial and error. The process of converting silver is pretty well-described in the literature and you'll quickly get the hang of adding smaller and smaller amounts until it's one drop at a time, then suddenly clears. Good ventilation is of...

Any idea of the speed of these lenses?

I'm considering taking a long cross-country road trip, packing an 8x10 and taking a series of images on homemade dry plates along the way. However, I won't be able to guarantee darkroom access and I'd rather not have to lug chemicals and trays and whatnot around the continent. Wondering if...

I use a vendor on AliBaba that provides custom cut ~1mm thick float glass. For orders around ~100-200 plates plus freight, it works out to ~$1 per 4x5 or $3 per 8x10. Of course, higher volume would be cheaper since shipping from China is most of the cost. Surplus Shed also sells 12x12" 1mm...