I have been printing colour for a long time, firstly in my own darkroom, then in an industrial photo lab, finally again in my own darkroom.
I have seen and used many different analysers and owned quite a few myself. The best and cheapest method to get correct colour that I know of, is the Mitchell COLORBRATOR.
The Mitchell colorbrator was invented by the Late Bob Mitchell, an American, I believe that he was the driving force behind Unicolor being so good many years ago.
Bobs invention is quite simple, he supplies you with a colour negative you place in your enlarger, you follow his instructions regarding exposing a piece of 8x10 colour paper, then use the supplied grey finder card to find the grey reference square. You then place your analyser probe under the correct coloured grey square and set your analyser to this reference. Various analysers use different methods to do this.
From this you can then determine the correct colour settings for your enlarger with that batch of paper and processing technique.
There is also a grey scale surrounding three sides of the negative, this will give you a density reference as to how light or too dark your test print has been.
This is something you have to do, to set-up your darkroom for very good colour balance and density.
Out in the field you need to take a picture of a grey object, as a reference negative for every different light situation.
This can be done in various ways; the simplest way is to use Bob Mitchells GRAY KEY, which attaches to a key ring. You simply take a picture of the gray key in the light you intend to photograph in, then fire away to your hearts content.
Once back in the darkroom you place your gray key negative in the enlarger, place the analyser probe under that, then you simply adjust the colour dials on the enlarger so that the analyser is happy. You then have correct, or should have correct colour balance. Density is another matter and I wont go into that here but it is easier to understand once you start printing.
The best colour analysers I know of and actually use as well, is/are the color star range that comprise, color star 1000/2000 and 3000 analysers. There are others but I havent used them. These colour analysers are unique in that they analyse all three colour channels at once, this makes life extremely simple and quick in the darkroom.
I personally use the original Color star analyser, it is the first and the least specified colour analyser of the range, but it is no different from the others, in that it can and will give you, a very good reference print from go, if set up correctly!
Colour printing isnt hard, getting colour that you like is a bit hard; getting colour that others like is a bit harder. There is no correct colour, just colour that is acceptable.
I purchased my Mitchell COLORBRATOR from Bob Mitchell in 1996, it didnt totally transform my way of printing colour, but it made life terribly easier in the colour darkroom.
Another way to get perfect grey coloured reference negatives is to use the Wallace Expo/disc. These are making a comeback due to the electronic imaging machines having a fair bit of difficulty in getting a correct white balance setting.
I pop an Expo/Disc on the end of the lens, point the camera at the light source, put the camera onto automatic, then press the shutter.
I then fire away at will, in the knowledge that I have a very accurate grey colour reference for my analyser, which as a matter of fact also contains correct density measurements as a bonus.
When you do start colour printing you will find a multitude of ways to get the same effect, one of the interesting things you should notice is that you will find three coloured filters in your colour head, you will only use two of them. Do search on this forum, as there are quite a few good pieces of information in them.
Generally with colour negative printing you will use Magenta and Yellow, the Cyan isnt used. Adding Magenta will increase Green, reducing will reduce Green. Adding Yellow will increase blue, reducing will reduce Blue.
When you get very close to correct colour, you will find that adding density will increase red, reducing density will increase Cyan. This means that if you have a slightly dark print, which looks a tiny bit reddish then just reduce the exposure (density) of the print without making colour adjustments. In most cases you will find that the slight Red colour cast disappears with the lighter print. Experience will tell when and how quickly/slowly this happens.
Eventually you will find that you will not use an analyser as you will have a very good idea of settings required. I myself only use an analyser if I'm shooting under awkward light and know I'll have good colour if I shoot a reference negative then use my analyser.
The most consistent colour paper is from Kodak. Batch to batch, year to year, their paper has remained consistent. Fuji are reasonable but I don't like their colour pallette as much as the normal Kodak colour paper.
Mick.
