Analyzer for B&W photography

First of all I have to thanks all of you who have taken the time to answer recent questions I have had regarding darkroom equipment upgrades. One of those questions concerned the benefits of an analyzer for B&W photography.

Based on answers that I have received I have decided that a decent used analyzer will greatly increase my efficiency in the darkroom by reducing the time it takes to make test strips, not to mention reducing the cost of materials. I'm sure I can pick up something very decent for well under a hundred.

Ebay currently has a Jobo Colorline 3000 and a Jobotronic 2000 Quartz analyzer up for bid. In addition there are always Beseler PM__ analyzers around. Does anyone have information about the ease of operation of these models? are they about the same? Is one significantly more difficult/easier to operate over the other? Other models I should consider?

Regards

hblad120 said:

First of all I have to thanks all of you who have taken the time to answer recent questions I have had regarding darkroom equipment upgrades. One of those questions concerned the benefits of an analyzer for B&W photography.

Based on answers that I have received I have decided that a decent used analyzer will greatly increase my efficiency in the darkroom by reducing the time it takes to make test strips, not to mention reducing the cost of materials. I'm sure I can pick up something very decent for well under a hundred.

Ebay currently has a Jobo Colorline 3000 and a Jobotronic 2000 Quartz analyzer up for bid. In addition there are always Beseler PM__ analyzers around. Does anyone have information about the ease of operation of these models? are they about the same? Is one significantly more difficult/easier to operate over the other? Other models I should consider?

Regards

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If it is simply B&W and cost is an issue then the Ilford EM10 is worth looking at. In the UK even at secondhand dealers such as Nova and Darkroom Supplies EM10 are priced at about £15-20.

At the other end is the RH Designs Analyser Pro. It is expensive and NO I don't have one but all I will say is that despite its cost it is one of the few things I have seen talked about on APUG on which not only is there no-one dissenting about its OKness but to a man/woman everyone has positively been singing its praises.

That's got to be a tremendous endorsement.

ME? I use a Phillips PDT 2020 timer attached to a probe PDB 2053 via the enlarger. This is a spot probe which relays times to a tenth of a second to the timer where times can be stored and recalled. It automatically gives recommended paper grades if you read the both the densest and lightest parts of the neg with detail. Any alteration of head height is taken into account for exposure.

The probe requires calibrating for a typical neg from the film but will then give fairly accurate times and grades for the rest of the negs on the film.

Once calibrated, then for that film type and development it will produce accurate times. It is easy to use and a lot cheaper than the RH Designs. I don't know about it's availability on e-bay.

Hope this helps

Pentaxuser

hblad120 said:

Ebay currently has a Jobo Colorline 3000 and a Jobotronic 2000 Quartz analyzer up for bid.

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I assume you mean the Colorstar 3000 (which was a machine made by Lici in Holland). I have a Colorstar 3000 in operation and its probably the best color analyzer ever made--- save for the Colorstar 6000

On my Durst I have a Colorstar 3000 and use it for colour and b&w. I really like Colorstar analyzers (and I have a 2000 and 1000 in reserve). The main shortcomming of the 3000 is that its less than trivial to use. There are all kinds of key combinations and so one needs to consult the manual--- and the handbook is not that great.

Among the Jobo line-up for B&W the Jobotronic 2000 Quartz is OK but the final model of that series, the Multitronic 6220 is often cheaper on eBay and its a significantly better product with more features. Other than the probe and its power limitation they nearly finally got it right with Multitronic. It was, however, too expensive. The Multitronic is easy to use and has a lot of convienient extras and can be used as process timer (its really a better Jobotronic + Process + ).

Jobo copied some of the ideas from the Colorstar into the Colorline 5000/7000 and made it self-documenting so that one does not need a manual. They are not as good as the Colorstars but significantly easier to use.

If you are just doing B&W and don't need or plan on doing any colour then I'd consider the Multitronic. The only reason I don't use mine right now is that I've got a Multigrade 500 on my Focomat Ic and its got its own controller/timer and probe (although vastly inferior to the Jobo).

Between the Multitronic and Colorstar 3000? Its apples and eggs but if I had to have ONLY one and had to make a selection then it would be the Colorstar.

I do own an Analyzer Por and yes, it is excelent.

Jaap Jan Helder

After having read much praise for the RH Designs units, I opted for their Zone Master II a couple of years ago, and love it. I chose this model over the Analyser Pro because I was looking at different enlarger options for an 8x10 enlarger at the time, and hadn't decided which direction to go (different enlarger types require different AP models). I still don't have an 8x10 enlarger, but the ZMII is still working nicely.

I purchased the RH Designs ZoneMasterII and it is wonderful. I have saved a lot of paper in the short time I've had it. I liked it so much, I've recently purchased their Analyser Pro which is the same as the ZoneMasterII, but with a built in timer. If you already have a digital timer, then the ZoneMasterII might work for you (and, no, sorry, but I won't be selling mine). No worries ordering from this company even though they are overseas. Both of my orders arrived very quickly. As mentioned above, I have read nothing but good reviews of the RH Designs products.

Unfortuantely, they both are more than $100 new (The ZoneMasterII is about $180). It may be difficult to find one used. I don't know why anyone would want to give theirs up. You can find out more at:
http://www.rhdesigns.co.uk/darkroom/html/exposure_meters.html

Karen

Think about the splitgrade.
http://www.heilandelectronic.de/html/english/products/splitgrade_main.htm

quick
simple
sensitive
accurate
repeatable
ánd
good service (easy downloadable upgrade for new papers)

In fact, as for papers there is a important lot to lot variation, if, with the delivery of a new lot of paper, they deliver also the upgrade of the splitgrade settings, that will be "the" marketing tool.

There can be a lot synergy (of good marketing and sales work) between analyser settings and paper manufacture.

Fred

I have a newbie question, hope you all can bear with me. Can the color analysers be used for B&W printing? How do you do it? Thanks

You can use the Lico/Jobo Colorstars for B&W. Gradation and exposure time can be determined.

Hans

Let me suggest a Beseler PM2M. Used you can pick them up on eBay for around $15-35. They use a plug in module that can be had for $5-10. If you never plan to do anything color with it, dissasembling the unit and removing the selectable color gel filters from the photomultiplier tube will make all four channels equal.

A program module can be matched for each kind of paper you use. In most cases, you will do the initial setup from a common midrange value on a negative or a step tablet. Each of the four adjustable positions on the program module can be set up to reflect a particular paper grade for VC. In the alternate for graded papers they can be set up for different developers. Even further, you can vary for different timer speeds. Be sure however, to set the VC filtration of the enlarger head to the grade you want prior to metering. This whole thing as with any metering system is only as good as your eye for identifying similar contrast value areas to what you have calibrated on many different negatives. And they will only get you into the ballpark for stock printing and fine tuning with test strips.