- Joined
- Jan 26, 2007
- Messages
- 1,159
- Format
- Medium Format
Been playing around with this film for a few years now, basically treating the film as a lithable paper. Long exposures, high dilutions of Kodalith A and B, long developments. My experience has been that it processes and tones much like lith papers.
Up to now (today), I have been making these lith transparencies in 8X10 and 11X14 formats. I was asked to make one larger than that and said yes, I can go 16X20.
So here I am, set up the 16X20 workflow and go to work.
First few prints: splotchy, streaky. Here it looks like drops of chemical contamination, there it looks like a bubble. Try, try again, and more abherrations. Here's a fat squiggly line, there the density falls way off on the corner. Multiple distinct defects on a single print.
Contamination? No way.
Improper agitation? Maybe the first couple, but then I adopted constant motion. Same.
Bad chemistry? Same chemistry I used with great results last time: 1/4q old brown, 3/4q distilled H2O, 400ml A and 400ml B. (Same ratios but smaller amounts for the smaller formats).
Any ideas here?
If I could, I would use a 20X24 tray for the development, but space does not permit.
I keep the developer at 80-85f to keep times down, and it has never been a problem.
Is it possible that the anti-halation dye is building up and contaminating the process?
Could this be an emulsion defect? I am confused by the diversity of problems on a single print. Would I have any standing to ask Freestyle to swap for another box of film before I go further? It's not cheap, works out to about $6/sheet, but on the other hand I don't think it was engineered for this purpose.
Along those lines, I've been lithing on old Kodak Transtar TP5+ for several years (another product not engineered for this purpose) and have noticed emulsion defects occurring about four times as frequently on 16X20 than on 8X10.
Sorry about the long tale, but any experience or ideas would be appreciated. I am going to hang it up until tonight, guess worst case is reset the whole thing and start over.
Up to now (today), I have been making these lith transparencies in 8X10 and 11X14 formats. I was asked to make one larger than that and said yes, I can go 16X20.
So here I am, set up the 16X20 workflow and go to work.
First few prints: splotchy, streaky. Here it looks like drops of chemical contamination, there it looks like a bubble. Try, try again, and more abherrations. Here's a fat squiggly line, there the density falls way off on the corner. Multiple distinct defects on a single print.
Contamination? No way.
Improper agitation? Maybe the first couple, but then I adopted constant motion. Same.
Bad chemistry? Same chemistry I used with great results last time: 1/4q old brown, 3/4q distilled H2O, 400ml A and 400ml B. (Same ratios but smaller amounts for the smaller formats).
Any ideas here?
If I could, I would use a 20X24 tray for the development, but space does not permit.
I keep the developer at 80-85f to keep times down, and it has never been a problem.
Is it possible that the anti-halation dye is building up and contaminating the process?
Could this be an emulsion defect? I am confused by the diversity of problems on a single print. Would I have any standing to ask Freestyle to swap for another box of film before I go further? It's not cheap, works out to about $6/sheet, but on the other hand I don't think it was engineered for this purpose.
Along those lines, I've been lithing on old Kodak Transtar TP5+ for several years (another product not engineered for this purpose) and have noticed emulsion defects occurring about four times as frequently on 16X20 than on 8X10.
Sorry about the long tale, but any experience or ideas would be appreciated. I am going to hang it up until tonight, guess worst case is reset the whole thing and start over.
