AZO - Amidol - My life is now ruined!

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fhovie

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Last night was my first go at it.

Wow.

So that is what black looks like. I had heard of it and tried every other trick in the book to get it. You see the problem is that the "wow" was only with my contact 4x5. I was able to enlarge 8 or so 4x5 negs to 8x10. But no wow there. i have a theory that the UV light is not focused and so the prints are not sharp. So enlarging, although worked ok from an exposure point of view was OK- is unacceptable from a sharpness point of view with AZO. All my negs are PMK Tri-x or Fp4. They are all moderatly dense - I tend to keep zone 3 well exposed bringing the whole image off the toe of the film and PMK keeps me from blocking up the highlights too much. (I will be switching to PyrocatHD as soon as my PMK stock runs out)

So here is how my life is ruined. Unless I put my eyes on a diet, 4x5 is just not big enough for me. That leaves 2 options. Sell everything I own and buy a huge camera - 11x14? or make digital negs work. I have had some success with digital negs on Kalitypes and Cyanotypes but am not yet convinced they will work on AZO. The curves I used for these processes are certainly wrong. The couple I tried were not even close on AZO. I fear I may never be happy till I am using the gorilla camera.
 

Ole

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Pity there's no hand-holdable 11x14" - I'm sure it would revolutionise my street photography!

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

No, I haven't tried Azo yet - in Amidol or anything else. Knowing myself I would prefer to have an 8x10" camera ready before I do - I can see where this is leading.
 

Alex Hawley

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Frank, looks like you're having the same epiphany I had over the last year. I got my first 4x5 rig about 11 months ago. At first I didn't have an enlarger that size so I made contact prints on regular enlarging paper. WOW!

One thing led to another. I got an 8x10 and some Azo just about a month ago. I don't think I'll ever go back. The 8x10 Deardorff is the sweetest camera I've ever worked with. Contact printing with Azo and Amidol is every bit as easy as Maichael A. Smith says it is.

The 4x5 and a spare 35mm are going up for auction right after the holidays. My only regret is that I didn't start using 8x10 a long, long time ago.
 
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fhovie

fhovie

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Well - my life may be ruined but at least now I am laughing - Your photo of the 5x7 point and shoot is great. I always wanted a point and shoot - I guess they call it a super speed graphic. After considering all things - I will put an 8x10 camera on my list. It will probably be the end of me.
 

Donald Miller

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fhovie said:
Last night was my first go at it.

Wow.

So that is what black looks like. I had heard of it and tried every other trick in the book to get it. You see the problem is that the "wow" was only with my contact 4x5. I was able to enlarge 8 or so 4x5 negs to 8x10. But no wow there. i have a theory that the UV light is not focused and so the prints are not sharp. So enlarging, although worked ok from an exposure point of view was OK- is unacceptable from a sharpness point of view with AZO. All my negs are PMK Tri-x or Fp4. They are all moderatly dense - I tend to keep zone 3 well exposed bringing the whole image off the toe of the film and PMK keeps me from blocking up the highlights too much. (I will be switching to PyrocatHD as soon as my PMK stock runs out)

So here is how my life is ruined. Unless I put my eyes on a diet, 4x5 is just not big enough for me. That leaves 2 options. Sell everything I own and buy a huge camera - 11x14? or make digital negs work. I have had some success with digital negs on Kalitypes and Cyanotypes but am not yet convinced they will work on AZO. The curves I used for these processes are certainly wrong. The couple I tried were not even close on AZO. I fear I may never be happy till I am using the gorilla camera.

Frank,
I am happy to hear that you were pleased with your results. It really does take photography "up a notch". For future consideration in light of Azo paper sizes the choices seem to be 8X10 or some componant of the 20X24 paper cut down to a size such as 8X20, 12X20, 16X20 (with 2 8X10 sheets left over). Everything else leaves one with odd sized remnants of paper.

I can tell you that viewing a 12X20 negative takes this up a whole other notch. Good luck to you.
 

roy

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fhovie said:
(I will be switchingto PyrocatHD as soon as my PMK stock runs out)

I'm not waiting for that !
 
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