Beginning printer with some questions

[snay1345]

Hello everyone. I have had my enlarger for a couple of weeks now and have been doing a good deal of enlarging 35mm negatives. After a couple of screwups, ie being colorblind and using the blue filter instead of the magenta filter on the head to adjust contrast and wondering what the hell was going on, and why i was getting flat pictures; I seem to have figured out basic printing and making test strips and all that. Anyway I have compiled a few questions that I don't know the answer to and was looking for a little help. Thank you for the advice.

First of all do you run a new test strip for each negative you put in the enlarger? Or if the negatives are all from the same roll of film are the print times going to be the same?

I personally like more high contrast images and I was wondering if it would be more advisable to get more contrast out of your negative during development, or just develop your negatives by the recommended times and adjusting contrast during printing? Just wondering because the film I have developed by adding developing time for more contrast have been a pain to print to how I like them. Is this the nature of the beast or am I killing myself by over developing my film.

One more question is at what print size will you see a medium format negative start to outshine a 35mm negative. I have only printed at 5x7 right now and I was wondering what print size would the medium format start to show its strengths in size compared to the 35mm.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Snay,

If all the negatives on a roll were shot under similar conditions, enlargements of a given size will typically tend to require similar filtration and similar exposure times. This is where experience comes in handy. Once you get good prints from some negatives on a roll, you will quickly learn how to make minute exposure changes for other negatives without needing additional test strips.

It's generally best to process film for the contrast that works best for the prints you want. Printing high-contrast negatives is generally more difficult than printing low-contrast negatives, provided you're after prints which are more or less "normal." If you want really high-contrast prints, you'll probably need to work with Kodalith derivations for good results.

My own guideline (which may not necessarily be identical to that of others): Assuming the use of a T-grain film such as T-Max 100, a 35mm negative shot with a high-quality lens should look excellent at 5 x 7, good at 8 x 10, and acceptable at 11 x 14. Given the same factors, a 4.5 x 6 negative (or similarly-proportioned section of a 6 x 6 negative) should look terrific at 8 x 10, very good at 11 x 14, and acceptable at 16 x 20. A 6 x 7 negative should produce excellent 11 x 14's and good 16 x 20's. Keep in mind, however, that many variables exist: camera lens quality, enlarger lens quality, shooting technique (steadiness? tripod?), film processing technique, print viewing distance, etc. In addition, different people have different definitions of "excellent, good," and "acceptable." In the final analysis, it comes down to establishing your own standards of acceptability.

Konical

 

[Nige]

If the negs have the same contrast and density you may not have to do another test strip. If you've shot the whole roll under consistant lighting then this can occur but for general purpose shooting where you've taken some shots one day and others at some other time, you'll need a test strip, even if it's just to confirm what you're thinking (different images usually demand different treatment). The other issue is if you alter filtration (sounds like you're using a colour head) to suit, you'll most likely need to re-check exposure timing.

You've got the right idea regarding development. Develop the negs so you can print like you want. If you 'run out of' contrast when printing you could develop a little longer but as you've found, that can bite you rather quickly. Once you work out something that suits you, stick to it.

I use 645 MF ans by 8x10 you can both see and feel the difference. By 'Feel' I mean the ease at which negs print.

Cheers, Nige

 

[Neal]

Dear snay1345,

Assuming your roll was taken under the same conditions, once you have the contrast and exposure correct the Ilford EM-10 meter is a wonderful accessory to have. I like to run off quick prints of promising negatives on 8x10 sheets and the EM-10 gets me close enough to see what I have. It is also handy when making different sizes of the same print. Of course, the final prints need tweaking, but that's the point of all this.

Neal Wydra

 

[MattKing]

All the above advice is good, but I'm going to add an additional wrinkle.

Contrast control when using variable contrast paper is very flexible. For some scenes, you may find it advantageous to increase contrast for some parts of the image (such as shadows) and decrease contrast for other parts, and contrast control while printing makes that possible.

If your negatives are too contrasty overall, you may find it difficult to make all the adjustments you like.

I'd suggest tailoring your negative contrast to give good results in the mid-tones with middle range (2?) printing contrast.

One other point - you may find as your printing experience grows that what you like will change. I've seen a fair number of beginning printers start out preferring higher contrast results, but as they print more they begin to move toward more subtle treatments.

Whatever you do, keep having fun!

Matt

 

[snay1345]

Thank you everyone for your assistance. I will probally end up backing off my development times to go for a more "middle ground" negative and just adjust contrast during the printing.

 

[nickandre]

This depends on the film. Films such as Adox CMS 20 and Ektar 100 will print to 16x20 and look outstanding.