Best film/paper developer for keeping tonality in Ultrafine ortho-litho film?

[elalonde]

Hi everyone,


I'm experimenting with an unusual exposure process with ortho-litho film. I'm using strobe lights to make photograms on the surfaces of ortho-litho film, and currently using Ultrafine's .004 High Contrast film because it's affordable and comes in many sizes that I can improvise with. I've been honing in on the exposures with the strobes by using barn-doors to adjust intensity, and colored gels (red and yellow) to adjust contrast. In this case because this Ultrafine ortho-litho film has such high contrast, I'm using a yellow filter to minimize the contrast and push the tonal range, like you would with an enlarger.


Now to my question: How do I develop this ortho-litho film to most effectively keep the subtle tonal shifts and fight the contrast blow-out? Should I use a B&W film developer, or a paper developer? I've heard that you can dilute and chill paper developers to slow down the processing speed, but I'm wondering if there's a developer out there that people have used with this film that really works to keep tonality...any suggestions?


Also, what's the best ortho-litho film for a wide tonal range? I've found three that are affordable and have a wide size-range: Ultrafine, Arista II, and this new one that B&H is selling called MultiTone. I realize these are all intended for high-contrast, but since ortho film sheets can get expensive and usually only go to 8x10" max, these are the best options for what I'm making.


Thanks!
Evan

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

A yellow filter will do absolutely zilch to change the contrast. Lith film has a 'tonal range' like any other: from clear to black; A yellow filter won't change that, either.

To lower the contrast with lith film try using Soemarko LC-1 (new formula) developer. From Vaughn's post on the LFP forum:

"From The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes...Second Edition, page 100, by Christopher James:

750ml distilled water at 125F
4 g Metol
80 g Sodium sulfite
4 g Hydroquinone
20 g Sodium bisulfite
add distilled cold water to make 1 liter stock solution

For use, dilute 1:5 to 1:10...5 to 10 minutes at 75F"

It works rather well, far better than I would have expected.

You can't buy it, but have to mix it up yourself. Chemicals are available at http://www.artcraftchemicals.com/products/ and http://stores.photoformulary.com/StoreFront.bok

 

[SMBooth]

Try searching for Jim Galli, down the bottom of his page is a formula for a modified Rodinal and APHS lith film. Give that a try.

 

[Athiril]

This might help
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfobrien/5389512950/