BW Contact with E.Weston bulb method. Is timer needed ?

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 14, 2014

I want to contact print negatives with the help of my room bulb on graded paper.

Paper size will be 5x7 inches.

Camera sees with 25 ASA setting at f:2.8 - 1/15 speed from 100 watts frosted bulb .

I can find 40 watts bulb.

I prefer to count 1 to 10 with chronometer, not to be a racing driver.

Camera: Box Tengor 6x9 cms
Film: Shangai
Developer : D76
Paper: Ilford
Developer : Dektol DK50

Or should I need a timer connected to architects lamp. Where can I find such a timer ?

What do you advise ?

Umut

rjbuzzclick · Apr 14, 2014

When I first started shooting 4x5 I would contact print using a four to seven watt night light bulb and counting the seconds in my head. I found that any larger wattage bulb made the exposure time too short, and too variable, to reliably count in my head. My exposure times were in the 20-40 second range. By changing the bulb to contact frame distance I could adjust the exposure time a little bit. It worked really well. If you wanted to use a timer, any darkroom/enlarger timer would work.

ntenny · Apr 14, 2014

I found that even with a low power bulb I had to build a simple lightbox to restrict the amount of light, otherwise the exposures on normal enlarging paper were much too short to be repeatable. Alternatively you could try to find a slower contact-speed paper, but the only ones I know of are Fomalux (hard to find) and Lodima (somewhat expensive).

If you have a large room you can get the bulb further from the paper, of course, which makes a lot of difference. In the end I think you simply have to take some test strips and experiment with different times.

Edit: I just realized you're printing 6x9, so you can cut the paper into quarters and put filters directly on top of the negative. With a few stops' worth of ND filters, printing times quickly become quite reasonable. Unfortunately it doesn't work for larger formats unless you can find enormous filters!

-NT

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 14, 2014

Nathan and all ,

Have you ever been used 4 to 7 watts night bulbs as Reid reported before you ? Dollar and postage is so expensive and every move to buy a new thing like ND filters makes nerves upset. If above is completely true , I think I found the answer but I want to hear your more detailed experience also.

Reid,

Where did you put the 4 watts bulb referencing the paper. What was the distance and angle ? What was your paper brand ?

Thanks,

Umut

c6h6o3 · Apr 14, 2014

Not a timer. Use a metronome and something to cover the contact frame. Turn the lamp on, start the metronome and pull away the cover to expose for the requisite number of metronome clicks. Then throw the cover back on to end the exposure. I find this to be much more precisely repeatable than the use of a timer.

NedL · Apr 14, 2014

I use a metronome like Jim ( mine is a mp3 file of a metronome that I downloaded .... is that cheating maybe my prints are all digital after all ). These days I use a piece of black card to block the light from the enlarger, but when I used a bulb, it was up much higher and I did as Jim described.

A small flashlight ("torch") bulb can be put in a tin can, powered by batteries, with a simple switch to turn it on and off. Put it up pretty high, at least a meter and 2 is better. On the bottom of the can have a small aperture, you can experiment and make it smaller if your prints are getting done too fast. About a centimeter might be a good starting point.

Under the can you can tape some cardboard, with a hole cut a little smaller than your filters. Then you can use VC filters or you can use a green filter and a blue filter to do split grade contact printing.

Darn.. when I first saw your post Mustafa I thought you HAD EW's bulb and were going to make a print with it!!!!

Here's a link to the: metronome recording

Newt_on_Swings · Apr 14, 2014

Without a timer I just count missisipis. You can get a small wattage bulb in the night light section. They are really common in the 99 cent store and even come with a switch on the front. The best would to have such an arrangement but with a pull cord hanging above your printing area. You can limit the out put of light on these small lower wattage bulbs by wrapping it with tape. If you have a clear bulb, a wrap in scotch tape will frost it, and with darker colored tape or masking tape you further limit the output. Experiment to find a comfortable printing height for the bulb. Covering the print with a thick board as commented above is good too if its a bit difficult to get to switch. Best way to figure out times is to just experiment. With something as small as 6x9 I think it just a bit too small for test strips. I would just guess an exposure and readjust from there. Any dodging or burning is going to be hard, you need really small dodging wands or you have to cut a small detailed mask.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 14, 2014

NedL said:
Darn.. when I first saw your post Mustafa I thought you HAD EW's bulb and were going to make a print with it!!!!

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 14, 2014

Hello all ,

Thank you for your help. Before worrying about repeating the print , I think I should worry about taking single meaningful picture with Box Tengor 54/2 1928. Its viewfinder dark at the dark and viewfinder glass is shining under sunlight.

I think I cant use my computer while exposing. So the metronome is not usable for me.

I looked to philips and ge for a night bulb and weakest was 15 watts. I think I cant use usa as source 110 volts issue. Europe have different sockets than here I guess also. Buying a 15 watts and taping it and allow small opening at its bottom is only way. I dont have a hurry while printing very small opening is enough. And I need a second bulb like first one but small opening covered with red filter.

Umut

MattKing · Apr 14, 2014

Do you have a dimmer control for a single light? You will also need a hand or camera meter to help you reset the dimmer/bulb to the same output.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 14, 2014

Matt ,

Do you mean reostate ? No , but I can buy , very very good idea. Thank you.

Umut

Jim Jones · Apr 14, 2014

I've used a cheap battery powered digital clock that ticked once a second instead of a more expensive metronome. Being able to count seconds with such an aid is handy when dodging and burning. For longer times, such as those needed for tray developing film, a cheap digital kitchen timer works well.

Tom1956 · Apr 15, 2014

Sure do miss Velox.

Bill Burk · Apr 15, 2014

Mustafa,

The small light bulbs are great for the job. In an old book, Lootens on Enlarging, he says to wad up clay or masking tape over the light bulb to make the light hitting the paper dimmer. Hang the bulb a few feet above the paper. Enjoy and have fun.

RalphLambrecht · Apr 15, 2014

a |Gralab 300 timer is hard to beat for this application.

RalphLambrecht · Apr 15, 2014

and a simple template to replace the clock face will turn a |Gralab 300 into an f/stop timer too!

Doremus Scudder · Apr 15, 2014

Don't overcomplicate this.

Use the lowest wattage bulb you can easily and cheaply get. Reduce the light intensity of the bulb if it is too great by a) moving it farther away, b) using a diffusing material over the bulb. I used a couple sheets of white paper when I was contact printing. No need for a rheostat unless you have one already.

Put a loud clock in your darkroom that ticks once a second. Use that to time your prints. Shoot for 10+ seconds printing time to improve accuracy. No need for a timer/switch unless you have one already.

That's all there is to it.

Best,

Doremus

eclarke · Apr 15, 2014

Do you want to,do,the bulb just for the sake of the bulb? If not, and you have an enlarger, just use it, I,have one set up for only contact prints.

rjbuzzclick · Apr 15, 2014

Umut,

Sorry for the slow reply. I used a clear nightlight bulb, either 4w or 7w. I held the bulb up by the ceiling with my contact printing frame lying on the floor, or on a stool if I needed a shorter time. Distance between the bulb and the paper was between seven and four feet usually. Paper was usually Ilford MGIV without any kind of filter on it.

ntenny · Apr 15, 2014

I would expect frosted bulbs to give a more even light than clear ones, but I don't know if it makes a practical difference. I never tried night-light bulbs because I didn't have an appropriate fixture, but I found normal-base bulbs down to something like 10 W before I decided that I needed the light box anyway (mainly for filter mounting).

Bouncing the light off the ceiling and walls reduces the intensity a lot, but I found it gave me really low contrast on VC paper, I suppose because of the color of my walls. Maybe you can paint your darkroom in Grade 3 magenta?

By the way, I think a test strip at a small size is feasible. It won't be great for fine-tuning the exposure, but you can expose it in a few increments spaced at 5 or 10 seconds to get the coarse timing down and work on bulb choice and placement.

-NT

rjbuzzclick · Apr 15, 2014

Clear bulb worked fine for me. I figured that being as close to a point source as possible would be better (reason being that's what they do for shadow-puppet plays). I never had any issues so did not try a frosted bulb. I also did test strips first before the actual print and it worked fine.

Regarding the fixture, I just used a night-light fixture with a switch and hung it off of an extension cord.

I had also heard of people using electronic flash units as a light source for contact printing. I tried it a little bit with a Vivitar 285 on the 1/16 setting but didn't spend a lot of time to fine tune it.

NedL · Apr 15, 2014

ntenny said:
By the way, I think a test strip at a small size is feasible. It won't be great for fine-tuning the exposure, but you can expose it in a few increments spaced at 5 or 10 seconds to get the coarse timing down and work on bulb choice and placement.
-NT

Agree with this. I made test strips with 116 contact prints and they were useful, especially at first.

BW Contact with E.Weston bulb method. Is timer needed ?

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