What is the best procedure to find proper colorvalues for multicontrast papers? The enlarger in question is a Durst 1000 with a color head. I have a Kodak Control Scale T-14 which I guess can be handy.
I prevously used an Ilford multicontrast head on another enlarger and liked the way it behaved on AGFA MPC 312 RC. There I could simply expose the paper to get good blacks and then adjust the contrast number to control the highlights. I got used to this way of printing. Recently however I used Fotokemika Fineprint L which behaved quite differently with the Ilford multicontrast head. For this paper the avarage gray value remained constant when changing the contrast number while keeping exposure constant (instead of constant shadows with contrast change, which was the case with the AGFA paper) and both the highlights got lighter and shadows got darker when increasing the contrast number and vice versa. If I have understood it correctly, by using a color head I should in theory be able to get both behaviors from either paper with the proper colorvalues of the colorhead, correct?
Which is the "proper way" to operate with mulricontrast paper? Is it to expose for shadows and filter for higlights, expose for middle grays and filter for both low and higlights, or something else?
The reason for moving from the Ilford MC head to a colorhead is not to more precisely control the contrast but to be able to print 4x5" in the Durst 1000 instead of at most 6x9cm in the previous enlarger.
I am gratefull for any hints, tips or pointers to the kind of information I am after.
/Richard (who will become a subscriber when my next paycheck shows up)
I prevously used an Ilford multicontrast head on another enlarger and liked the way it behaved on AGFA MPC 312 RC. There I could simply expose the paper to get good blacks and then adjust the contrast number to control the highlights. I got used to this way of printing. Recently however I used Fotokemika Fineprint L which behaved quite differently with the Ilford multicontrast head. For this paper the avarage gray value remained constant when changing the contrast number while keeping exposure constant (instead of constant shadows with contrast change, which was the case with the AGFA paper) and both the highlights got lighter and shadows got darker when increasing the contrast number and vice versa. If I have understood it correctly, by using a color head I should in theory be able to get both behaviors from either paper with the proper colorvalues of the colorhead, correct?
Which is the "proper way" to operate with mulricontrast paper? Is it to expose for shadows and filter for higlights, expose for middle grays and filter for both low and higlights, or something else?
The reason for moving from the Ilford MC head to a colorhead is not to more precisely control the contrast but to be able to print 4x5" in the Durst 1000 instead of at most 6x9cm in the previous enlarger.
I am gratefull for any hints, tips or pointers to the kind of information I am after.
/Richard (who will become a subscriber when my next paycheck shows up)
