You can print B&W with a color head without modifications. B&W (variable contrast) only needs a combination of blue and green light. A color head's magenta and yellow filters accomplish this.Does a color head need different Lighting or Filtering to do B&W than it does to print color.?
Cutting a somewhat more complicated story short: it works out as the same thing. Philips actually made a line of fairly popular enlargers that were additive and used R, G and B instead of C, M and Y. It has to do with technology; with additive, you first 'make' three colors (R, G and B) and then mix them together in the desired ratio. With subtractive, you start with full spectrum (white) light and filter away unwanted C, M and Y light to make the desired mix.What i am wondering is, why Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and not Blue, Green. Red
Easier than what? Than RGB? No, it's just a matter of getting used to something. It's even possible to think one way and actually do it in another way. In my enlarger I use red, green and blue LEDs as a light source, but I learned color printing on a subtractive head (so CMY). Because I was already used to thinking in CMY terms, I just labeled Green and Blue as Magenta and Yellow respectively and inverted their values (I don't display Red/Cyan on the display as it's not used). Technically there's a difference of course, but functionally/intuitively it works the same.Is it easier to print color with a CMY head.?
What i am wondering is, why Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and not Blue, Green. Red
Is it easier to print color with a CMY head.?
It is, if you were originally trained on a CMY system.Is it easier to print color with a CMY head.?
I wonder if this is really the case - I imagine it has/had something to do with the quality of the CMY filters it would have been compared to. I can see from a theoretical perspective the possible benefit of a *good* RGB system (good meaning: very pure colors, aligned very well with the response curves of the paper) in terms of hue purity etc. But I wonder to what extent the difference would be visible when printing color at home.Supposedly, the RBG system gives a slightly cleaner/sharper color
Yeah, I get what you say. I learned color manipulations well into the digital age and for on-screen purposes, so I was used to thinking in terms of RGB instead of CMY (not being trained as a printer or anything). I know I found it very confusing when my mate at the local photo shop (when those still existed...) showed me how he printed RA4 for customers on a Fuji Frontier. CMY just didn't feel intuitive to me. Much later, when I started printing RA4 at home with dichroic heads, it all fell into place somehow. Today it doesn't matter to me in which system I color correct; it's really just the same thing, but inverted. Just as my mate told me more than 15 years ago, but it didn't click back then.It was a bit of a challenge at first switching between to two but after a few screwups I got the hang of it.
Additive CAN be done with separate exposures, but doesn't HAVE to be.additive uses 3 filters (changes time).. first printers were modified 2 filter varigam printers & Kodak velox boxes; eventually Pako (& others) designed built systems for 3 filter exposure . Correction is made through changes of exposure time.
Sorry if i missed it.......what enlarger are you using now.?You are correct about the two modes of the Paterson, it's always RBG and CMY was just twiddling the appropriate RBG. When I said I could not really tell a difference, that was between the Paterson and Vivitar,
The Paterson was a Philips PCS 2000, not sure how entry level it was. In any case it worked well and gave many excellent prints
Sorry if i missed it.......what enlarger are you using now.?
Thank You
Well, the later of the version of the Phillips was decently made, but just way too under-muscled and undersized for any kind of serious lab usage. Additive filters require a lot more light than subtractive filtration because by definition you have to use dense narrow-band filters. But that's what hypothetically gives cleaner color, because there's no residual white light spillover affecting all three color layers of the color printing paper at once. Additive is more selective. But with later dichroic regular CMY subtractive heads, the results are nearly as good. Older CMY colorheads, especially those with spalling filter coatings, not so.
I'm kinda oversimplifying the subject. The only high output additive heads ever commercially built were super expensive 8x10 heads near the very end of Durst's commercial division. Those were never offered up for general sale, though several went to Govt use at the NSA. Everything made by Durst afterwards was out of the different amateur division, even their excellent 4x5 enlarger. The smallest enlargers the Commercial division made were the 138 5X7 series,
I agree. I like diffusion light heads vs condenser heads. Printing with condenser heads can block up highlights if your film is over developed.I recommend the colour heads for black and white variable contrast printing because they are diffusion light sources, while many/most of the alternatives are not.
And I prefer working with diffused light.
But it certainly is true that with some colour heads, split grade printing can be less convenient.
I'm currently working with a variable contrast light source, which (with Mainecoonmaniac in mind) I would describe as the "cat's pajamas" for both regular and split grade.
Oh Man......Truer Words.!Both color and black and multigrade white papers are balanced for tungsten lighting. From my years of printing, I only use the magenta and yellow filters both for black and white and color printing. If you're thinking of being a dichroic head just for black and white printing, you're better off buying a set of Ilford Multigrade filters. I used a color head for years for black and white printing because I have a color head. I ended up stop using it when I started to do split grade printing. It's easier to use Ilford multigrade under the lens filters than to fiddle with the knobs on the color head in the dark. That's my 2¢ worth.
Again, no "Expert" but my limited experience mimics yours.I recommend the colour heads for black and white variable contrast printing because they are diffusion light sources, while many/most of the alternatives are not.
And I prefer working with diffused light.
But it certainly is true that with some colour heads, split grade printing can be less convenient.
I'm currently working with a variable contrast light source, which (with Mainecoonmaniac in mind) I would describe as the "cat's pajamas" for both regular and split grade.
I agree. I like diffusion light heads vs condenser heads. Printing with condenser heads can block up highlights if your film is over developed.
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