Colour contact prints and processing?

John Bartley · Aug 31, 2007

I don't have a colour enlarger, and I've been doing only contact prints in B&W lately, and developing them myself.

I now have a bit of a hankering to explore the world of colour analog photography, but I'm not real hot to send off the negatives for processing and then send off the negatives to be printed.

I have searched Google, but I can't find very much about contact printing from colour negatives onto colour paper and then how to process.

I wonder if anyone has any DIY info links dealing with colour contact printing in either 4x5 or 8x10?

cheers eh?

EDIT :: one link I found was this one : Colour contact print which shows a quite nice looking contact print.

Nick Zentena · Aug 31, 2007

Do you have an enlarger? Doesn't matter the format. You can get some colour filters and use them to project onto the baseboard. I'd suggest looking for colour enlarger since a small one may be cheaper then a set of filters these days.

If you have an enlarger then the only difference between RA-4 and B&W is you'll need to judge colour balance and the required filter setting. But all that is the same with contact or projection printing.

All I can say is ask more questions -)

John Bartley · Aug 31, 2007

Hi Nick,

I do have an enlarger. It's an old Elwood 5x7 diffusion enlarger, but it's in great shape and it does a fine job on B&W. I have an "over the lens" filter tray in it, and I also have an "under the lens" filter tray as an aftermarket addition.

I guess the reason I was looking at contact rather than enlargement was for simplicity as well as the sharpness that a contact gives. That said, I guess I'll have to do what I am limited to by available supplies and information.

I use an 8x10 camera, but I do have a 4x5 reducing back as well as a selection of lenses for both sizes. I'm not seeing a whole lot of 8x10 colour negative film for sale out there, but I confess that I haven't really searched too hard for that yet.

cheers eh?

TheFlyingCamera · Aug 31, 2007

John- once you search for it, you'll realize why you haven't done so yet. It's bloody awful expensive. About $5-7 USD per sheet!

Nick Zentena · Aug 31, 2007

John Bartley said:
I guess the reason I was looking at contact rather than enlargement was for simplicity as well as the sharpness that a contact gives. That said, I guess I'll have to do what I am limited to by available supplies and information.

I wasn't suggesting doing enlargements instead of contacts. What I meant was using a colour enlarger instead of buying colour printing filters. Freestyle looks to have a set of CP 3"x3" filters for less then $20 but you might be able to pickup a small colour enlarger for not much more then that.

With the colour enlarger you adjust the dials on the enlarger instead of changing the filters. Easier.

John Bartley · Aug 31, 2007

Oh yes ... use the built in colour filtration and the enlarger as a light source - gotcha!! I misunderstood. I guess I shouldn't have sold the 35mm/MF colour enlarger that I had last winter .... that worked perfectly ... and had built in filtration. Still, for what it sold for, I can buy a good assortment of filters and some chemicals.

I had a pretty good idea that the film itself might be a bit pricey, but I've given up a couple of other hobbies for a little while, one of them being flying, so there's a couple of dollars spare here that I won't feel too bad about parting with.

Any recommendations on decent and simply written "how to" literature?

cheers eh?

Nick Zentena · Aug 31, 2007

The Kodak website has all the documents for the process. It's not really aimed to teach the process but it includes all the info.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/Zmanuals/z130.shtml

The Kodak data sheet for the old Supra paper provides a bit more info.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e141/e141.jhtml

Basically you start with a test strip to establish exposure. You'll need to dry this before judging anything. A small hair dryer comes in handy for this. Onces you've got the exposure right you adjust the filters to correct colour balance. Once you've got both you make your print.

Neal · Aug 31, 2007

John,

Search the forum using the keywords "RA-4 Tray".

Neal Wydra

John Bartley · Sep 1, 2007

Hi folks,

Many thanks for suggestions - they're a great place to start ... so I will!

I get winters off from working and I try to do one "fun" project each winter. Last winter I rebuilt a Delta wood working jointer from the bottom up. This winter I'm planning to take, develop and print my first colour LF photo. It should be fun

cheers eh?

Photo Engineer · Sep 1, 2007

At the current cost of paper and chemistry, I esimate that a single print runs about $1.00 US. This is using a Jobo and running 2 prints per tube.

100 sheets of 5x7 Endura paper was about $20 but they may have stopped making that. I use an 8x10 sheet with 4 4x5 negatives in a contact frame and use my enlarger with filters to expose.

I have also seen it done by masking a light bulb in a beehive safelight or similar lamp housing and using 3x3 filters onto a contact frame.

It is a good, economical way to produce proofs as well.

PE

Colour contact prints and processing?

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