Cyan cast on print

Matt5791 said:

Thanks for this - I'm using Fuji CA and mainly enlarging Kodak Portra negatives, although I have also enlarged some Fuji negs too.

The enlarger head is a Dichro head.

I have attached what was my first print I even did - it was from a Fuji Reala negative onto FCA.

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Nice print - I love the colors in her dress and the way you've used shallow DOF to make her pop out of the picture.

Thanks - I thought this would be a good negative to choose for my first colour print!

Matt

Matt5791 said:

Thanks - I thought this would be a good negative to choose for my first colour print!

Matt

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Yes it is - looks like you got the skin tones right. Do you have a set of print viewing filters? I have found them very useful for getting that first print right. Also, you might want to try Portra paper. From my admittedly limited experience, it seems to need less filtration adjustment from negative to negative than CA does.

Dan

I don't have any viewing filters actually, but fancy getting hold of some.

I'm going to be trying Kodak Supra Endura next because I notice Morco seem to have incredible deals on this:

http://www.morco.uk.com/latest/kodak_supra_endura.htm

£16 for a pack of 8X10 100 sheets

I'm going to make up an order over £100 and get the free postage.

Matt

Matt5791 said:

I don't have any viewing filters actually, but fancy getting hold of some.

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Keep an eye on ebay - I got mine there for less than $20

Photo Engineer said:

Dan;

I use an Ilford B&W meter for color and B&W. I have 2 and have one set for color and one set for B&W. They work just fine.

PE

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I think I have one of these - so you use this for establishing a starting exposure?

Thanks,
Matt

I get a perfect print, then remove the negative from the beam and calibrate the meter. From then on, once the enlarger is set up and the negative is not in the beam, I adjust the f stop on the lens to give the same amount of light. I get a perfect exposure regardless of magnification or filter pack on well exposed negatives. In any case, I am never more than about 1/2 stop off.

It is a matter of getting constant light energy from the enlarger more than anything else. So, I've gone from 4x5 to 16x20 and had little error. I always run a small test strip though.

PE

I do something similar to PE, except I switch my negative carrier with a carrier for 110 film that I picked up for almost nothing on eBay. That way, I don't have to worry about any flare issues, and am sure that I am reading from the centre of the light path.

Matt

THanks for that - I'll give it a go.

Is this the exposure meter known as the EM10? - if so how is this meter calibrated? (I don't have any instructions for it.)

Many thanks,

Matt

You make one good print and then use the light without the negative to get a 'green' indicator on the meter. From then on, whenever the indicator is green, the light intensity is the same as the original, so if time is constant you get the same exposure regardless of filtration or magnification.

This is excluding any real extremes in filtration or negative.

PE

Thanks very much for that - really helpful. I will try this in my next session.

Just took delivery of a load of Kodak Supra Endura too - which I notice is made in the UK (for the UK market I guess). Harrow. I didn't realise Kodak still made paper in the UK - and it is very new stock, the place I bought it from is one of the major wholesalers in the UK.

Matt

Yes, Harrow is still in operation. That area is beautiful and the walk from the train station to the plant is so pleasant. All of the neat homes with tidy gardens and cheerful people working outside or walking around. I always enjoyed my trips there.

And the workers at Harrow were wonderful. Derek, Mike and others... We enjoyed a pint with bangers and mash at the local pub for lunch.

PE

Matt5791 said:

THanks for that - I'll give it a go.

Is this the exposure meter known as the EM10? - if so how is this meter calibrated? (I don't have any instructions for it.)

Many thanks,

Matt

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Matt I think there is instructions on the EM10 on the Ilford site. I read them and thought they were a little sparse. Have a look.

If these plus PE's instructions aren't enough I think I have the Ilford instructions I got with mine. Only problems is that the font size is tiny. I don't have a decent scanner either.

Might be better and quicker if you PM any Q's and I look at the instructions to see if your Qs can be answered.

pentaxuser

Thanks very much for that.

I'll see how I get on!

Matt

Matt:

As you know, the EM10 has a dial on its face that you turn to adjust the sensitivity. You can do one of two things to have the green LED illuminate rather than the red LEDs on either side.

1) adjust the intensity of the light that hits the sensor, or
2) adjust the dial on the EM10.

A couple of points to remember.

a) readings need to be done with the safelight in your darkroom turned off, and
b) the EM10 is not linear, and appears to need light intensities within a certain range to function well.

The consequence of the latter point is that if the "perfect" print you do is done with either very bright light (and a very short exposure) or very dim light (and a very long exposure), you may find that it is either difficult to obtain any green, or that the green will be obtained with the EM10 dial set near one of its extremes, thus potentially rendering the result unreliable.

If possible, you want to use a setting that is somewhere in the middle of the scale.

Then, once you determine the setting you are going to use, you set that number on the EM10, put your new negative into your enlarger and adjust magnification and focus to where you want it. Then you take the negative out and measure and adjust the light intensity (using the aperture on the enlarging lens) so that the EM10 goes green.

There is one further complication to consider, and I don't know whether I have arrived upon a satisfactory answer to it. If, like me, you use variable contrast materials, and a colour head, it may be necessary to make both the calibrating readings with the colour head set to the same filtration numbers. I don't know what the spectral sensitivity of the EM10 might be, but I expect that it is relevant.

For that reason, I've been leaning to using the filtration settings on my colour head that match filter grade "2" on the paper information. I also use the numbers on the scale which does its best to give similar exposure times for different grades.

I would bypass the filters and use the white light instead, except I find that my enlarger is too bright for the EM10 when I do that.

Hope this helps.

Here is the link on Ilford's site to the instructions: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006821125512773.pdf

Matt