cyan dial in filter

nlochner · Jun 20, 2006

why is it that no one likes to use the cyan dial in filter, its never in any starting values, and no one ever suggests to use it no mattter what the colors look like. i am confused.

Kevin Caulfield · Jun 20, 2006

It's a good question. Somebody here mentioned recently having to use it, I think it was for Ilfochrome printing.

jd callow · Jun 20, 2006

Equal amounts of cyan, M and Y gives neutral D and sometimes you need it. Those doing R, cibas and dupe's may have more use for it than those making c-prints.

Probably not to helpful sorry.

I do use it often when making prints from cross processed film.

Chan Tran · Jun 21, 2006

You only need to use 2 filters at a time. Using all three just creates neutral density. Normally for printing color negative you need M and Y. For printing from slide, like Ilfochrome, you need M and C. I do use about 30cc of Cyan filter in my RA-4 printing to create some neutral density. I can then vary the amount of neutral density to accomplish exposure change without changing either aperture or time. I only use a small amount, because large amount would cost me too much light as well as color shift.

srs5694 · Jun 21, 2006

FWIW, my enlarger (a Philips PCS130 with PCS150 light source) is so bright that I must use cyan filtration (actually, reducing the brightness of the red light, since the PCS150 uses an additive light source rather than the more common subtractive filtration). If I tried to run it without cyan filtration/at maximum red brightness, I'd need exposure times of under 5s, the minimum that the enlarger allows, for most color 8x10 prints. I get the impression from the documentation that today's color papers are much faster than the ones that were available in the 1980s, when my enlarger was made.

Neal · Jun 21, 2006

Dear nlochner,

It isn't that people don't like cyan filtration, it is due to the design of the film/paper/chemicals. If all your processes are at factory specification, you shouldn't need cyan. Assuming you are not using cyan filtration as a neutral density filter, try adjusting (reducing, I think) your time in the paper developer to keep yourself in the magenta/yellow region.

Neal Wydra

pentaxuser · Jun 21, 2006

Essentially if you look at the colour cast correction charts then you'll find that for RA4 paper printing from colour neg that Y and M will cover all cast corrections.

pentaxuser

Ed Sukach · Jun 21, 2006

pentaxuser said:
Essentially if you look at the colour cast correction charts then you'll find that for RA4 paper printing from colour neg that Y and M will cover all cast corrections.

Are we talking about *ALL* RA-4 papers?

I recently printed on a batch of Fuji Crystal Archive "P" and Cyan filtration *was* definetly necessay ... in fact only Magenta and cyan -- *no* yellow -- was used. The results were *excellent*.

Be careful ... as far as I can tell, there is *no* standardization between the usual enlargers we use in the darkroom. What may be *fine* in My Omega D5500 might be FAR off on a Beseler or Durst.

jd callow · Jun 21, 2006

I have had to add cyan (usually to create more yellow [c+m] or magenta [c+y]) many times. Under 'normal' conditions it should not be needed.

Bob Carnie · Jun 21, 2006

The cyan dial is there if you need it.
as other posted
1 . your enlarger is too bright and you need to introduce nuetral density
2. you are printing cross processed negs
3. The latest round of ilfochrome papers indeed require a cyan and magenta balance.
4. the colour balance of your dichroic bulbs or voltages to them have changed.

If you study the colour wheel you will see that you can use cyan for many purposes.

Ed mentions that in the ra4 balance he uses cyan, this does not suprise me as the emulsions are being modified to use under traditional enlargers and digital exposing units. laser and led.
As well I agree the paper is much faster now than when most of our enlargers were built. Once again to satisfy the laser and led exposures.

If you find that you do need cyan to print Ra4 , it is not common, but ok.

FilmIs4Ever · Jul 2, 2006

If you shoot daylight balanced C-41 indoors without corrective filtration, where it is usually best off to overexpose by 2/3 of an F-stop, you'll get negatives that (at least w/ my equipment) require the use of cyan filtration. With standard exposures though, no I never use it. Ditto to the above statements about it only being necessary to use 2 filters at a time.

Regards,

~Karl Borowski

smieglitz · Jul 2, 2006

The cyan filter is very useful for adding neutral density so that the sweet f-stop on the enlarging lens can be used at reasonable exposure times.

I also use quite a bit of initial neutral density when printing VC B&W materials with a dichroic colorhead. That way I can add or subtract filters to adjust the contrast.

There are times when it comes in very handy apart from color balancing.

Joe

cyan dial in filter

nlochner

Kevin Caulfield

jd callow

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Chan Tran

srs5694

Neal

pentaxuser

Ed Sukach

jd callow

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Bob Carnie

FilmIs4Ever

smieglitz

cyan dial in filter

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