Dark Yellow Borders on RA-4 Prints

cbphoto · Sep 7, 2010

Edited: i found my problem: the temp was set too high. I set the thermostat on the Nova to the max so it would warm up fast, and then did not reduce it to the 38 setting, so the temperature kept rising. I think that caused the discoloration, because severely reducing the dev and blix times solved the problem.

hrst · Sep 7, 2010

If it is a thermostat, as it probably is, setting it to a higher value won't speed up the warming .

pentaxuser · Sep 8, 2010

If the water jackets could be emptied by taps then the quick and cheap solution would be to fill each time with water at near the right temp which is what I do with my CPE2 but as there are no taps that leaves 3 options:

I. If you do RA4 most nights then set a timer on the plug to switch on for a set period before starting to print
2.Drain the jackets with a syphon and refill with right temp water
3. Go for room temp printing in the Nova. In many ways the simplest and cheapest solution. You just have to accept each print taking a bit longer in the chemicals.

pentaxuser

cbphoto · Sep 8, 2010

My understanding is that the Fuji paper will not work in room temp chems.

cbphoto · Sep 8, 2010

What does it mean when the heating unit lights start blinking?

fotch · Sep 8, 2010

Oh oh, Run :w00t:

If it starts blinking after a while, probably means temp is reached.

pentaxuser · Sep 8, 2010

cbphoto said:
My understanding is that the Fuji paper will not work in room temp chems.

I think the jury is still out on this. I tried to get a definitive answer on this but while I think I got some encouraging news it wasn't a resounding "YES, Fuji paper is fine at room temp".

Not sure where you are. If ambient temp in your darkroom is mostly in the upper 20s C then setting the Nova for 35C permanently might not cost you much in electricity or you might not be bothered anyway. I don't think the 10x8 Nova processor set for 35C will consume that much power but room temp processing means less advance planning needed each time and it may be more pleasant on you wallet

pentaxuser

cbphoto · Sep 8, 2010

It all worked out eventually. The Nova thermostat is a little odd - to get 36 deg C, I needed to set it above 38, and gradually move it up after it fell down below where it had settled a few times (weird) after blinking for a while. It finally stabilized with the pointer set halfway between 38 and 44. I don't feel like experimenting with room temp right now - I just want to plow through some negs since it's been so long. Someday I'll give it a shot, as it would be nice to use trays.

Dark Yellow Borders on RA-4 Prints

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