Duplicate negatives

[tjaded]

Hi all--
I am about to receive a set of 8x10 B&W negs that are of significant historical importance to a very small group of people (myself included!) and I will have a couple of weeks to do whatever I can with them. One of the many things I would like to do is make a duplicate of each one, still in neg form. Does anyone have a suggestion for the best way to do this without losing too much quality? I was thinking about doing a set on Tmax 100 and sending them to DR5 for reversal. I'm also going to do a set on Kodak dupe film (e-6). Any opinions on the T-Max choice? Any other ideas? I did buy a box of 8x10 B&W positive film from a fellow APUGer, but I don't think 10 sheets will give me enough testing--as far as I know there are 7 or 8 negs for me to work with. Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Matt,

Some years ago, Kodak made a film specifically designed for duplicating negatives. It was called Professional B/W Duplicating film, SO-339. Perhaps some might be found on E-Bay.

Konical.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think TMX is a good choice for dupes, as long as you don't plan to make alt-process prints from them, because TMX has a UV absorbing layer. If alt-process prints are of interest, I'd recommend FP4+.

Contact DR5 in advance for exposure advice, and it would be a good idea to run a test first to nail down the exposure before shooting the full run, and let them know you need a quick turnaround on the test.

 

[David William White]

I've had an easy time duplicating (and enlarging) my 4x5's with Freestyle's Arista Ortho Litho APHS film. It's super cheap and it develops in paper chemistry, by inspection, under safelight. I expose (contact or projection) to get the positive (which you can inspect on the light table) and then repeat to get the negative. This film has a very thin base, so the only downside is you have to handle them and store them carefully.

 

[removed account4]

hi matt

if you want a single step film
(there was a url link here which no longer exists) used to sell
professional duplicating film.
i am not sure if they still have any in stock,
or if it vanished when they stopped cutting master rolls
but you might want to contact them ... ask
if they still have "one step duplicating film" .
it is slow like azo, and needs to be exposed with a flood light
and it is be processed under safe light conditions in your favorite print developer.
i have some of the photowarehouse stuff i bought maybe 5 years ago,
as well as the kodak version which is like 10 + years old, i'd give you
some to play with, but unfortunately they are only 4x5.



good luck!

john

 

[rcoda]

I know this is APUG, and that these negatives are valuable or irreplaceable. But, if you can get them drum-scanned at very high-resolution, you can have new TMax negatives output at Chicago Albumen Works. The advantage to this method, is that if you want, you can clean the scans up in Photoshop before having the new negs made. And, do any burning/dodging, as well.

 

[tjaded]

I will be doing that as well...we have a Heidelberg 3900 here at the lab.

I know this is APUG, and that these negatives are valuable or irreplaceable. But, if you can get them drum-scanned at very high-resolution, you can have new TMax negatives output at Chicago Albumen Works. The advantage to this method, is that if you want, you can clean the scans up in Photoshop before having the new negs made. And, do any burning/dodging, as well.