DuraTrans.. anything like it in B&W?

[kb244]

I'm told there was an emulsion with a white plastic backing called Duratrans, I am curious though if there was anything like it made as a B&W emulsion, or if I should just contact print a 4x5/8x10 to another B&W to make a positive and put behind it a thin white plastic base?

 

[richard ide]

IIRC Kodak used to manufacture a product called projection print film which I think was acetate base. Dupont manufactured a variable contrast product called Cronapaque. I still have a roll. Probably NFG but will try some day with anti fog. I prefered the dupont product as it was much whiter and was available in rolls.

 

[kb244]

IIRC Kodak used to manufacture a product called projection print film which I think was acetate base. Dupont manufactured a variable contrast product called Cronapaque. I still have a roll. Probably NFG but will try some day with anti fog. I prefered the dupont product as it was much whiter and was available in rolls.

I guess you have no plans on getting rid of any of it even if for experimentation purposes.

 

[richard ide]

Karl,
I only have about 10' of 30" and it is at least 15 years old. I am tight for time for about 10 days but after that I will test it and let you know what happens.

 

[Photo Engineer]

This is WAY off base for APUG, but the only current material for B&W that I know of is made for digital printers. I'm not even going to name it as that would be inappropriate IMHO.

I don't recommend this, I merely mention that the translucent products for B&W use have pretty much gone out of fashion. Everyone wants them for color. So, Kodak and Fuji both make a color material on translucent support.

PE

 

[kb244]

Karl,
I only have about 10' of 30" and it is at least 15 years old. I am tight for time for about 10 days but after that I will test it and let you know what happens.

15 pft, most my recent B&W were 30 to 40 years old

 

[kb244]

This is WAY off base for APUG, but the only current material for B&W that I know of is made for digital printers. I'm not even going to name it as that would be inappropriate IMHO.

I don't recommend this, I merely mention that the translucent products for B&W use have pretty much gone out of fashion. Everyone wants them for color. So, Kodak and Fuji both make a color material on translucent support.

PE

What's "Practical" and what I want to do, do not often coincide. I wouldn't be happy with the digital process of making a transparency (which I can do), just wouldn't feel the same.

But even if theres nothing current (which I suspected) I figured the brains that make up apug would know of ways to get to that result using existing materials (second hand or otherwise).

 

[richard ide]

Karl
Another alternative if you process colour at home is to buy a few square feet of duratrans from a lab (it is not cheap) and process in RA4 chemistry. The right filter pack will give an imitation B/W.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Richard, I'd like to know how it fares. I had a really large roll, like 50" full. Weighed a real lot. Never used it, a shame. I'd like to know if it's still good. Too bad it's at my parents house, 1200 miles away.

 

[matthewbetcher]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not, but why not ortho lith film? enlarge and develop it as you would normally with a slightly diluted developer - my experimentations took quite some time to get the right tone and contrast out of the developer, but in the end, it can result in quite a decent positive image on film able to be mounted then to a choice of backgrounds. for my purposes, i have mounted 40 x 60 inch panels onto a gold leaf backed glass for my "fauxrotones" of the los angeles river.

if your intending to put them in a light-box, i'm not sure the lith film would be dense enough without getting way to contrasty to yield good dark blacks. (again, a project i am working on involves light boxes and i'm getting interesting results with some different papers).

just some thoughts - if you need some info on the lith film, look into freestyle or pm me.

matthew

 

[Ian Grant]

I used a B&W material similar to what you are looking for about 30 years ago, it came from a company called John Blissen in London. His son Chris is still around but I think the company changed its name.

The material was made in Europe, the same manufacturer made Photo-linen as well as bromide paper on various coloured bases, (similar to Kentmeres Kentint).

Ian

 

[richard ide]

I think the company (French) stopped manufacturing around 1995. Nice papers. One interesting product was a coloured base coating on a very shiny RC base. With high contrast images, you could bleach the image then remove the base coat which gave you a colour/white image.
Made some really nice prints on a silver base paper.

 

[psvensson]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not, but why not ortho lith film?

I agree: enlarging onto sheet film and then backing that with a translucent sheet of plastic is probably the way to go. If you're comfortable working in the dark, it doesn't have to be ortho film, which is expensive. I recently enlarged a color negative onto 8x10 Efke 100 film and developed in paper developer in complete darkness. I've hung the resulting positive in my window. It looks great without backing.

 

[Akki14]

I was thinking this too. I'm doing enlarged negatives onto fomapan 100 in complete darkness and the interpositives are lovely Neat way to get around the more complex slide film process.

 

[epatsellis]

ultrafine continuous tone dupe film, comes in 8x10 and 14x17 .007 thick. Handles under a red or yellow safelight, ortho reponse. Develop in D76. Relatively inexpensive, as well. (also makes a great film in camera)


erie