Emulsion Chefs Roundup

1920 · Mar 21, 2015

thanks

Denise- Thanks for the detailed response- wish I could claim more signifigance to the user name, its my birthday and my gf's birthday, (3/20 and 3/19)- we were in a hurry when we joined the forum because I wanted to ask a question, and that was the first thing we came up with!

(yep, mine was yesterday getting old here)

Also a great era for photography no doubt.

I also like working with the printed page, your book and certainly PE's book will be our first purchases when we jump into this. We are in Baltimore so Rochester is certainly not out of the realm of possibility, I would love to see GE House anyway.

We are getting the darkroom sorted and nailing down our skills with commercial materials, then this is the next step for sure

Interesting point about the relation between speed and contrast, the shots you posted certainly look pretty good.

wildbillbugman · Mar 21, 2015

PE,
I truly hope that you are serious about a 400 ISO emulsion. I love macro photography of live praying mantises. This absolutely requires speeds at least that high. I will even start using bovine gelatin again. Will it be a high resolution emulsion, or have grain like medium grit sandpaper?
Bill

Photo Engineer · Mar 21, 2015

So far, I get something worse than Royal X Pan at its worst and less speed.

I've got a long way to go Bill.

PE

dwross · Mar 23, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
I hope it sells well.

Best wishes.

PE

Thank you. Yours, too. There can't be too much info available. I wish there were more. It's an important area of art and history.

wildbillbugman · Mar 23, 2015

That's OK,PE,
I will just keep on 'spearmentin'. I would rather do that than take "pitchers",as my friend Jim pronounces it,anyway. I have always been this way,although some call that Blasphemy. I have my "high I" project on hold for now. I am shooting for the fastest emulsion I can get. Trick is, using the sun is not an option for me. I need speed with incandescent and or fluorescent lighting. Strobe is also a possible option. Big, Powerful strobes.
Bill

wildbillbugman · Mar 27, 2015

Hello to All,
I have what might be a silly question. So I will put it here instead of starting a new topic. Maybe 20 years ago an, even then, long retired Navy Photographer told me that ,in the developing lab, they used dish washing detergent for the purpose that Fotoflow is used. I wounder, has anyone done this or heard of it being done. Do not anyone get mad at me. It is only a question.
Bill

Photo Engineer · Mar 27, 2015

Yes, you can do it, but it leaves a tint and a scent and it gives the print unknown properties. It is not recommended for these and other reasons Bill.

Now, suggestion, start a new thread!

PE

dwross · Apr 10, 2015

Bump! (or as Ron suggests, a new thread) Or, update an old one. PE has enough excellent stickies for us to revisit for years! Let's see if we can't attract a few of the many, many new members of the 'Silver Gelatin Dry Plate' or 'George Eastman House' groups on Facebook.
, d

wildbillbugman · Apr 10, 2015

Actually, it was such a tiny(silly?) question that I fought it to be unworthy of a new thread.:munch:

Photo Engineer · Apr 10, 2015

Bill, your emulsions are unique and only you have the key to the lock.

When you rev up, I suggest that q&a not be buried in other threads, but rather they deserve their own thread!

PE

wildbillbugman · Apr 10, 2015

Yes P.E. and all,
Soon I hope to have enough supporting data to post my emulsions and their characteristics. But not until I am confident that my statements are valid.
Bill

Photo Engineer · Apr 11, 2015

I was not suggesting anything regarding validity. They need to be exposed on their own is all. They should not be buried in a bunch of other emulsion chit chat. After all, from your description, they are unique.

PE

dwross · May 5, 2015

Bump (and a few pics). Handmade film, Pentax 67, 35mm fisheye lens, at Drift Creek Suspension Bridge, Lincoln County, Oregon

Photo Engineer · May 5, 2015

GEH has their minicoater up and running, and they also have a functional slitter and perfer for making perforated 35mm film. I have urged Nick to post some here, as I am reluctant to post his work. But, Nick, Mark and I are collaborating on the new book and this will all be in it.

We are trying to simplify it all and make it less expensive for the hobby crowd. Right now we are researching pumps for the coating machine and for emulsion making.

PE

dwross · May 6, 2015

The little film coater is just about the cutest thing going. Nick and Mark are having a great time playing with it. They are very active on Facebook, so that's a good place to follow them if anyone is interested -- and a lot of people are -- just not on APUG (and they know that).

Good luck and fun with Nick and your book together. I'm looking forward to it. Simple and less expensive is always a good thing. But, coating film at single roll length doesn't get much simpler than the way I do it, and film and silver will always be baseline costs. Everyone should understand, though, making film is a whole lot less expensive than printing on an Epson inkjet! Gak, I hate ordering ink.

Photo Engineer · May 6, 2015

Once you make your film, you still have to print it somehow Denise!

And if you go to Nick's web page you will see some shots he took with the new emulsion that I taught him. It is about ISO 25 - 40 now, and just blue sensitive, but we are taking it a step at a time to make it bullet proof. Next step green sensitivity and then gold. After that, who knows.

PE

dwross · May 6, 2015

Thanks for the set-up! Indeed, emulsion making is about more than negatives. Printing handmade negatives on handmade paper is frosting on the cake. Fortunately, our DIY's are handled the exact same way as commercial negatives. Any printing process, of course, and there are a LOT of them . I'm partial to handmade silver gelatin myself. (Surprise!) Christopher James put one of my paper emulsions in his 3rd edition of Alternative Photographic Processes. pp 643-646. The book is stunning. 800 pages of pure gold. You could start at the beginning and work through the book for years. I am sorely tempted.

kb3lms · May 6, 2015

The little film coater is just about the cutest thing going. Nick and Mark are having a great time playing with it. They are very active on Facebook, so that's a good place to follow them

Checked that out. Neat stuff! Guess I have to fire up facebook again.

dwross · Jun 8, 2015

Photo Engineer · Jun 8, 2015

Well, Michael Douglas was at GEH to receive an award for his film work. While there, Nick took the official photos, and two of them were on plates using my new emulsion. If we can get things all ironed out, that will be used for teaching purposes in the upcoming making and coating courses.

For those interested in controlled making, I have found small pumps for less than $5, that run on a small 12v DC source. I use a train transformer. Anyhow, if they work out in general use, I will post more information. So far, after the few tests I've done, they look good. I'm going to give some to Nick to try out at GEH. We are working to devise both a manual and automatic control system for the pumps. For $5 you can't go wrong and the emulsions will be much more consistent.

There is some up to date information. I'm set to go by GEH Wednesday and work with Nick on the above.

PE

dwross · Jun 9, 2015

Very cool! (both things ) Hope you have a great time on Wednesday.

Photo Engineer · Jun 10, 2015

Well, Nick and I managed to burn out a potentiometer by underestimating current draw of the pumps, but Nick got it running finally. He called me this evening to say he went back to GEH and connected things up and got the pump running in the range we wanted. So, we are working with a $4.95 pump that can drastically improve the quality of emulsions. This is using manual or computer control. Manual costs $4.95 and computer costs about $60. This includes the Arduino board and the additional Shield for the pump.

We are forging ahead.

Meanwhile, Mark is prepping Asphalt for next weeks course. OMG does it stink! Sorry Mark.

PE

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