Enlarger light meter or other ways of avoiding wasting paper when making prints?

mshchem · 2025-12-16T01:57:10-0500

Back in prehistoric times a studio wouldn't change anything with lights, film etc. Didn't need much changes.

I use an incident meter which helps me to get film exposure. I think that simply using elevation and the good old paper dial "computational devices" found in any old Kodak Darkroom Dataguide, this and a f stop time phone app you're set.

Of course I take good notes, but I still just make test prints.

mshchem · 2025-12-16T01:59:16-0500

Fred Picker had a lot of good techniques to get good contact sheets, accurate personal film speeds etc.

prado333 · 2025-12-16T06:06:09-0500

I like to read Michael A. Smith method of printing in the darkroom , you can read his writtings in www.michaelandpaula.com

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/onprinting.html

hoganlia · 2025-12-16T06:10:30-0500

Brendan Quirk said:
We all learned to print with test strips. Absolutely true. One consideration - make sure the strip is really representative of the important parts of the print. I had good results with a test strip holder that advanced the paper, allowing you to always have the same area of the image in the strip.

Test strips save paper, but they can use up your time!

I have had really good results with the RH Analyzer Pro, and no more do test strips. I save a lot of time, but do sacrifice paper.

Thanks for the comment... I don't think I can afford the RH Analyzer at present... paper, film and chemicals have top priority. What you suggest re the test-strip holder, I saw on a video by Dist Photo and thought it was a good idea. That, I think I can make without too much trouble.
Much obliged

hoganlia · 2025-12-16T06:13:21-0500

prado333 said:
I like to read Michael A. Smith method of printing in the darkroom , you can read his writtings in www.michaelandpaula.com

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/onprinting.html

Cool. Thanks for the presentation. I'll check that out today.

tokam · 2025-12-16T06:33:02-0500

Nearly 50 years ago I used a Paterson CDS enlarger meter quite successfully on single grade papers. Just had to calibrate with test strips for each box of paper. Can buy these on the big auction site starting at about $10 each.

Enlarger light meter or other ways of avoiding wasting paper when making prints?

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