Enlarger timer which does fractions of a second

I just hooked up a Kearsarge 301 I have had lying around for ages. Never used with the enlarger. Much to my surprise, I realized that although it does fractions of a second, it won't do it above 9.9 seconds. There are only two knobs and a multiplier switch, so you can do 99 seconds or 9.9 seconds, but not 19.9 seconds. Unless I have lost my mind (which is always a possibility in my case), this timer will not do, say, 25.3 seconds.

Am I right and if so, what is a comparable and affordable enlarger timer that will do fractions of a second?

Please don't ask why I am looking for fractions of seconds. Just because.

I use a GraLab 505, which has separate buttons for each digit.

The one I use is an Omega digital timer that will do 0.1 second increments to a maximum of 99.9 seconds. It has a knob for each digit so very quick and easy to adjust. Also a footswitch too which I really like.

I also have a basic Saunders IC timer that will do the same although no digital display. Something like this.

I'm sure if you post a want to buy ad here on the forum you'll get something that works in your price range.

I have a Philips pd 011 lying around. It has 3 switches and you can set it on 19,9 or 25,5sec if you wish. Those timers are given away for free. I can send it to you if you pay for shipping
Regards,
Frank

The LPL ET500 is good for what you want, KHB in Missasauga sells them but seems to be out of stock, you might check ebay? http://store.khbphotografix.com/LPL-ET-500-Digital-Enlarger-Timer-120V.html

I also have the IC Enlarger Timer that does 0.1 s steps although I always leave it a 0.0. These timers often show up in darkroom equipment sales. Mine works well after I replaced the start button. Active electronics has exactly the same button new in stock. Maybe the lady that you bought the dry mount press from still has one of these timers.

I have both GraLab 505 and 525 timers, the 525 is dual channel and is perfect for split contrast printing. Both go to 59:59.9.

Doc W said:

I just hooked up a Kearsarge 301 I have had lying around for ages. Never used with the enlarger. Much to my surprise, I realized that although it does fractions of a second, it won't do it above 9.9 seconds. There are only two knobs and a multiplier switch, so you can do 99 seconds or 9.9 seconds, but not 19.9 seconds. Unless I have lost my mind (which is always a possibility in my case), this timer will not do, say, 25.3 seconds.
.

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I am not familiar with your timer but it sounds like there are two knobs, one for each digit. You thus can only do times with two digits. You can do 19 or 20 sec. using the 10x setting. Two significant digits should be enough for most if not all darkroom uses. YMMV

The better Gralabs are pretty nice and have more than one channel. I have a couple 645s and a 900. Kearsarge made some models that were more advanced if you like those. They tend to be pricey these days, although it is a crapshoot with used darkroom equipment. Sometimes you can get lucky, and other times you have to pay dearly. The Gralabs would probably be easiest to find.

Basically most digital timers will do fractions of a second. I bought a "Jessops" (UK camera store) branded one off of Ebay a few years ago that will do tenths up to 10 seconds. It was cheap enough and has served me well. I just wish it did stop timing (but I suppose I am asking a bit much for a timer at this price point!)

And I agree - for some quick exposures, fractions of a second can make that difference

I do f-stop printing with the (basic) IC Enlarger Timer and I only use base exposure times of 10 s or more. I prefer to end up around 20 s for the base exposure. From experience I came to the conclusion that in almost all cases 1/4 stop increments of the exposure time is fine enough for me. Therefore I don't bother with the 0.1 s knob and round the exposure time off to the nearest whole second. So for me, the shortest test strip exposure range is 10 - 20 seconds; 10 s, +2 s, +2 s, +3 s, +3 s which ends up as 10 s, 12 s, 14s, 17 s, 20 s. The more accurate sequence would be 10.00, 11.89, 14.14 16.81, 20.00 seconds. By rounding off to the nearest second, I make a maximum error of 0.19 s at 16.81 s. That is a relative error of 1.1% or 1/64 stop. The error between adjacent steps can be up to twice as much but that's still no more then 1/32 of a stop. That's good enough for me. Using only integer seconds makes the 1/4 stop sequence and the math for burning and dodging much easier. Not trying to argue with Don, but you may want to ask yourself whether you really need that 0.1 s knob.

adelorenzo said:

The one I use is an Omega digital timer that will do 0.1 second increments to a maximum of 99.9 seconds. It has a knob for each digit so very quick and easy to adjust. Also a footswitch too which I really like.

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Me too.

I have two Kearsarge 301 timers, have had them since around 1990, give or take a couple of years earlier or later.

I use them all the time, but I can't answer your question. I will take some pictures of the timer later. I thought I could do 25.5 exposures, but now I am not sure.

But, I find it makes sense to do 1/10th of seconds when the exposure is below 10 seconds. I do use the 1/10th setting but only to change to half a second more, or less. Over 10 and for sure over 20 seconds it hardly makes sense and I agree with the previous poster you do not need to be this precise with longer exposures.

Um... I somehow fail to see the point of having tenths of a second available after a certain point. What real difference is there between 23 seconds and 23.5 seconds? 2%? Is that really going to be noticeable? And, that half second is as far from whole seconds as you can get. Three tenths of a second is only 1% of 30 seconds; certainly that's not going to make much difference.

And, one can always just extend development a few seconds to speed up the paper a bit. Actually, I find this a better tool than worrying about fractions of a second when exposing the print.

FWIW, I print with a metronome and simple uncover/cover the lens at the appropriate time. Since I'm a trained musician, it's pretty easy to think in terms of eight-, sixteenth- or even 32nd-note divisions of the metronome clicks. If I have my metronome set on 60 bpm (1 beat per second) then I can really easily and accurately expose to increments of 1/4 or even 1/8 of a second. However, I rarely, if ever, do this. I like exposure times in the 20-36 second range and, if a print needs a 1% or 2% exposure increase, I just leave it in the developer another 30 seconds or so. Don't get me wrong, I like precision, but I find that tweaking developer time is a much better tool and much more reliable than adding/subtracting tenths of a second when exposing the paper.

The only time that tenths of a second become a significant portion of the entire print exposure is when you expose for 10 seconds or less, which I never do; not enough time to dodge!

Best,

Doremus

Having tenths available is very important if you use the f stop printing method.

rrusso said:

Having tenths available is very important if you use the f stop printing method.

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Excellent f stop timers which measure to one hundreth of a second are the RH timers supplied new by Second Hand Darkroom Supplies in England. Many have been sold in the USA.

Tony

hi doc w

i use a besseler of some sort and it beeps.. it has a foot switch which is worth its weight in GOLD.
it has a 1's knob and a 10's knob and a x10 slider so it is sort of like yours maybe ?
i break my eposure up rather than do the whole amount all at once.
not sure if it is true or not but i read years ago that the intensity of light changes
when you do like 35.6 seconds instead of 5x 7 seconds and .6second bursts
no clue .. but if that's the case you might be able to continue using your timer ?

have fun!

Brook Hill said:

Excellent f stop timers which measure to one hundreth of a second are the RH timers supplied new by Second Hand Darkroom Supplies in England. Many have been sold in the USA.

Tony

Click to expand...

I've seen these - they look nice, but pricey.

rrusso said:

Having tenths available is very important if you use the f stop printing method.

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Care to clarify with a numerical example?

If your base exposure is 12 seconds, and you wish to add or subtract exposure to different parts of the image in 1/3 stop or 1/6 stop increments, you need to be able to adjust the timer in (respectively) 3.1 and 1.5 second increments.
The ability to make 1/10 second adjustments is more important for fast papers used with bright enlargers than it was in the old days, where some papers were slower, and some enlargers were dimmer.

Timer is easy if I need one I build one. The problem with fraction of a second is that the the bulb doesn't really turn on/off that fast and there is some delay in the action of the relay too.

MattKing said:

If your base exposure is 12 seconds, and you wish to add or subtract exposure to different parts of the image in 1/3 stop or 1/6 stop increments, you need to be able to adjust the timer in (respectively) 3.1 and 1.5 second increments.
The ability to make 1/10 second adjustments is more important for fast papers used with bright enlargers than it was in the old days, where some papers were slower, and some enlargers were dimmer.

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Matt, in your example the error by using 3 s and 1 s increments instead of 3.1 and 1.5 gives you an error of 1/90 stop and 1/20 stop respectively. I doubt that you'll see the difference on the print.

I agree that if one uses short exposures, the need for 0.1 seconds becomes more important. Or if you absolutely need to make adjustments in 1/12 stops. But otherwise if you stay well above 10 s, the error is negligible. And as Doremus also mentioned, dodging and burning becomes more difficult and inaccurate with short exposure times. You'll be better off to stop down the enlarging lens or get a less bright bulb if you get consistently short exposure times.

In digital f-stop timers like the RH-analyser, the 0.1 second resolution practically comes for free, just a few lines of firmware code. So of course these timers us it. But what I'm saying is that if you want to do F-stop printing with an old style timer, you don't make a significant error by rounding the times off to the nearest second when you keep the base exposure above 10 s.

Menno

I use the RH Designs F stop timer, and I'd never go back to a regular timer after using it. Well worth the money I think.

Doremus Scudder said:

Um... I somehow fail to see the point of having tenths of a second available after a certain point.

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Very necessary if you print RA4 colour materials that are quite a bit faster than B&W papers.

Doc W said:

I just hooked up a Kearsarge 301 I have had lying around for ages. Never used with the enlarger. Much to my surprise, I realized that although it does fractions of a second, it won't do it above 9.9 seconds. There are only two knobs and a multiplier switch, so you can do 99 seconds or 9.9 seconds, but not 19.9 seconds. Unless I have lost my mind (which is always a possibility in my case), this timer will not do, say, 25.3 seconds.

Am I right and if so, what is a comparable and affordable enlarger timer that will do fractions of a second?

Please don't ask why I am looking for fractions of seconds. Just because.

Click to expand...

The RHDesigns Timr2 will do that plus expose in f/stops;highly recommended timer; can switch up to 600W I believe?