Fujiclear and Duraclear Negatives

[E76]

Has anyone tried making negatives for alt. process work using Fujiclear or Duraclear RA4 material? My only concern is whether or not the dyes are opaque to UV (some inkjet inks, for example, are not). So far I have no been able to find spectral density curves below 400nm, but it does look like density begins to rapidly increase for yellow and cyan dyes at this point, the question is just how far does it go into the UV? Would there be an optimal negative "color" to ensure the best results?

 

[greenrhino]

I've tried it on my Chromira and there are 2 problems.... one is that it is very expensive material. The second thing is that those materials have a built in UV protection layer that adds about 3.5 stops of UV blocking and it will make your exposures very long....... I called Fuji tech directly and they are unable to make the film without the UV layer even asa custom product.

 

[Bob Carnie]

I am curious about your results, as I am purchasing a roll from Fuji this week for this very purpose.
I think this method will be the cats ass for making alt negs, I have put Rollie ortho on my machine and made black white negatives, right now am waiting to pay for my large processor to explore further this option.

What I like about the Chromira or Lambda option on RA4 fujiclear is the ability to place different colour on different areas of the film to accent contrast or density, this opens up a whole area of control.
Since I have not the apples to apples proof *YET* that it will work therefore I defer to your experience, but with the strength of some of the plate burners available I do not think exposure time will be a problem with the right set up.
As far as cost , in the long run if it works as I expect then any lab in the world with RA 4 options could offer the service which would certainly bring the price down.
For me the cost is very small , basically the price of the roll , what I would sell at probably once profiles and expectations of methodology are met would be also reasonable, considering these negs would probably for photographers best work and not just for testing.

I've tried it on my Chromira and there are 2 problems.... one is that it is very expensive material. The second thing is that those materials have a built in UV protection layer that adds about 3.5 stops of UV blocking and it will make your exposures very long....... I called Fuji tech directly and they are unable to make the film without the UV layer even asa custom product.

 

[greenrhino]

I thought the same thing, until my exposure times fell into the 35-45 minute range with 6000 watts of UV light exposure. In my testing it is not as sharp as arhcival pigments either, for me those two factors made it uninteresting as a solution....

 

[Bob Carnie]

Thats a lot of exposure , Is it possible to consider a different type of light source to expose the film with? Some of the flip top plate burners have different light sources bulbs.

I thought the same thing, until my exposure times fell into the 35-45 minute range with 6000 watts of UV light exposure. In my testing it is not as sharp as arhcival pigments either, for me those two factors made it uninteresting as a solution....

 

[greenrhino]

I've tried 2 different bulbs with two different specific wavelengths of light...... based around 360nm and one that spikes @ around 420nm. Neither made that much of a difference in time. Some of that is due to the fact that most of those processes need the exact wavelengths of light that the film is blocking so strongly. I really wanted it to work and had emails back and forth with the factory in Japan in hopes of getting a special order without the UV block but they said it was not possible. Even if it was I would have had to order way more than I would have wanted to....... Of course if you were using a process that was more sensitive to red/yellow light the negatives would be fine. (still a sharpness issue but at least it would be usable) As far as platinum/palladium/albumen/salt/gum/carbon transfer/ is concerned it was a total dud.

 

[Bob Carnie]

I do not use the pm function here, bob@elevatordigital.ca , send me a email and I may have a nice alternative for you to consider, something I have been working on for a while now.

Bob

I've tried 2 different bulbs with two different specific wavelengths of light...... based around 360nm and one that spikes @ around 420nm. Neither made that much of a difference in time. Some of that is due to the fact that most of those processes need the exact wavelengths of light that the film is blocking so strongly. I really wanted it to work and had emails back and forth with the factory in Japan in hopes of getting a special order without the UV block but they said it was not possible. Even if it was I would have had to order way more than I would have wanted to....... Of course if you were using a process that was more sensitive to red/yellow light the negatives would be fine. (still a sharpness issue but at least it would be usable) As far as platinum/palladium/albumen/salt/gum/carbon transfer/ is concerned it was a total dud.