How I process 10x72 Cirkut negatives.

drew tanner · Oct 13, 2024

I’ve had a No. 10 Cirkut for about a year and have been actively making photographs with it since March. In this video, I share my rationale for my chosen method of development and walk you through the process in my darkroom. As I say in the video, this isn’t the ‘right’ way or the best way. It’s just the way that I’ve found works for me and is giving me results that I’m happy with. I hope folks find it helpful. One thing I find fascinating is how everyone who works with these cameras and negatives comes up with their own specific methods and adaptations. My method is just one example of many and borrows from several, including that of @jimgalli and @Christopher Creighton.

Nige · Oct 14, 2024

haha, not about to try that but enjoyed your video!

Roger Thoms · Oct 14, 2024

Very cool, nice to see your technique. I did check our your video that showed your #10 Cirkut Camera and it sure looks like a beauty.

Roger

drew tanner · Oct 14, 2024

Nige said:
haha, not about to try that but enjoyed your video!

Thanks! The contact prints make it worth the effort. I show the making of a couple of them on my channel as well. More to come.

drew tanner · Oct 14, 2024

Roger Thoms said:
Very cool, nice to see your technique. I did check our your video that showed your #10 Cirkut Camera and it sure looks like a beauty.

Roger

Thank you, Roger. This #10 is a joy to use.

mshchem · Oct 14, 2024

Great video. Excellent technique. I will have to see how you make the prints

Kino · Oct 14, 2024

Amazing work and a well thought-out process.

drew tanner · Oct 14, 2024

mshchem said:
Great video. Excellent technique. I will have to see how you make the prints

Thank you. This one shows some of my printing process and kind of blew up when I posted it. YouTube "Shorts" are where the engagement and visibility is, but it feels awfully odd posting about expansive panoramas in a vertical format:

mshchem · Oct 14, 2024

drew tanner said:
Thank you. This one shows some of my printing process and kind of blew up when I posted it. YouTube "Shorts" are where the engagement and visibility is, but it feels awfully odd posting about expansive panoramas in a vertical format:

Very nice. A friend and I made some copy negatives of a couple panoramic prints. We used a process camera, 8x10 Kodak pro copy, made some projection prints on rc roll paper. The prints were crap, but the person who wanted them were happy.

I love what you are doing. You almost have to make your own paper. To get Ilford to slit and roll paper you need to buy a huge quantity.

JensH · Oct 14, 2024

Hi Drew,

enjoyed your posts and videos a lot, fascinating camera and a great project to bring it back to life!

Thank you and best wishes
Jens

drew tanner · Oct 15, 2024

mshchem said:
Very nice. A friend and I made some copy negatives of a couple panoramic prints. We used a process camera, 8x10 Kodak pro copy, made some projection prints on rc roll paper. The prints were crap, but the person who wanted them were happy.

I love what you are doing. You almost have to make your own paper. To get Ilford to slit and roll paper you need to buy a huge quantity.

Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying my work! Yes, as you note, I generally coat my own paper and make alternative-process prints. Primarily vandykes, but I just got some chemistry for kallitypes as well. I recently scored some Ilford MG FB in 8" rolls from a retired Cirkut photographer. I need to experiment with benzotriazole to tame the fog with those, as they're a bit out of date. Ilford does make 42" wide rolls, which would work for a lot of my prints, but at close to $1000 a roll, I'm happy to keep coating Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag or even Baohong watercolor paper. The latter conveniently comes in a 10.5" by 32' roll. I also picked up a copy of Denise Ross's "Handmade Silver Gelatin Emulsion Print" book and have fantasies of making my own Azo.

drew tanner · Oct 15, 2024

mshchem said:
A friend and I made some copy negatives of a couple panoramic prints. We used a process camera, 8x10 Kodak pro copy, made some projection prints on rc roll paper. The prints were crap, but the person who wanted them were happy.

Also, this is wild. I'm trying to picture the setup in my head.

mshchem · Oct 15, 2024

drew tanner said:
Also, this is wild. I'm trying to picture the setup in my head.

Process camera is (still lives) a 16x20 Robertson, easy vacuum back for film we mounted the original prints to the copy board, you can stand behind the camera ground glass and move the copy board and lens board to get exact size.

To print we put the negative in an old Elwood enlarger that we folded to project horizontal. We see sawed the paper in a Rubbermaid dish pan. Worked fine. The magic is lost because it's a copy, nothing like a real contact print.

I have an 11x14 camera that is portable but I haven't played with it in some time. 8x10 Deardorff that I should use. The Deardorff would make a great postcard camera.

How I process 10x72 Cirkut negatives.

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