Kodalith Fine Line results

[Mike Té]

Here are the results of my first ever lith printing session, trying 3 different papers.

Shot with sunny sky setting at my back last July with my Minolta X-700 Analog Rebel on Kodak HIE, f8, time of exposure forgotten.

-The first jpeg is an ordinary print on Ilford MG IV RC pearl, 30s at f8, G3.
-Second is lith print on Forte Polywarmtone RC semi-matt, 2m at f8, G3
-Third is lith on Agfa MCC RC glossy, same exposure under the enlarger
-Fourth is lith on Ilford RC WT, same exposure.

I like the last one the best.

Cheers.

 

[richard ide]

Mike
Nice to see these. Makes me want to get off my butt and do something creative

 

[Mike Té]

Comments/feedback please.

Thanks, Richard.

Anyone else have any comments? They would be appreciated.

Here's what I'd observed during the process:

Quite a variable process. I'm surprised.

I started with the Forte Polywarmtone RC papers and found that the shadows printed very dark, leaving the midtones undeveloped. Colour was pretty black.

I had good success with the Agfa MCC RC, to my surprise. Midtones showed up before shadows were too dense. Dark cocoa brown.

I tried Ilford RC WT last and the colour was promising, warmer with a slight pink tinge to the brown. After all had dried, this looked the most like what I expected a lith print to look like.

I was amazed at how variable the process was. A batch of developer (1+1+12) would do 2 or 3 prints, developing time getting markedly longer for each subsequent print in the same mix. To get through a dozen papers, I had to mix developer 4 times. 5 of those papers wouldn't proceed to complete development, stalling at about 8 minutes and remaining that way. The fastest development was in my last batch (1+1+1 of exhausted developer+10 water).

Nowhere did I see infectious development; no runaway trains. I was actually hoping to see it. I've left the last batch of developer out to see just how brown it gets... It looks pretty murky after 3 days.

 

[tim rudman]

The surpise to me here is the PWT result. It's very cold tone and looks as though it has been snatched very late - cold tone, large grain, blocked shadows (not sure if there is much shadow detail on the neg though).
If this were in a 'usual' lith developer I would be recommending a substantial increase in exposure, possibly higher dilution and an earlier snatch point.

The other two both show typical warm lith colours, but not so much of the split between fine grain and coarse grain properties - i.e. printing soft and creamy in the highlights and hard & gritty in the shadows.

You might find you see more convincing infectious development with a different dev Mike, and possibly a longer activity window too.

"I was amazed at how variable the process was"

Make no mistake Mike, the process is hugely variable - as witnessed in the different artists' work in WOLP. This is part of the attraction of the process, it allows so much personal style to come through.
Tim

 

[Magnus W]

I also had my first go at lith printing today. I found a package of Kodalith Super from way back (1982, or something like that), mixed it and tried a couple of papers.

I did test strips, developed in dektol to get a benchmark for exposure.
Over-exposed three steps for the lith print. Developer 1+1+8.

First paper; Agfa Brovira BN112. Not what I expected. Maybe because the paper was around 35-40 years old. Very "peppery" mid-tones and shadows. Cool putty like highlights. Much longer developing times than I were expecting -- 15-20 minutes.
Second paper; Kodak Elite Art, around 20 years old. Much smoother mid tones. warmer, pinkish highlights. Pleasantly easy to work with, but also very long developing times. At the end of the session, with dying developer I was pushing 30 minutes for the last print.

Tomorrow I will do another session, this time with more concentrated developer. I'm thinking 1+1+6(water)+6(old brown) and try another package of the Brovira, in case the first one was wonky in some way.

By that time my first prints will be dry and flat and ready to scan for you to see.

This is fun

-- MW

 

[Mark Layne]

I find that Kodalith fine line is good at 1+1+24 where subtle infectious development is preferred. At this dilution it will give pink highlight colour on Polywarmtone but not on Fomatone. Nice browns with Agfa MCC.
I bought some old Kentona recently and it gives lovely pink colours on this.
Mark

 

[Mike Té]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. That's exactly the kind of technical advice/feedback I was hoping for.

Magnus, make sure to post your results; I look forward to seeing them.

Cheers.

 

[Mark Layne]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. That's exactly the kind of technical advice/feedback I was hoping for.

Magnus, make sure to post your results; I look forward to seeing them.

Cheers.

Mike
I use a lot of Fomatone because I like the salmon pink colours it can produce. However I was having difficulty obtaining these colours with Kodalith Fine line until I realised that it is designed to copy low contrast originals. It therefore contails less Bromide than RT.
I have found that the colour can be varied from average lith brown to beautiful salmon pink by increasing the potassium bromide content.
For max pink I now use the following mix:

40A+40B=1200cc water +8cc of 10% KBr

Mark