Most fool proof pl/pd paper

Monophoto · Aug 13, 2007

Tonight's TV news included a story that Neenah Paper has reached an agreement with a real estate developer to redevelop the old Rising Mill site with condominiums. Didn't say if they planned to refurbish the beautiful 150 year old brick building, or just bulldoze everything and start over.

photomc · Aug 13, 2007

Ouch! Let's hope that they refurbish the old building. Let's face it, they just don't make them like that anymore. Thanks for the update Louie.

bill schwab · Aug 13, 2007

RobertP said:
If those glass plates were shot with albumen in mind they may be to dense for platinum.

Great point. Have you actually seen these negatives? You say a stack.. in 4 days!? I hate to bring it up, but if capable and familiar, you may want to take this to a hybrid process in order to make things consistent enough for coating and printing in the time given. Not trying to cause trouble... just a suggestion.

Bill

boyooso · Aug 14, 2007

billschwab said:
Great point. Have you actually seen these negatives? You say a stack.. in 4 days!? I hate to bring it up, but if capable and familiar, you may want to take this to a hybrid process in order to make things consistent enough for coating and printing in the time given. Not trying to cause trouble... just a suggestion.

Bill

while some consistency and "improvements" might be achieved, I hardly think it would make things easier... It might increase the cost and invoice total but it adds significant steps to the on site printing job.

And of course one could some how capture the images and ouput film in their own lab, but again that significantly complicates a job that should be simple and traditional.

There is no need to dilute (digitize) or overcomplicate a job or the clients life, when the job can be done with traditional photographic methods

Only my thoughs(i don't mean too be harsh)

Corey

dpurdy · Aug 14, 2007

Thanks for all the imput. I have COT320 on order, should get it today and have a couple weeks to try it and compare it to my Cranes. The owner doesn't want the negs off his property and is willing to pay for my transport with a lot of stuff. If I get over there and the negs won't print well in platinum, I go back home I guess. Quite a lot of stuff to ship. That actually worries me more than anything.
Dennis

Jeremy · Aug 14, 2007

dpurdy said:
The owner doesn't want the negs off his property and is willing to pay for my transport with a lot of stuff.
Dennis

He wouldn't be willing to ship one negative for you to test and see if it will even work? I understand not wanting to ship the bulk of them, but it would be quite easy for him to ship one negative for you test print in platinum. I would makes sure your time/expenses are covered regardless of whether you can print them or not.

dpurdy · Aug 14, 2007

I am intending to ask for that today. Hopefully.
Dennis

scootermm · Aug 14, 2007

boyooso said:
while some consistency and "improvements" might be achieved, I hardly think it would make things easier... It might increase the cost and invoice total but it adds significant steps to the on site printing job.

And of course one could some how capture the images and ouput film in their own lab, but again that significantly complicates a job that should be simple and traditional.

There is no need to dilute (digitize) or overcomplicate a job or the clients life, when the job can be done with traditional photographic methods

Only my thoughs(i don't mean too be harsh)

Corey

I dont mean to be harsh either Corey.... but, in my opinion, Bill is spot on, and Im always a big proponent of traditional methods (I love them and practice them almost exclusively).
But, if the original poster is getting a large and diverse collection of glass plate negs, the digitization process is spot on, taking the negs that are more than likely of differing density ranges perhaps even very diverse density ranges. scanning them all in, and adjusting the contrast ranges to make digi-negs of identical ranges and subsequent prints at say, 6mins with the exact same pd/pt mixture or Na2 combo... that will automate his process and simplify things immensely.

rogein · Aug 14, 2007

sly said:
The last time I ordered fronm the states (and I have ordered from B&S before). It cost almost as much to get the item here as it did to buy it. Buying pricey items like pl/pt chemicals it is a much smaller percentage, but things under or around $100 just kill me with shipping and customs. I will look into that if I can't find a Canadian distributor. Sly

I've been more than happy with Arches Platine. The last box I got from Woolfits in Toronto has been 'spot free'.

Roger...

sanking · Aug 15, 2007

scootermm said:
I dont mean to be harsh either Corey.... but, in my opinion, Bill is spot on, and Im always a big proponent of traditional methods (I love them and practice them almost exclusively).
But, if the original poster is getting a large and diverse collection of glass plate negs, the digitization process is spot on, taking the negs that are more than likely of differing density ranges perhaps even very diverse density ranges. scanning them all in, and adjusting the contrast ranges to make digi-negs of identical ranges and subsequent prints at say, 6mins with the exact same pd/pt mixture or Na2 combo... that will automate his process and simplify things immensely.

For me there would be no question but that scanning and adjusting the contrast of the negatives so that they would all print with the same mix and time would be far easier than printing from the originals.

But that is me, and I have been printing hybrid for several years and know exactly what would have to be done. But you don't learn this overnight, so for someone who only understands traditional printing that is probably the way to go, even though adjusting each negative is going to take a long time.

Sandy King

scootermm · Aug 15, 2007

Sandy, you bring up a good point. Something I should have clarified in my original reply. I do not have much first hand experience with digineg processing, but am fully aware of the complexity of learning and becoming comfortable with it. My train of thought was geared to the idea that this would/could possibly be a long term thing, as in, the original poster may provide this service for a large quantity of negs or even possibly more and more clients. With longevity in mind and expediting the working procedure it seems like digitizing could make things very efficient (even with the initial learning curve taken into consideration), but if it were for instance, a single job thing, and the user was/is familiar with traditional methods, then it may be more efficient to stick with trad means.
Again, very good point sandy.

Most fool proof pl/pd paper

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