Need More Contrast

Grillage · Oct 16, 2018

Hi I have a ZBE 6 lamp 2000 Watt Dichroic Head Enlarger. I bought it from Durst-Pro USA many years ago. It works great but I am not sure of the Contrast capability it has nor the range. I have a Very weak 5x7 negative I took many years ago. Right now with Ilford Variable Contrast Paper I have the setting on 4.8 and that is pushing the larger. I am not sure if that's really 4.8. I thought of using Selenium Toner to increase contrast but it may not be enough. I have only this one neg. so I have to be careful. What about using the Ilford Filters? If I used a #4 and had the enlarger set to 2.0 would that give me contrast of 6.0? Could that be achieved with Ilford or Oriental VC papers? Thank you for any help with this!!

Svenedin · Oct 16, 2018

If you are unsure about how the settings on your enlarger relate to the grades with Ilford filters I'd suggest you set your enlarger to white light and try the Ilford filters.

pentaxuser · Oct 16, 2018

Grillage said:
Hi I have a ZBE 6 lamp 2000 Watt Dichroic Head Enlarger.

Wow, I take it that this wattage is not a typo, the lamp is definitely two thousand watts? I had no idea that even a 5x7 enlarger needed a 2 kilowatt lamp?

Thanks

pentaxuser

John51 · Oct 16, 2018

What about holding a blue filter under the lens? If that gives too much contrast, then the blue filter can be used for only part of the exposure.

Grillage · Oct 16, 2018

pentaxuser said:
Wow, I take it that this wattage is not a typo, the lamp is definitely two thousand watts? I had no idea that even a 5x7 enlarger needed a 2 kilowatt lamp?

Thanks

pentaxuser

There are Six separate Lamps at 360 Watts each. So actually its 2160 Watts total.

RauschenOderKorn · Oct 17, 2018

Grades are not added up, if you use two filters in a row.

If you have a grade 5 selected with the enlarger head and hold a multigrade 5 filter below it, this additional filter should only act as a ND filter in this case. If you are not sure if everything is fine and suspect that maybe your filters are not 100% any more, you can select a Grade 5 at the enlarger head and use a Grade 5 Filter (or a blue filter will work equally). You’ll have to adjust your exposure time, but then you will get the maximum contrast you enlarger is capable of.

You can furthermore try to influence the contrast of your print by using a more concentrated paper developer or a special high contrast developer.

voceumana · Oct 17, 2018

If unable to achieve a high enough contrast in a direct print, then I would print the negative onto film and enhance the contrast by increasing the development of the film print using a high contrast developer or extended development time. Then, of course, you'll need to reprint that positive film to get to a negative film image but contrast could also be increased at that stage, too. Since you could do this via contact print you should not lose much in optical quality.

You could also consider intensification of the negative, though there are risks in doing that.

DREW WILEY · Oct 17, 2018

First of all, the rated wattage of the cumulative bulbs is tamed down electronically, to allow wiggle room for line stabilization up or down, as well as to prolong bulb life, which can be a daunting task in colorheads like the ZBE which runs quite hot. That is a technical anecdote. But from a practical standpoint, my opinion of the current Oriental papers is that they're rather anemic. You might try something like Ilford MGWT or the equivalent Bergger WT paper which have more punch, then gold chloride tone the prints if you want a cooler image color. Forget about "paper grade" settings, and simply set your Magenta setting as high as it will go, while leaving Yellow and Cyan at zero, and see what happens. If that doesn't do the trick, use plain "white light" (all three settings on zero), and attach a good glass deep blue #47 filter below the lens, and try that. The ZBE has more than enough brightness to quickly print through that kind of density.

M Carter · Oct 18, 2018

DREW WILEY said:
...my opinion of the current Oriental papers is that they're rather anemic.

That's interesting - I've been testing the warm and cool VC gloss papers (including tons of lith prints with the warm) and really like it (haven't tried the graded emulsions). Nice deep blacks and good control of contrast, good weight and base. Just got some 20x24 of the warmtone, too - everyone assumes it's rebranded Foma, but it seems the warmtone base is whiter on the Oriental?

DREW WILEY · Oct 18, 2018

Did you ever work with the early Seagull G bromide papers before the reformulation? If you did, you'd know what I'm implying. If you like current neo-Seagull products for your own image look, fine. But they certainly lack the Dmax punch and range of the good ole days. Their replacement Gr 4 product was a bellyflop. And at the moment, there are certainly VC options capable of significantly more contrast than Oriental VC. I don't think the question behind this thread had anything to do with lith prints.

pentaxuser · Oct 18, 2018

Grillage said:
There are Six separate Lamps at 360 Watts each. So actually its 2160 Watts total.

Let us all know what worked in terms of increasing contrast. Thanks

pentaxuser

M Carter · Oct 19, 2018

DREW WILEY said:
Did you ever work with the early Seagull G bromide papers before the reformulation? If you did, you'd know what I'm implying. If you like current neo-Seagull products for your own image look, fine. But they certainly lack the Dmax punch and range of the good ole days. Their replacement Gr 4 product was a bellyflop. And at the moment, there are certainly VC options capable of significantly more contrast than Oriental VC. I don't think the question behind this thread had anything to do with lith prints.

I've still got a decent stash of 16x20 Ektalure and PWT, so I understand what paper once was. Personally I've been very happy with the tonal range of the current VC and haven't felt a need for more contrast (though I try to start with a good neg, for me learning to expose and develop for the range I want seems to have much more impact on satisfying contrast).

And yes, I expended 8 words (parenthetically) to mention lith as part of my thoughts on a specific paper - my deepest apologies for bringing that up in a totally inappropriate way.

DREW WILEY · Oct 19, 2018

As a comparison, I've made rich full-tonality prints through deep blue filtration from just the subtle pyro stain on negatives - no visible silver image at all ! In this case, he's using a colorhead that runs so hot that, at this point in time, it might be wise to check the condition of his dichroic filters. Their ability to produce full contrast would be compromised if some of the coating had spalled off the magenta-forming glass. Both the Starlight and Durst 2000W heads required frequent filter replacement in the big labs which routinely used them. That's why I gave up my Durst mural head and built my own replacement on a different concept. But filters can be replaced if needed. Otherwise, all of these filters accumulate a bit of grime over time; but cleaning it off is a delicate risky chore.

Grillage · Oct 19, 2018

DREW WILEY said:
As a comparison, I've made rich full-tonality prints through deep blue filtration from just the subtle pyro stain on negatives - no visible silver image at all ! In this case, he's using a colorhead that runs so hot that, at this point in time, it might be wise to check the condition of his dichroic filters. Their ability to produce full contrast would be compromised if some of the coating had spalled off the magenta-forming glass. Both the Starlight and Durst 2000W heads required frequent filter replacement in the big labs which routinely used them. That's why I gave up my Durst mural head and built my own replacement on a different concept. But filters can be replaced if needed. Otherwise, all of these filters accumulate a bit of grime over time; but cleaning it off is a delicate risky chore.

Blue light will give higher contrast then Magenta??? Thanks!

DREW WILEY · Oct 19, 2018

Yes, if it's a deep blue like 47 or 47B. The higher contrast emulsion in VC paper is sensitive to blue. Magenta, on ordinary subtractive colorheads, is partially blue (or minus-green, subtracting green from nominally white light, the low contrast emulsion being green-sensitive, or in the substitute sense, yellow-sensitive because yellow passes the green part of the spectrum but attenuates blue). Look up past threads on "split-printing" VC papers.

Grillage · Oct 21, 2018

pentaxuser said:
Let us all know what worked in terms of increasing contrast. Thanks

pentaxuser

Hi! What I did is to print the negative I left all Dichroic filters OUT and inserted a Ilford number 5 filter above the negative carrier. Then I used my regular paper developer Dektol for 3 1/2 minutes. The Print looks good. I may do some other experiments but for now it looks okay! Thank you!

pentaxuser · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks Grillage. If the print with an Ilford grade 5 filter is much better than before it does tend to suggest that what Drew said in #13 may have hit on your problem

pentaxuser

HowieP · Oct 21, 2018

Is it too simplistic to suggest Ilford MG Cooltone paper?

Need More Contrast

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