Newbie Dry Plate effort..

[peter k.]

Looking forward to getting deeper into this, and were back in the saddle again. So got four left from original order, and 10 more coming, so got a question.

Consistent temperature is more important than actual temperature. I have developed at 75F and had perfect plates come out (My recent flash portrait, for example), holding everything including rinse at that same temp.

Normally this would change the developing time for regular film, aka 68* vrs 75* does it with dry plate?
Or do you just keep that same developing time at 5 minutes no matter what the temp?
Thanks..

 

[Nodda Duma]

The other way to look at it is that for a given developing time and developer, you’ll increase the contrast (and push/pull) as the temperature changes. I keep the developing time the same because I’m lazy and can still print out onto multigrade paper.

In all seriousness, characterizing the contrast curve vs temp is on my To Do list. I have characterized the curve at 68F to have a gamma of 0.71. I simply haven’t had time for this and other non-production tasks because I’m swamped in plate orders. I’m going to be actually hiring a couple of high schoolers to help so I can get off of the production line and work on this and other things on my list.

 

[wyofilm]

I don't want to side track this thread, but one question. What are the choices for a plate holder for a 4x5 camera?