ra4 prints black

[jacnorectangle]

I did my first prints last night. The first one turned out ok aside from a red cast and somehow being backwards. Then when I tried to correct this cast all subsequent prints came out really dark. I read on an old thread that if you expose a paper to light and then develop it and it turns black the problem is with the exposure. I did this and the paper did turn black with a light blue spot. At first I thought it was the developer because when I emptied it from the processor it was yellow instead of the green it had been when I first put it in, and I noticed the developer tank has some black soot on it probably from the previous owner heating it up without chemistry inside. The soot wipes off with a paper towel but it's hard to remove completely. The first photo is the first print, the second is how all the other prints looked, and the third is the blank paper I exposed to room light and processed, still wet.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Considering that you can get both black and white (borders), I would say that the problem is your exposure. As a first timer, you just have to find the right filter pack and exposure. The first picture is almost there. So, how did you try to correct the cast is the question! I would add a 10 or 20 Red filter to the pack and change nothing else if I were doing it.

As for the developer, it should change color after use, and the color should get deeper as you use it more. The paper has a dye in it that goes into the developer, unless you use a prewet.

PE

 

[jacnorectangle]

Considering that you can get both black and white (borders), I would say that the problem is your exposure. As a first timer, you just have to find the right filter pack and exposure. The first picture is almost there. So, how did you try to correct the cast is the question! I would add a 10 or 20 Red filter to the pack and change nothing else if I were doing it.

As for the developer, it should change color after use, and the color should get deeper as you use it more. The paper has a dye in it that goes into the developer, unless you use a prewet.

PE

Yes my exposures were way off. I was confused because I thought I had done the first print for 15 seconds, apparently it was more like 1.5 seconds.

 

[pentaxpete]

That first print looks like it has a strong Magenta cast not red so I would add at least 30 magenta to the filter pack and it will need a slight more exposure adjustment to allow for the added filter density.

 

[Rudeofus]

1.5 seconds sounds like a very short exposure time to me. What frequently gets me dark/black prints: when I forget to stop down the aperture after refocusing the negative. Are you 100% sure you never opened the aperture between test exposures?

 

[zehner21]

1.5 seconds sounds like a very short exposure time to me. What frequently gets me dark/black prints: when I forget to stop down the aperture after refocusing the negative. Are you 100% sure you never opened the aperture between test exposures?

1.5 is quite short, but not far from my usual times which are around 3 seconds at f/11. Maybe the lamp's power is too high compared to the size of the print

 

[jacnorectangle]

1.5 seconds sounds like a very short exposure time to me. What frequently gets me dark/black prints: when I forget to stop down the aperture after refocusing the negative. Are you 100% sure you never opened the aperture between test exposures?

I finally got a good result by doing 3 seconds Y60 M40.

I'm pretty sure it was stopped down. I notice on the first print the Fuji logos on the back of the paper are very visible through the front. It was done at Y50 M25 and what I thought was 15 seconds but when I tried replicating that later I got a very dark result.

 

[pentaxuser]

You show two prints in your post #7 and mention two Y and M filtrations. Is the large image the Y60 and M40 and the thumbnail the Y50 M25 or are you referring to the first magenta cast print when you mention Y50 and M25?

Can you clarify? Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[jacnorectangle]

You show two prints in your post #7 and mention two Y and M filtrations. Is the large image the Y60 and M40 and the thumbnail the Y50 M25 or are you referring to the first magenta cast print when you mention Y50 and M25?

Can you clarify? Thanks

pentaxuser

the image in #7 is Y60 M40