Split grade with Stopclock

By now I have read at least 10 times pages 21 and 22 of my stopclock instruction booklet. (If challenged, I could recit them by heart in a long monologue, said with my accent it can be entertaining )

It is all making sense, however, on the timer itself, it is another story.

Once the time is set for the soft grade on channel one, I set the same time on chanel 2 for the hard grade.
Then, I keep pressed the split grade button, split comes up, it displays the grade (2) and soft. So far so good.

Then cruising, I'd expect that if I change the time set on channel 2 (hard) then it does not change the time on channel 1 (soft). Correct? This is what is says paragraph 1 page 22.
It does not work with me. When I change the time on channel 2 it does change the time on channel 1 too.

Moreover, it does not matter in which order I do the sequence, changing the time in either channels affects the other channel correspondingly.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you

Delphine

I have never been comfortable with that setting so what I do is set channel 1 with the time I want and then I change to channel 2 and make a test strip and enter that time into the channel 2 part of the timer. I then can make a print at the times I want to use for my print.

lee\c

You are not doing anything wrong. The purpose of pushing the slpit grade button (which I never do) is to maintain the same contrast grade (e.g. 2.4) regardless of the change you make to the soft or hard exposure. For example, if increase the exposure with just the #5 filter/magenta to make it darker, you are also making it more contrasty. Using the split contrast feature, the timer automatically adjusts the exposure of the other channel to maintain the same contrast.

I suggest exiting the split grade mode and using the channels independently. I always use channel 1 for soft, channel 2 for hard. After a while, you do get a feel for the level of adjustments needed if you really want to maintain the same contrast.

The more important button to push is the "compensate" button. Once you are done with test prints and are ready to print the final product, push the compensate button to adjust for dry down. Of course you have to do your own test. I often forget to push this button. I wish there was some clever feature that would remind me. But I would probably forget what that feature was and make the same mistake anyway.

This timer is a great tool and you will love it once you get past the beginning. The ability to store multiple steps and burns is great. Perhaps an example of "split grade" is when you have a corner of a print that for some reason is too light and you just want to burn it down to make it even out with the rest of the adjacent tone. You could use only the hard channel to make it darker, but you alos make it more contrasty (and grainy) so you want to program a burn on both soft and hard channels to achieve the approximate contrast of the print. However, sometimes I like the increased contrast and leave the channels decoupled so I can decide for myself.

Puzzled

Well, I am left puzzled. The instructions indicate that channel 2 versus 1 is not meant to be coupled, this is why the grade is indicated, because as the time is changed on channel 2, it changes the overall contrast.

:rolleyes:

I might be wrong because I am going from memory and never use the split grade mode. But:

Suppose you have decided on 10 seconds of Grade 0/yellow and 10 seconds of Grade 5/magenta as the correct exposure. If you then decide that you want it a little darker, you increase the time on Channel 1 (e.g. soft). In split grade mode, the timer will also increase the time you entered on Channel 2 (e.g. hard) to maintain the same contrast level in the new, darker print. Sometimes that would be helpful but that method does not mesh very well with my work flow.

I am about to go up to my darkroom and start a printing session now. I like to start with Channel 2 to set the blacks as a first step most of the time (contrary to the more common practice of setting the highlights first). It just works better for me. Then I do a second test print with a base magenta exposure and the yellow strips on top of it. From those tests, I make a guess at dodges and burns if need be and experiment from there. I leave the channels de-coupled because I don't care what the actual contrast grade is and I don't want one adjustment I make to affect times on the other channel.

I suggest ignoring the split grade function.

Thank you Jerold. I am going in my darkroom now, will work with both channels indepently as you suggested.

delphine said:

Well, I am left puzzled. The instructions indicate that channel 2 versus 1 is not meant to be coupled, this is why the grade is indicated, because as the time is changed on channel 2, it changes the overall contrast.

:rolleyes:

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Hi Delphine.

The split grade way of printing is an art in itself. Hats off to you for tackling it from your first week in the darkroom.

I myself have been very unsuccessfull with it. Like yourself, I tried to follow the instructions and failed. By his own admission, Richard is not very good when it comes to the written word! (I read it here Richard)

My only success was when I did as has been mentioned here, just used the channel 1 and channel 2 seperately. The only difference with my print was that I moved totally away from convention and used the Grade '5' first and got my shadows where I wanted them, and then continued with the task of finding my highlights with the grade '0' It all came right in the end.

The beauty is Delphine, that in Northumberland you will be able to hear it from the horses mouth. Les Mclean swears by the split grade way of working, so you will be able to pick his brains, and Richard Ross will be there aswell.

I know I have been of absolutely no help to you, but the moral of the story is, don't be afraid to put the insruction book to one side and go your own way.

All ther Best

Stoo

Ah well, Jerold beat me to it...soooo...what he said!

delphine said:

Then cruising, I'd expect that if I change the time set on channel 2 (hard) then it does not change the time on channel 1 (soft). Correct? This is what is says paragraph 1 page 22.
It does not work with me. When I change the time on channel 2 it does change the time on channel 1 too.

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I think the 'problem' may be the chip inside the timer. You're probably using a unit with an older chip installed. When I first bought my Stopclock Pro and used it in split-grade mode, setting a time on channel 1 meant any set time on channel 2 would also change (to maintain overall contrast). This applied whichever channel you were using. Later on, I was sent an 'upgrade' chip which worked in the manner described in your instruction leaflet. I'll describe as best I can how it works. First, enter your chosen 'soft' exposure on channel 1. Next, enter your chosen 'hard' exposure on channel 2. Now press the split-grade button. Any alterations to the time on channel 1 will be reflected in channel 2. This maintains overall contrast (as is currently happening with your unit, if I'm understanding correctly). However, if you switch to channel 2, only the hard exposure changes and therefore the overall contrast. Pressing the up/down buttons (on Ch 2) briefly indicates the new grade and then the time chosen. Hope this clarifies things, Regards, Blights.

SNIP

delphine said:

Then cruising, I'd expect that if I change the time set on channel 2 (hard) then it does not change the time on channel 1 (soft). Correct? This is what is says paragraph 1 page 22.
It does not work with me. When I change the time on channel 2 it does change the time on channel 1 too.

Moreover, it does not matter in which order I do the sequence, changing the time in either channels affects the other channel correspondingly.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you

Delphine

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end snip

Have you tried to get Richard to explain in greater detail... RH Design is a member and sponsor here and frequently answers questions regarding his equipment.

Thank you ALL for your wonderful support.

It could be a chip problem then. I'll contact Richard as suggested.

Hi Delphine,

There are indeed two different versions of the Split Grade mode, but the instruction book you got with your timer should match the way it works! The earlier version (software revision 7 and older) would lock the two channels together so that any change made to either channel would be duplicated in the other in order to maintain print contrast, but the problem with that was that if you then wanted to alter the contrast, you had to exit Split Grade mode.

In v8.0 and later, the mode works differently. It is based on the premise that the soft exposure affects mostly the highlights and controls print exposure, and the hard exposure affects mostly the shadows and controls print contrast. This works for a majority of negatives. So now, when you enter Split Grade mode, adjustments to channel 1 (used for the soft exposure) will be duplicated in channel 2, so that the overall print exposure can be adjusted without affecting contrast significantly. Whereas adjustments made to channel 2 will not affect channel 1, which means that the print contrast can be controlled without significantly affecting overall exposure.

If this is still confusing, I suggest you ignore Split Grade mode altogether and use the two channels independently. We all have our own preferred ways of working and we tried to design the StopClock to accommodate everyone - so while some people will find a feature indispensable, others will find the same feature of limited use.

The best way to learn split grade printing is on a workshop with Les McLean .

Incidentally, if you're not sure which software you have in your StopClock Professional, watch the display during the power-up sequence. After the segment test (all lit) the rev. level will be displayed as for example v8.5.

You beat me to sending an email Richard !

Thank you for clarifying. It all makes sense. I'll look up the version of the software this evening.
If I have an older software version, is there a way to upgrade it?

Best

Delphine

Yes there is, it's a chip change you can do yourself. Normally 25 GBP but as a special offer to APUG members I'll do them at 15 GBP for a limited period. This won't include a printed manual but you can download that from our web site. PM me if you're interested. The latest chip will work with all versions of the StopClock Professional except the StopClock 500.

Thanks to Delphine for a great thread, am just trying to puzzle my way through using one of Richard's timers for the first time as well. Up to now I was just using a straight timer and foot switch.

Thanks also to Stoo for reminding me how he works. Also thanks to all others including Richard of course. You've just made my new learning curve in the darkroom go a bit faster.

Ta - Mark

Mark

Just a quick update as this may be useful to others.

I upgraded the software version by changing the chip which I bought from RH Designs.
When changing the chip, it is best to trust the instructions and just go for it.

Now my stopclock rocks ... it does as described in the instructions: when using the split grade function only channel 1 is coupled with channel 2. Therefore, a change of exposure is done by changing the base of channel 1, and it maintains the overall contrast by changing channel 2 in the same proportion.
However, a change of base exposure of channel 2 changes the overall contrast since it does not change the base of channel 1. It recalcultes and displays the new grade.

I am experimenting with the technic...

Enjoy yourself. It's a great bit of kit!