Taming condensers

[Pavel+]

And when the dust does get through - I call it "handmade, genuine, craftsmanship"! "One of a kind - not like that digital stuff!"

 

[ic-racer]

I have an ilford 500H sitting on an Omega 5D-xl right next to my D2 and variable condenser head.

Yes, I tell people to keep those condenser heads when upgrading to a color head. Years from now when the 24V power supplies are no longer working the condenser head will still be there ready to go!

 

[clayne]

Pretty sure people know how to create new power supplies or fix the existing ones. They aren't rocket science.

 

[AgX]

"Condensor enlarger" covers a range of technical different constructions.

We shold not forget about that.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Tracing paper or milk glass cut to circle or what you need. A glass shop easily can do this. Tracing paper texture sometimes shows. Milk glass has no tex.

Flash the paper with a very short exposure froma 10 watt bulb in the ceiling, say point 4 sec. Use enlarger timer. Diffuse with paper to cut exposure. This allows a preexposure to be made to bring the emulsion right up to threshold but not start to turn. The slight highlight exposure in the enlarger will activate the emulsion more easily and you get a normal looking print. It does no effect the shadows. This is many time preferable to using low contrast paper because you preserve the local contrast.

Split filter or split develope starting in a soft developer then going to dektol for 30 sec. Then ss-fix.

Dye dodge the shadows and mid tones with clear neg plus retouching dye. Kodak Cociene Dye.

Pencil on tracing paper dodge shadows + midtones.

If you stay with condensers, then develope 20% less from now on. They will print just fine. People have trouble with conensers because they they develope too long. It is that simple.