What is the "print" pedal for?

[Ariston]

I am starting the process of setting up a darkroom, and I picked up an Omega Precision II timer. I plugged it in to check functionality, and everything seems to work properly.

However, there is a "focus" pedal and a "print" pedal. The "focus" pedal works, but the "print" pedal doesn't do anything, as far as I can tell. But I really don't know what it is for. The timer will work great for me, but I am just really curious what that pedal is for.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The print pedal starts the timer which controls the light exposure.

 

[Ariston]

I thought that might be it. It has an "expose" button on the box, which starts the timer. The "print" pedal does not. It must be busted.

 

[Hilo]

or it was modified to work as a single foot-switch.

Long ago I worked in a darkroom that had this double foot-switch. We often activated the wrong one . . . and replaced it with a single foot-switch . . .

And these days my foot-switches have become hand-switches laying on the front of the table next to the baseboard.

 

[AgX]

Long ago I worked in a darkroom that had this double foot-switch.

You mean: one for switching the lamp directly for focusing, the other for switching the lamp via the timer for exposure?

The latter is used to free both hands for manipulating the light or the paper during exposure (as covering parts of the image or bending the paper).
But the former does not make sense to me.

 

[Bob Carnie]

I absolutely hated these devices and threw mine out .

 

[MattKing]

Are you sure you have the correct foot switch for that timer, and that the wiring hasn't been disturbed?
I don't know if I've ever worked with a "focus" foot switch, and don't think I want to try.
I really like using a "print" foot switch.

 

[Ariston]

Are you sure you have the correct foot switch for that timer, and that the wiring hasn't been disturbed?
I don't know if I've ever worked with a "focus" foot switch, and don't think I want to try.
I really like using a "print" foot switch.

The pedals are clearly marked, and they both plug in together to one proprietary port, so you can’t really mess the wiring up. I do hope I can get it to work, because I will hopefully be good enough one day to use both of my hands while exposing the paper.

 

[MattKing]

The pedals are clearly marked, and they both plug in together to one proprietary port, so you can’t really mess the wiring up. I do hope I can get it to work, because I will hopefully be good enough one day to use both of my hands while exposing the paper.

I don't doubt that - I just wonder if it is the right foot pedal for that timer.

 

[AgX]

I still do not understand why to switch on the lamp directly for framing/focusing one would need a foot switch.

 

[MattKing]

I still do not understand why to switch on the lamp directly for framing/focusing one would need a foot switch.

Combine it with a carrier designed for rapid shift movement from negative to negative (best used with uncut rolls) and you can achieve reasonably efficient and quick "proofing" of an entire roll at a time - particularly if you have a roll paper easel.

 

[Ariston]

I don't doubt that - I just wonder if it is the right foot pedal for that timer.

Where it plugs in is proprietary. I guess it could be a pedal from a different model by the same manufacturer...

 

[AgX]

Combine it with a carrier designed for rapid shift movement from negative to negative (best used with uncut rolls) and you can achieve reasonably efficient and quick "proofing" of an entire roll at a time - particularly if you have a roll paper easel.

But that would be a commercial set-up, that likely would not have a classic timer, but something yielding autoexposure (unless the timer of the OP is someting like that).

 

[Ariston]

It is an Omega Precision Timer II, I think. I’m out of town right now.

 

[MattKing]

If by chance it is actually an Omega Precision Timer I, not II, then it is designed for a single pedal footswitch.
http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Timers/Precision.htm
vs
http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Timers/PrecisionII.htm

 

[ic-racer]

Also, the similar-looking D5500 dual pedal has different labels. That one has EXPOSE and FOCUS.

 

[Ariston]

It is definitely a II, and the pedal says print. I can take photos when I get back home, but it sounds like it may be busted. I wonder if the issue is more likely to be in the pedal and not the unit. In fact, if I could swap the pedals‘ function that would be fine, because I don’t really need the focus pedal.

 

[Ariston]

For anyone who is interested, I just have some kind of contact problem. If I unplug the pedal half-way, it works. I can figure out a way to get it to work.

 

[canuhead]

I don't doubt that - I just wonder if it is the right foot pedal for that timer.

I have one of these timers and the dual foot switch and there are two version of the pedal with different connections. there are four prongs. on one pedal there are flat blade type connectors, on the other, they're round pins. I use the focus switch for metronome printing. also makes dodging and burning easier for me.

 

[Hilo]

You mean: one for switching the lamp directly for focusing, the other for switching the lamp via the timer for exposure?

The latter is used to free both hands for manipulating the light or the paper during exposure (as covering parts of the image or bending the paper).
But the former does not make sense to me.

Sorry AgX,

I came back to this only now Tuesday morning CET. Yes, what you say was what I meant: the left pedal of the dual foot-switch just turned on (or off) the enlarger. The right pedal started the exposure. What canuhead says in the post before this does make sense to me. The set-up I spoke about, in Paris, came from a professional lab (so did the printer for whom I worked). There was less automation back then (end seventies) and indeed burning and dodging was made easier when one could turn on and off the enlarger without using a hand. Sometimes this lab printed editions which could be 100 30/40cm prints of one negative. When you mastered the dual pedals, it helped.

The problem was we often made mistakes between the two pedals when doing just one print from a negative. So in the end we threw it out and I installed a fixed switch to turn on and off the enlarger and a single foot switch to start the sequence . . . .