what waS your last photography related purchase?

Molli · Sep 25, 2014

Thank you, Matt, that's incredibly kind of you. I added more information to my post as you were typing your reply, stating that I've become something of a neurotic completist. Reading your post, my first thought was, "Oh, no, there was supposed to be an apron in there, too?" (Why not, after all, it includes a crusty old sponge!!) Anyway, a second read through made me quickly realise I'd misinterpreted "apron". The kit just has the 35mm one. It was actually sold with the tank completely jammed shut. A soak in hot water and some judicial banging on the bench (I know ALL the truly professional techniques!), and it came apart. I was rather happily surprised to find anything at all inside, let alone a pristine apron and the metal thingy to hold it down in there.

Ken, thank you for the (undeserved) compliment. It cheered me up (Renaissance gals are notoriously melancholy little gits, don't you know?!)

Apologies for the excessive verbiage. It's late or early, rather. Insomnia is my pathway to all natural hallucinogens.

Ken Nadvornick · Sep 25, 2014

Molli said:
Ken, thank you for the (undeserved) compliment. It cheered me up (Renaissance gals are notoriously melancholy little gits, don't you know?!)

Not in my world they aren't.

In my world a Renaissance gal is a pleasant, fun, and very knowledgeable specimen to hang out with. Someone who, when you say "microscope?" doesn't just look back at you with crossed eyes. Rather, they might even answer by ticking off the various instrument manufacturers and their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Or something like that. I don't do the melancholy thing. Life's too short...

Ken

Molli · Sep 25, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
Not in my world they aren't.

In my world a Renaissance gal is a pleasant, fun, and very knowledgeable specimen to hang out with. Someone who, when you say "microscope?" doesn't just look back at you with crossed eyes. Rather, they might even answer by ticking off the various instrument manufacturers and their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Or something like that. I don't do the melancholy thing. Life's too short...

Ken

It's 7:30am and I came at it from the wrong direction, so I'll not argue with you. I'll simply point out that I did specify "undeserved".

Now, let's all go back to ogling Stone's mammoth sheep worrier, shall we?

StoneNYC · Sep 26, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
If you could pick up a used Aristo VCL8100 head, Louise Kessler at LCD Lighting can fix you up with a brand new set of variable contrast fluorescent grid lamps. Then you wouldn't need to mess with filters. That's my setup, but only in 4x5.

Is this thing in full working order? Or will it need some TLC maintenance before you can try it out?

Congrats!

Ken

I'm not sure what output but I also have the condenser head. But it's broken.

The enlarger is essentially fully restored, Neil Selkirk asked for it to be restored and then decided he didn't want it back, so it was then given to me.

I have the condenser setup which is fully operational, but the cold head also came with it, but not sure how costly it is to buy a new bulb and then I don't know what else if anything is broken since I can't test the unit without a bulb.

StoneNYC · Sep 26, 2014

Michael R 1974 said:
Well all I can say is this is awesome. Those were incredible machines, both precise and built to be the last things on earth.

Yea I feel pretty privileged. Here's some more pics.

Carrier (and yes a BRAND NEW set of glass came with it that has never been touched, it's beautiful)

Condenser head/mirror

Broken cold head

The saltzman itself

Bellows

That's most of it.

It has blades to mask any size film, this means I can print anything in this, I kind of want to print a 110 frame image just for kicks...

Only thing left to restore is the base which just needs a sanding and paint job. Then a team to lift it onto the base, and probably paint the floor with sealer before I put it in place.

baachitraka · Sep 26, 2014

17 rolls of Premium Arista for €35.00. Exp: end of this year.

removed account4 · Sep 26, 2014

payment to troubleshoot a locked thermostat switch and install the new one
hopefully will be trouble free for another 130K

Rick A · Sep 26, 2014

Molli said:
This:

I bought the kit primarily to get my hands on some small trays cheaply for a batch of 6x9 contact prints I was doing for someone and for the little contact frame (which I wound up not using). Unfortunately or fortunately, it all cleaned up so nicely that I'm turning into a damn collector and am hankering for that one missing Kodak Junior Film Clip to complete the kit.

I have some Kodak Jr film clips, how many do you want?

Molli · Sep 26, 2014

Rick A said:
I have some Kodak Jr film clips, how many do you want?

Hello Rick,

I'm just after the one to "complete the set". It's not at all a necessity as I have plenty - just not one which belongs in that box. I'll cheerfully send some money your way to buy one off you and cover postage. That would be wonderful, thank you so much!

TheFlyingCamera · Sep 26, 2014

I just bought two more Jobo 2502n film developing reels. Two of mine have gotten sticky and won't load film past the point of the first roll stop. The old ones MIGHT work for 35mm but they definitely won't let me double-up on 120 like they're supposed to. It never hurts to have more of these reels anyway.

Rick A · Sep 26, 2014

Molli said:
Hello Rick,

I'm just after the one to "complete the set". It's not at all a necessity as I have plenty - just not one which belongs in that box. I'll cheerfully send some money your way to buy one off you and cover postage. That would be wonderful, thank you so much!

I just looked up postage to you, $47usd, do you really want one that bad?

Molli · Sep 26, 2014

Rick A said:
I just looked up postage to you, $47usd, do you really want one that bad?

I just KNEW there'd be a cure for my obsessive need to have all of the pieces to the puzzle!
Thank you, Rick, but I'm finding myself admiring the gap in the box now. I'm filling it with the missing clip's life story and adventures over the past few decades. That will suffice, methinks.

Many thanks for your kind offer, though.

GRHazelton · Sep 26, 2014

Molli said:
This:

I bought the kit primarily to get my hands on some small trays cheaply for a batch of 6x9 contact prints I was doing for someone and for the little contact frame (which I wound up not using). Unfortunately or fortunately, it all cleaned up so nicely that I'm turning into a damn collector and am hankering for that one missing Kodak Junior Film Clip to complete the kit.

I began my darkroom work with that same tank!

The aprons looked like transparent lasagne noodles, the ruffled edges kept the film from adhering to the aprons, and the whole ensemble was completed with a metal, perforated disk, half a dozen holes the size of a dime, IIRC, to keep the loaded lasagne from floating out of the solution. We had noodles for both 35mm/127 and 120/620 formats. Since the noodles were transparent the tank could be used for Ektachrome processing, which at that time used a photoflood lamp for reversal. Of course handling the wet coil of film/noodles and waving it in front of the lamp for the proper time was lots of fun, with the risk of dropping the whole darn thing. And if the film, especially 127 or 120 shifted a bit you got tiny evenly spaced dots along the edge of the image. Not nice! All in all Patterson or Nikor tanks are better, now that we have chemical reversal.

StoneNYC · Sep 26, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
I just bought two more Jobo 2502n film developing reels. Two of mine have gotten sticky and won't load film past the point of the first roll stop. The old ones MIGHT work for 35mm but they definitely won't let me double-up on 120 like they're supposed to. It never hurts to have more of these reels anyway.

Sticky? That seems really weird, do you not clean them very well when you put them away? Or is it more that you use alternative processes like cross processing color movie film in black-and-white developer and get the remjet on the reels?

TheFlyingCamera · Sep 26, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Sticky? That seems really weird, do you not clean them very well when you put them away? Or is it more that you use alternative processes like cross processing color movie film in black-and-white developer and get the remjet on the reels?

I washed them thoroughly. I've only ever used them a couple times. I think one pair I bought may have been more used by the previous owner than I was led to believe. I've never run stabilizer for C41 through my Jobo, but I might have once gotten Photo-Flo on them, but I don't think a single exposure to Photo-Flo should do that. I don't know what's going on with them, but I tried several times to load Tri-X on them with no luck. I don't do really weird stuff like running movie film in them, with or without removing ramjet.

StoneNYC · Sep 26, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
I washed them thoroughly. I've only ever used them a couple times. I think one pair I bought may have been more used by the previous owner than I was led to believe. I've never run stabilizer for C41 through my Jobo, but I might have once gotten Photo-Flo on them, but I don't think a single exposure to Photo-Flo should do that. I don't know what's going on with them, but I tried several times to load Tri-X on them with no luck. I don't do really weird stuff like running movie film in them, with or without removing ramjet.

Hmm odd, someone once told me that a really good way to get film to slide better is to take some pencil lead and run the pencil lead around the edges of where the film touches the real, and I guess it sort of a little bit more glide, but I never tried it, I generally don't have trouble.

Newt_on_Swings · Sep 26, 2014

Stone that enlarger is so cool! I hope you get it up and running soon!

As for sticky reels, hot water and a soft tooth brush scrub every once in awhile I find is best. The pencil trick maybe if I was desperate to develop the roll and not want to wait til it dried. Also some reels just like film cut a certain way others seem to be able to take even ripped edges!

Ken Nadvornick · Sep 26, 2014

Newt_on_Swings said:
Stone that enlarger is so cool! I hope you get it up and running soon!

He's right, buddy. Plus, I think you should start a thread (or just continue on with this one) to update us on the progress. I want to see a final picture showing you under red light while focusing up an 8x10 negative on that monster, with chemistry out, ready to print.

I'd love to have the space to set one of these guys up. Unfortunately, I'm locked into a totally reworked ex-laundry room in a basement that's built around a 4x5 enlarger. Every cubic centimeter was planned for and utilized. It's a great darkroom, best I've ever had, but I'd need to build a new room on the house to add anything more to it.

Ken

removed account4 · Sep 26, 2014

can we stick to the thread?

from the title and page one:

what waS your last photography related purchase?

jnanian said:
couid be a give away, freebee, book, equipment, film, chemistry
just something related to making photographs, or thinking about making photographs ...

-------

( if you want to chit chat, pat eachother on the back, and have a "bull session", give advice on how to clean stuff that's great
please don't clutter up this thread with it, you can do that in another thread or via PM )

thanks

Newt_on_Swings · Sep 26, 2014

jnanian said:
can we stick to the thread?

from the title and page one:

what waS your last photography related purchase?

-------

( if you want to chit chat, pat eachother on the back, and have a "bull session", give advice on how to clean stuff that's great
please don't clutter up this thread with it, you can do that in another thread or via PM )

thanks

Ease up, it's not that serious. And we were on topic chatting about other's recent purchases. No need to get so defensive about your thread veering off topic.

Here I'll bring it back to ease your worries. I last bought a very clean 180mm caltar ii-n on a Sinar db board, for the cells for about $50 shipped.

GRHazelton · Sep 26, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Sticky? That seems really weird, do you not clean them very well when you put them away? Or is it more that you use alternative processes like cross processing color movie film in black-and-white developer and get the remjet on the reels?

If you have a dishwasher you might run the reels through it; I run my Patterson kit through one occasionally. Does seem to help, shouldn't hurt.

removed account4 · Sep 26, 2014

photo engineer recommends:

Photo Engineer said:
My white film reels and my transparent film reels that I use are just as white or clear as the day I bought them. I clean them after use in hot water (100F) and air dry. I used to have a huge throughput. My trays are a bit worse off, having a few stains, but they are pretty good all things considered. I clean them after use as well using a soft sponge and sometimes I use the Dichromate + Sulfuric Acid mix to get rid of stubborn stains.

My fix bottles are the worst! I usually end up throwing them out.. The Sulfur is too hard to get rid of.

PE

Jim Noel · Sep 26, 2014

My last purchase was 100 sheets of 8x10 x-Ray film. My next one will be 100 sheets of 7x17 X-Ray film.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Sep 26, 2014

I thinked to buy ABC Pyro and saw there was a newer version at freestyle makes 33 liters. I did not want to carry 33 liters poison at home and switched to buy 100 grams metol and 3 gallon kodak fixer. I will make d23 and develop 20 rolls of film and scan at the minilab. Extremelly thin negatives scans excellent but I dont know what will be the result with polypan f taken to 50 asa at camera.

Fixcinater · Sep 26, 2014

Minoltaflex 2, complete with exposed roll of Kodacolor-X in it. Has the Rokkor lens and S-Konan Rapid shutter. Nice little camera with a neat shutter mech.

what waS your last photography related purchase?

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