Multigrade difficulties with Janpol

dkwrt200 · 2005-12-16T18:06:46+00:00

Kürzlich habe ich - auf einen freundlichen Tipp im Laden hin - ein zufällig bei mir herumliegendes Janpol-Objektiv unter meinen Opemus 5 gebastelt, um nach l...

dkwrt200

Recently, following a helpful tip from the shop, I fitted a Janpol lens I happened to have lying about to my Opemus 5, so that I could try out multigrade printing for a change, having traditionally used fixed-grade printing for some time. I was told this should work without any problems using the yellow/blue filter pair. A few test prints from some leftover Ilford Multigrade paper produced the desired results straight away. A sharp lens, everything from 0 to 5 is achievable, and wonderfully quick and easy. That gave me the confidence and the desire for more. So, with my last order, I also ordered a pack of ADOX EasyPrint Polywarmton RC 18x24x100 and, following the super-fast delivery (thanks!), tried it out straight away (for the time being still in the old Calbe developer, with relatively little ‘warmth’). What was strange, however, was that the paper didn’t react in the slightest to any filtering and produced exactly the same result at maximum yellow as it did at maximum blue. The result was always a gradient of approx. 2. Enquiries with FOTOIMPEX weren’t exactly helpful. “The paper doesn’t seem to react to your colours”. Great, I’d already noticed that. And for the time being, I don’t want to either ‘accept the results’ or buy a ‘set of filters’. Does anyone else use Janpol for gradation control and have had similar experiences? Is it down to the lens? Are there papers that simply don’t react to the Janpol filters? Or am I just wasting my time and was it simply a faulty batch in the pack – that can happen, can’t it? I would appreciate some advice. Kind regards, Rainer

RomanJRohleder

Rainer, I bought a Janpol filter for this a few years ago, but never actually tried it out... Did you happen to stop down the aperture? The filter values only apply at full aperture; otherwise, the achievable densities are highly erratic. Roman

Gast

Rainer, You need to use magenta filters – not blue ones. The paper doesn’t care about blue at all. We’re currently short-staffed again due to illness. Please don’t be annoyed if such very specific questions (who still works with a Janpol, for goodness’ sake...) can only be answered here by Lutz or me. That’s what the forum is for – I’ll do my best to answer everything there whenever I have a spare moment. Best regards, Mirko

Gast

Roman, Are you sure about the filter values when stopping down? The colour balance shouldn’t change, as the filters are inserted in front of the aperture. I never noticed that before. But then again, I can’t remember ever using an aperture other than f/8 – the Janpol only has four aperture settings. Mirko

dkwrt200

A huge thank you to everyone; the replies are coming in faster than you can develop a sheet! So what’s the right yellow-magenta filter combination for controlling the gradation? I’ll give it a go, but I’m still a bit sceptical for now, as with Ilford it was yellow/blue. And with ADOX Polywarmton, there wasn’t the slightest difference between maximum yellow and no filter at all. In any case, I’m curious to see what the results will be. The aperture shouldn’t, in theory, affect the result; in any case, you should be able to notice something at f/8. But I’ll also test it again at wide open (f/5.6). Thanks again and best regards, Rainer

Wolf_XL

...what sort of Duka lighting do you use? Have you done a veiling test yet? Because if your Duka lighting is veiling, you can fiddle with the filters all you like... Ilford paper is pretty tolerant when it comes to the colour of the Duka lighting – other papers will take any colour, as long as it’s red... ;-)

Gast

Rainer, Ilford also needs magenta to be developed. I don’t want to accuse you of anything, but when you turn the left dial on the Janpol, yellow turns into blue, and when you turn the right one, yellow turns into magenta. I therefore suspect that in test one (with Ilford) you used the magenta-yellow wheel and in test two (Polywarmton) the blue-yellow wheel. It is confusing, isn’t it, because yellow is involved every time. But it has to be that way, otherwise you couldn’t mix yellow with blue and magenta ;-) Best regards, Mirko

dkwrt200

I have an ancient, huge Kodak pot used for Duka lighting, fitted with a dark red filter. It has passed the haze test with no issues.

dkwrt200

It could well be that I’ve mixed up the avengements; I’m a bit scatterbrained at times. And another poem: ‘I always thought you couldn’t mix up left and right. What a mistake.’ By Ernst Jandl? I’ve forgotten that one too.

PhilippReichmuth

That’s by Jandl. “Velwechsern”, here you go. :D I have a vague memory of a French version where the last line went “querl erleur”. The following is also by Jandl:

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The man’s good. And I like concrete poetry. :) Phil-offtopic-ipp PS: How good are Janpols actually as close-up lenses? I’ve been on the verge of buying one for a song a few times, but then I’d get these bouts of “You don’t really need that” or my wife would be there.

RomanJRohleder

Mirko, >Are you sure about the filter settings when stopping down? Yes, if I remember correctly, the English manual explicitly mentioned this, and many users see it as a flaw. In the German version, it is only mentioned indirectly – under ‘Preparation’ it says ‘Set the aperture ring to 5.6’, then comes the software manual with an explicit mention of the aperture (‘If required, the iris aperture...’), and only after that does the colour application section appear without any mention of the possibility of stopping down. I can’t find the English version anymore, but I’ve saved a German copy at http://rjr.blafh.de/Manuals/janpol.pdf. Haltdochja: “When producing colour enlargements, JANPOL-COLOR must only operate at the widest aperture; aperture ring I must therefore always remain set to 5.6.” >The colour components shouldn’t change, as the filters are inserted in front of the aperture. I haven’t touched the thing in ages; once I finally got an M39>M42 adapter, I lost interest (Philipp, if you ever fancy giving it a go, let me know; otherwise: don’t bother, as long as you’ve got a decent V-glass and save yourself the hassle of hunting for the adapter). If I remember correctly, the way it works is that two filters are inserted one against the other, with a sharp dividing line between yellow/cyan and yellow/magenta. When you close the aperture, the ratio of the densities changes... Roman PS: Christmas is saved – the postman delivered ‘a little parcel’ today – his words. ;-) Haven’t seen it yet; won’t be home until Friday.

RomanJRohleder

Rainer, >I’ll give it a go, but I’m still a bit sceptical for now, because with >Ilford it was yellow/blue. Mirko is right, and Ilford’s data sheets also specify yellow/magenta. > And with ADOX Polywarmton, there wasn’t the slightest difference >at maximum yellow and completely without a filter. What are you using for comparison – a negative with a subject or a grey scale? Roman