Variable contrast with colour head

micha · 2003-07-23T16:50:33+00:00

Hi für alle die Schwarz-Weiß-Abzüge machen und dazu Ihren Farbkopf benutzen. Hab so ein Ding zwar erst seit 2 Wochen, hab aber schon viel rausbekommen. Meine...

micha

Hi to everyone who makes black-and-white prints using their colour print head. I’ve only had one of these for two weeks, but I’ve already got the hang of it. My poor girlfriend doesn’t even recognise me anymore. But it’s easy to gossip in the dark... Normally, you adjust the shades using the yellow/magenta controls. The problem with that is that the exposure time keeps changing. I’ve now found a cool website where you can calibrate your colour head so that you always get consistent exposure times. Here’s the link: http://www.butzi.net/default.htm. Has anyone tried this yet?? Good luck Micha

Gast

This double filtering works quite well. No problems and less calculation work. www.ilford.com and (perhaps) www.agfa.com have some examples. Enjoy Hans van der Est

cfb_de

Hi Micha, That works quite well. That’s how I used to do it at school with a colour head, and now I’ve got the excellent Orwo insert filters on my Opemus and I put together combinations in the same way. But there’s one thing you need to be clear about: *what* you set the ‘correct’ exposure for. Whether you base it on shadows, highlights or 18% grey yields completely different results when you adjust the gradient. And strictly speaking, the exposure is only correct for the grey value you’ve set. In the worst case, the highlights might be right at grades 2 and 4, but at grade 4 the shadows will be washed out. This method involves a lot of trial and error and similar risks; you should be aware of that. Best regards, Franz

micha

Hi Franz. Expose for the highlights and control the shadows with the gradation. I often expose the images using two gradations. That’s why a consistent exposure time is important. I’ve tried out the Ilford colour filter values. They work really well for me. So that’s saved me some test work again. That was my aim in asking the question, after all. It went perfectly. Micha