1986blutengel
Hello,
First of all, let me introduce myself briefly. My name is Sebastian, I’m 28 years old, and I’ve been an enthusiastic amateur photographer with my own darkroom for about 14 years.
Now that I’ve successfully developed C41 and E6 film, I’ve started the colour print development.
My equipment:
Kaiser System V colour enlarger
Kaiser exposure timer
Jobo CPA colour processor
For the Ra 4 kit, I use the Rollei Digibase Print Kit together with Fuji Crystal Archive DP 2.
When I wanted to create exposure tests without any filters, I found that after development (and, of course, bleaching and fixing) at precisely 38 °C and with various times and apertures, there was absolutely nothing to see. The tank was preheated, I also tried pre-wetting, I even performed exposure on both sides of the paper, took one sheet out in the dark, switched on the room lights and performed the development. Nothing. Am I too stupid, am I doing something wrong, or is it the paper or the developer?
I’d be very grateful for any help. I was really looking forward to developing colour prints, but for now, I’ve completely lost the enthusiasm, unfortunately.
Kind regards,
Sebastian
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Magirus
Hi Sebastian
Is the developer faulty?
Incorrect mixing? Order, temperatures, "dirty water".
I’ve already had them come out completely pink and with the colours all wrong.
But nothing... It’s not much
The fixer comes at the end...
Regards, Bernd
1986blutengel
I mixed it as described at 38 °C. First the colour developer, then the fixer. How could I have got it wrong? I should also mention that I used distilled water.
Magirus
I’ve just been in the darkroom
Do you still have any black-and-white developer?
Give half a sheet of Fuji paper an exposure to indoor lighting
And develop it in black-and-white developer. The temperature doesn’t matter
Just to test the paper.
Kind regards, Bernd
1986blutengel
Thanks for the tip. I’ve still got SW developer. I had no idea anything was happening with SW developers at all.
Magirus
Well, the colour scheme leaves something to be desired
1986blutengel
I’ve just done the test. I took a piece of paper out in complete darkness. Then I turned the light on. The sheet turned light blue. After dipping it in the black-and-white developer, the blue disappeared immediately and the paper turned white again. After that, the paper turned grey. I did the same test with another piece in the colour developing agent. The result was the same, except for the grey colour. That piece remained white.
Renate
It could be that the chemicals are too old. Colour developing agents don’t keep for very long in plastic bottles. I’m talking about the concentrate. What colour is the developing agent concentrate? Try developing a piece of black-and-white film in the colour developing agent. It must turn black. If it stays white, the developer is ruined; if it turns colourless, the labels have been mixed up (something like that once drove me to despair).
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It’s a shame that your start with colour is proving so problematic right from the off.
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Best regards
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Renate
Magirus
The idea for the film is even better
But the fact that it’s grey is a good sign that the paper’s still usable.
Kind regards, Bernd
1986blutengel
Hello
I’ve now got a new developer and it’s working. Now there’s a red cast. I think I’ve managed to get rid of that. Now the image has a yellow cast. Do I need to add some yellow as well? Magenta is currently set to 50.
Magirus
45/60/0 YMC
These are my default settings
-50/- is a good place to start, isn't it?
Good luck
Bernd
Wolfgg
Hello,
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In the world of colour negatives, the components (film and paper) are designed in such a way that, when applying neutral density filtration, you should always reduce the Y and M values as much as possible and avoid reducing the C value whenever possible.
Learning neutral filtration is primarily a matter of training the eye. It is important to realise that our brain has no colour memory, so we cannot remember colours exactly. Whether a filtration has been successful can therefore only be determined by comparison (e.g. with a grey card). For your first enlargement, it therefore makes sense to choose a subject that contains a neutral grey alongside the main colours (cardboard if no grey card is available). To assess the filtering, simply hold the grey card next to the (dry) enlargement, ideally in daylight. This is the only way to spot even small colour casts and learn to filter accurately.
Regards, Wolfgang
Ewald
Have a go at these instructions; I found them very helpful.
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file:///home/user1/Documents/Reports/User-guides/Filtering-out-colour-photos - new.pdf
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Ewald
Morte
That won't work if you send us a link to your hard drive. ;)
Ewald
That won’t work if you send us a link to your hard drive. ;)
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I’ve now added another link (see below) to the same post; if I copy it into my browser’s address bar, the instructions open.
I hope that works.
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file:///home/user1/Documents/Reports/User-manuals/Filtering-out-colour-photos - new.pdf
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€Ewald
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[size=2][PS. I am the author][/size]
Morte
Dear Ewald! That won’t work. It’s another link to your home directory. Of course it works for you, because you’re accessing it from your own computer. Everyone else’s computer just sees a blank page. It would be a bit much if we could all access your computer.
If you want to make a PDF available here, you’ll need to upload it to Dropbox or a similar service. You can then paste that link here, as the content is hosted on a publicly accessible site or cloud service.
Or you can click on ‘Switch to full editor’ at the bottom and then on ‘Add files’. There you can upload the PDF directly to the forum page.
Ewald
Thanks, Morte,
Give it a go.
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Right then, another attempt, following some well-meaning advice.
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[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
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Best regards,
Ewald
Morte
Great, that worked – thanks for that!
I’ll have a closer look at the lab sample slider; I’ve been looking for something like that for my black-and-white darkroom for quite a while now.
Ewald
Great, that worked – thanks for that!
I’ll have a closer look at the laboratory sample slide; I’ve been looking for something like that for a while for my black-and-white darkroom.
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"The Full-Featured Editor" sorted it out.
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By the way, I once picked up two factory-made sliders on eBay, but they’re only for 10x15 cm; mine is designed for 13x18 cm.
If you want a small one like that, you’re welcome to have it – just cover the postage.
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Best regards,
Ewald
Neutrino
Hi, thanks for your PDF file.
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A few months ago, I ventured into colour enlargement with a good friend. As we just wanted to test it out at first and didn’t want to spend too much money, we ‘knocked together’ a cheap makeshift setup. We placed the developing tray and the bleach-fixing tray (both for 24x30) on small stands, each inside a 30x40 tray. The 30x40 tray was filled with water. We fitted an adjustable aquarium heating element underneath the chemical trays. This allowed us to achieve a reasonably constant temperature for the chemicals of around 33 degrees ±0.5. We extended the development time slightly compared to the standard development time. The whole setup actually worked quite well. I’m still proud of two of the pictures, as we managed to get the colours spot on.
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Nevertheless, it was all very laborious. Our method simply isn’t ideal. The trays often slip on the stands, so you can only tilt them very carefully. Furthermore, we don’t have a suitable dux light. That’s why we opened a small gap in the window seal so that we could at least make out a faint outline using the street lighting. We also don’t have a daylight lamp to properly assess the colours. But it was okay for our first attempts...
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If we buy the rather expensive chemicals again, I’d like to approach it a bit more professionally, at least.
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You mention in your report that you use the Kaiser tray warmers. Do they work well? How well do they maintain the temperature?
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Darkroom lights for colour paper aren’t available new anymore, are they? Can you recommend any others, apart from the ones mentioned in your text?
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How would you distinguish the characteristics of the Kodak paper from those of the Fuji Crystal Archive?
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Are there ways to adjust the contrast, for example by using shorter or longer development times in the positive process?
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