MartinKrull
Hello everyone,
A quick introduction: My name is Martin Krull, I’m 37 years old and I’m from Lübeck.
For about two years now, I’ve been spending a lot of my free time in my own darkroom, taking black-and-white 35mm photos with an old Canon and, more recently, medium format photos with a MamiyaFlex RB 67.
—a fantastic hobby!
I have a problem I can’t explain:
Last night I made two prints on Adox Fine Print Vario Classic in Easylith 1+1+30 to see how the degree of overexposure affects the result. So far, so good.
Once the contrast was right – I stopped the process – and put them in the fixer.
Now to my problem:
In the fixer, the blacks gradually faded. Up to a certain point, but not completely. This was even more pronounced on the print with the higher exposure (+3 stops) than on the one with the lower exposure (+2).
After toning in carbon toner 1+30 for about 4 minutes, I regained some of the black.
I use a citric acid-based stop bath and Amaloco’s X 89 (odourless rapid fixer) as the fixer.
Can anyone give me a tip on whether I’m doing something wrong, and if so, what? The list of faults in Moersch’s Easylith doesn’t provide any clues.
Thanks for your help
Regards, Martin
MirkoBoeddecker
Which fixer do you use, at what concentration, and for how long?
MartinKrull
Hello Mirko
As described above, I use Amaloco’s X89 (odourless rapid fixative) in a 1:9 dilution, as per the instructions. Fixing time: 3 minutes. Followed by 4 minutes in HCA.
Extract from X89 Safety Data Sheet:
Chemical characterisation:
Composition, contains, among other things:
Water [7732-18-5] 20–50%
Ammonium thiosulphate [7783-18-8] > 50%
Sodium sulphite [7757-83-7] 5–10%
Acetic acid [64-19-7] (C, R10–35) 1–2%
Regards
MirkoBoeddecker
It can’t be down to the 3 minutes at 1+9.
How do you know that the black areas have faded in the fixer?
That means you know for sure that they were still there in the developer, but not after fixing.
It’s normal for the toner to increase the Dmax again.
Best regards,
Mirko
MartinKrull
Well, I can see the start of the development process, and when the time feels right to me (‘snatch point’) – I take it out, stop it and pop it into the fixer.
Then I watch as the blacks fade again… much like in the bleach bath, only the other way round.
I don’t use a red Duka light, which I believe makes the contrasts appear harder, so there’s no optical illusion either.
I tried again yesterday with fresh stop and fixer baths; the result was the same.
I’ll try a different paper today. We’ll see.
Regards, Martin
MirkoBoeddecker
Hi Martin,
If you’re not using a red DUKA light, you’re either working in the dark or you’re definitely creating a heavy fog when using Vario Classic.
Is the light perhaps positioned closer to the fixer?
Sorry to harp on about it, but an ‘optical illusion’ still seems the most likely explanation to me, as the fixer (unless it’s a faulty batch) shouldn’t be that pale.
Why don’t you switch the light on as soon as the paper is in the fixer and try to confirm this by checking for ‘fading blackness’?
Instead of changing the paper, I would first try changing the fixer or increasing the dilution.
Best regards and good luck,
Mirko
Urnes
Hello,
To a certain extent, that’s normal. If you’re using red Duka light – and I wouldn’t use anything else; I haven’t come across any lith paper that can handle anything else – then with red Duka light, you let the shadows run in until you reach the point where you say, ‘Blimey, now the shadows have run in’ – in other words, a good bit past the point you actually want to achieve. Then stop, then fix. Try 2 minutes (it is a fast fixer, after all). After the first one, you can switch the light on. You’ll see that the density of the print decreases (of course, you can already see more detail in white light) and the details in the shadows gradually become visible again. Depending on the paper, there’ll then be a colour shift from yellow to red/pink until the print is finally dry. With Polywarmton, for example, the process isn’t as pronounced, whereas with Fomabrom it’s more pronounced.
Regards, Sven.
MartinKrull
Hello,
I’m actually feeling a bit embarrassed about this...
I tried again yesterday, with the digital camera to hand, to document the ‘fading’.
Same settings, but with red lighting and a slightly longer exposure, as Sven suggested.
Exposure 1 min–1.5 mins (a bit longer than usual), then into the fixer and light on straight away, camera at the ready and... nothing, no fading.
2nd attempt: a bit shorter in the developer as the first one was too strong and... nothing, no fading.
I don’t get it. Could it actually be down to the light? :rolleyes:
Attached are the two attempts from yesterday to show you what I mean; the scanner’s not great, though...
Regards, Martin
Urnes
It’s best not to dwell on it. If everything’s running smoothly now, you can carry on testing. If it hadn’t been down to the light, I might have guessed it was the fixer temperature.
The crows in the harbour are still on my list too – where did you take those photos from?
Best wishes, Sven.
MartinKrull
Hi Sven,
It’s strange, though...
The crane is located in Lübeck at the tip of the Wall Peninsula. It’s 100 years old and a listed building. It’s easy to get to by car.
Best regards, Martin
