AchimBauer
Hello everyone,
With Cibachrome due to be phased out in the middle of next year, anyone wanting to print their slides is in for a tough time.
But perhaps there is an alternative. Yesterday, whilst rummaging through old magazines, I came across a 20-year-old article by a lab technician who had devised a room-temperature process for RA4 papers. Mind you, this was for slide printing. He had adapted the whole thing for Labaphot, which no longer exists, and which presumably also sourced the colour paper, although the main suspect among the possible suppliers has also disappeared from the market.
I don’t know how similar RA4 papers are. Nor whether this would work with today’s papers.
But if anyone wants to experiment in this direction, I’d be happy to look for the magazine again and give them the formula.
Regards, Achim
Pitt23
Room-temperature process for RA 4 papers for Diadirekt
Hi Achim,
Thanks for your note. Fascinating!
Could you provide a bit more detail or share a copy (scan) of the article?
Best regards, Pitt
AchimBauer
Hi Pitt,
Of course I have a scan; I recently scanned almost all my issues of *Colorfoto* from 1978 to 2003 (after that, it became too digital)
Fotomagazin from the mid-90s to 2003 (incomplete) and Fotohobbylabor from start to finish, though unfortunately these are also incomplete. I didn’t scan the entire issues, just what I thought was worth keeping; the rest went into boxes. Now I just need to sort the files so they’re easy to find.
But here’s the RA4 direct process for now.
Have fun experimenting
Achim
thomas_l
From what I’ve read, the process itself is relatively simple, but the problem is the contrast, which is too high with RA4 paper. You’d need a low-contrast paper – basically the old R3 paper... In principle, you simply need to use a black-and-white developer as a pre-developer and then develop the colour as normal in the light – this reverses the RA4 paper.
But the article is certainly interesting; it seems he’s got the problem sorted out...
Best regards, Thomas
Wolfgg
Achim: have you checked that this post doesn’t infringe any copyright? You wouldn’t want to be swamped by warning letters any time soon.
Regards, Wolfgang
AchimBauer
Hello Wolfgang,
It wouldn’t make any difference even if a disaster were to strike; I’m currently being plagued by all sorts of disasters once again.
But even those who make a living from issuing warning letters can’t do everything, especially when all they’re interested in is sending out those letters.
I admit, I’ve been a bit careless in that regard; after all, the article is already 20 years old, and copyright doesn’t last forever. Who pays these days just to be allowed to play Mozart?
And in the long run, we’re increasingly forced to tap into and preserve old external sources, as new sources are becoming ever scarcer and we have to learn more and more old tricks to compensate for the loss of working material. And one could certainly argue that the preservation of analogue photography is at least on a par with copyright.
Or do you know of any other way to compensate for the loss of Ilfochrome than the one described here?
I’m also generous in my actions, because my own right to my own images is treated quite generously, and I’m sometimes surprised to find myself in them, and I don’t send out any warning letters either.
And besides, I’ve presented the whole thing as a scan, not as my own doctoral thesis.
Regards, Achim
Wolfgg
But have a look at the legal notice (“The magazine and all articles contained therein are protected by copyright…”); you’re in a hopeless position if they decide to take action – the author certainly hasn’t been dead for 70 years yet (the statutory period). It’s no different from someone making someone else’s music track available for anyone to download! Mirko won’t be happy about that either.
Why don’t you just ask those who have taken over the magazine for permission?
Regards, Wolfgang
AchimBauer
Hi Wolfgang,
I promise to do better
Best regards, Achim
