From: Jeff Buckels (jeffbuck@swcp.com)
Date: 11/25/01-07:28:02 PM Z
OK: I've been making the FO the night before and actually using it late morning
or so the next day.... The ambient humidity lately has been 30 to 40%. Before
coating, I humidify the paper (Platine) in front of a smallish sonic humidifier
for about a minute. After coating, I dry the paper (cold air double window fan
at four feet dries to 75% or so, then med-heat hair dryer till dry), then
re-humidify as before, then expose. The range has been pretty good, but not
great -- I'm not getting to real black black (brown brown). I used sodium
dichromate just with this one print; mind you, the brightness range of the
subject was a good stop short of normal. I exposed and developed normally,
figuring to kick up the contrast a bit with the sod dichromate. This worked
pretty good. It was not full range, but I intended the look I got (pretty much)
from the get-go. Believe me, if the exp. time hadn't been 50 minutes, I
wouldn't have thought there was a "problem"... I've only done two non-pyro
negatives. The exposure times were well within normal ranges, around 5-7
minutes.... Finally, these pyro negatives that have printed so slow in pt/pd
are correspondingly slow on Azo. For this reason, I think we can eliminate bad
FO or bad pt/pd or bad humidifying etc. ... I sure appreciate these responses.
-jb
Eric Neilsen wrote:
> Jeff, There seems to be many things left unsaid by you about your whole set
> up.
>
> FO should be well mixed and will take hours (pushing it) and a day or so to
> fully dissolve. It will last many many months. Mixing it fresh is a
> problem, not only to get it mixed, but weight properly the same for small
> batches. If you are using AFO, that is a different animal.
>
> Are you drying your paper? dry palladium paper or one with a low RH is
> slower than a humidified paper?
>
> Is the film printing full range? 80 minutes seems quite long. How much
> dichromate in your developer? this will also slow your print times.
>
> What are your times for a non pyro negative?
>
> EJ Neilsen
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Buckels" <jeffbuck@swcp.com>
> To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
> Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2001 10:04 AM
> Subject: Dense or Density
>
> > Hello from Albuquerque NM. This is my first posting to this fine
> > list....
> >
> > I've started doing platinum/palladium. Have done two sessions in my
> > newly up and running home rig. I'm excited by the results I'm getting
> > but am plagued by preposterously long exposures. Here's what I do: I'm
> > shooting FP4+ (5x7 and 8x10) @ EI 64, erring on the side of
> > over-exposure. Nothing fancy as to reading; for the time being, to keep
> > it simple, I'm just doing split readings (mostly between the darkest and
> > lightest readings on the palm of my hand), leaving any particular
> > contrast control to the printing stage. I'm developing the film in PMK
> > for 12 minutes at 70F. All exposures, regardless. The printing is on
> > Platine. I've done a couple prints with pure palladium, a couple with
> > about 55/45 Pt to Pd, adding some contrast on one occasion with a small
> > amount of sodium dichromate in the pot/oxalate developer. The color and
> > contrast need tweaking but I'm happy with both. The exposure times are
> > an outrage: From 20 to 80 minutes. I can live with 20, and I
> > understand there's only 2 stops difference between that and 80, but most
> > the exposures are over 50. The light source is a new "oven" from
> > Edwards, which I feel is working correctly. Can anyone tell me if
> > anything jumps out of the above procedure as the likely repeat cause of
> > these pokey exposures?? I'd sure like to stick with Pyro and know that
> > that is the principal culprit. But, you know, if I could just get to
> > 15-20 minute exposures, I'd be satisfied.... Thank you.
> >
> > jeff buckels (albuquerque nm)
> >
> >
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