Contact Printing (Now with enlarging questions)

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Sam_G

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Sam
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I have no experiance in developing paper so reading about contact printing is confuzzling me a tad, have I got this correct?

1) Place negatives underneath glass sheet and expose for the correct amount of time. (Can a safelight be on at this point?)
2)Place in developer, as I will be using a safelight can I see when to take this out?
3)Take out, allow to drip off and place in stop bath. Can I use a water + vinegar solution like in film dev for this or do I have to use proper stop?
4)Fix for 2 minutes, I think I can use the same fix as I use for film with this? (Ilford Rapidfix).
5)Place in tray underneath cold running water for a few mins.
6)Allow to dry.

I apolagise for the very basic questions.

TIA, Sam.
 
Can't see much wrong with your procedure. I've used plain water for stop bath in the past so I think you should be okay with water and vinegar.
 
For black & white -

1) You can lay out the strips on top of the paper, or if you're using clear negative sheets, you can just place this on top. Alternatively there is a contact printer available. Yes you can use a safelight.

2) Yes, you'll see the image gradually appear (about a minute).

3) Personally, I always use stop bath for both films and prints.

4) Yes. Either rapid fixer or hypam fixer.

5) Wash the print in running water for a few minutes - you can buy a print washer if you wanted to.

6) Yes.

You may like to have a read of this link which takes you through the processes:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Making-your-first-contact-sheet-traditional-darkroom-ideas-4652
 
Now having succesfully made some contact prints I am now looking at getting an enlarger. Seeing as I have all the chemicals etc. Is there anything else that I need to print with? Is a print easel necesarry or can I do without?

I am looking at this enlarger in particular. As it appears to only have a 50mm lens do I need another one to print 6x6? (80mm?)

TIA.
 
You don't absolutely need an easel. It makes life (and borders) much easier though.

You'll want an 80mm lens to print 6x6 with reasonable working distances (indeed you might need one to work with that enlarger, I don't know for sure.)
 
Have lenses got a standard fitting? So any 80mm enlarging lens would work?
 
my advice would be to buy an enlarger with all the necessary bits for the format you intend to print.
there are all sorts of bits you may or may not need depending on the enlarger.
I bought an LPL 7700 just last week for £50 it has a universal slide carrier, no lens or condenser element/light box issues to have to consider when enlarging 35mm-6x6.
£50 might be cheap, I dunno, its not the enlarger I researched or intended buying, but I'm glad I did.

lens boards and mounts ?
condenser elements and boxes for 35mm and 6x6 ?
film carriers for 35mm and 6x6 ?
 
I guess that I should probably have understood a bit more of what you said there Joxby! I guess I need to look into it a bit (lot) more, rather than getting carried away and buying the first compatible thing. All I know is that i want to print 6x6 and 35mm.
 
yeah, there are condenser enlargers and diffuser enlargers, both may or may not have different light/diffuser boxes for 6x6 and 35mm, depends on the enlarger.
Condenser enlargers may have different condenser lenses for 35mm and 6x6.
They both may have different film mounts for 35mm and 6x6, and there is no universal lens mount.....:shrug:
So you need to have a clear idea of which enlarger, and all the bits you need.
Its a good idea to stick with the manufacturers that still have plenty of parts available just in case you can't get the full kit in one buy.

:)
 
Just been to collect a Gnome 6x6 with 75 and 50mm lenses and a full set of Multigrade filters, for free. Hopefully this should get me going as everything seems in working order.
 
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