Contact Prints with out a Dark Room

steveo_mcg

steveo_mcg

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Steven
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I seen some 4x5 rc paper for sale cheap nearby and it got me thinking could I use these without access to any darkenable room.

I could my changing tent to mate the negative to the paper it would be a bit fiddly but not impossible. Could I fit a sheet of rc paper in my 2509n jobo spiral and rotary process it? I realise I'd lose the best bit of a print but I'll live. For a light source its dark at 8 now so the light in my house is fairly constant I guess I'd need to dial in the exposure in my kitchen with the lights on and always use the same lights etc.

Any glaring holes in my plan? Apart from the relative pointlessness of 5x4 prints.
 
Perhaps make something which uses an old flash as the light source. Keep it all in the dark and load a paper/film sandwich into it.

Put four sheets of exposed paper into a Paterson Orbital and bring ouit into the light for processing.


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
Perhaps make something which uses an old flash as the light source. Keep it all in the dark and load a paper/film sandwich into it.

Put four sheets of exposed paper into a Paterson Orbital and bring ouit into the light for processing.


Steve.
Click to expand...

You reckon, unbox paper, mate to film, seal film away, pop flash inside tent, load to processing tank. take out of tent and process as normal?
 
i hadnt thought of using a flash for paper neg prints, that might be a good way to repeatable results

i was going to try and figure out how much nd effect paper has, for paper to paper prints, then i could use my light meter and just a room light, perhaps
 
id recommend using trays for paper negs, but i did a couple with trays that had previously held meat and microwave meals :), you will just need a redlight to see what your doing
 
Nah, I've just not got the space to tray develop, which is a pain because I think my LF would be better in trays too but I'm limited to the dark bag as the only reliably dark space in the house.
 
ive done mine in not 100% black rooms, and you need a A3 size area or less id of thought, for 5x4, for the 3-4 trays
film would be too sensitive i guess, but paper is iso 3 or so..
 
I was thinking of a miniature version of the contact printer we used to have at work.

It was a light box with a glass top and we put the piece to be copied dopwn first followed by a piece of film then closed the lid and exposed. Ours had a vacuum pump to keep it flat but I don't think that would be necessary for 5x4.

Just a box with a flash in it with a bit of diffusion, a glass top, some sort of nest arrangement which allows the negative and paper to drop into place then a lid with a bit of foam on it to hold the paper in contact with the negative.


Steve.
 
My first contact prints were made using saucers as dishes. In those days, you could buy gaslight papers, which were relatively insensitive - I used a child's nightlight (essentially a torch bulb in a transformer to be used as a light bulb and which gave a dim light) as a safelight, and turned on the room lights to make the exposure.

My "printing frame" was the sheet of glass from a photo frame that allowed the glass to just be slid out from the top when required.

There is an article here which details how to make gaslight paper; but the second half deals with printing out paper, which would revert back to the old days of making the exposure (by inspection of whether the print had developed enough of an image) using daylight.

If I remember correctly, the Ansel Adams at 100 exhibition had at least one 5x4 exhibition print in it....
 
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I've got a light box, its not very even but might do to get me started. I could just tape every thing on to it flick the switch and count to ten (?) then stick the paper in the tank and repeat.
 
With a contact strip first at various increasing exposures, via a movable mask?
 
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