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Re: [OM] new to darkroom

Subject: Re: [OM] new to darkroom
From: petertje@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 20:04:30 +0200
Hi,

> A few more points:
> - -What's a condenser?

IIRC, it's basically a big shaft that's white on the inside, with a diffuser on 
the side where the lens&negative sit, and the lamp on the other side.  I was 
told that non-condenser enlargers are better for sharpness.


> - - I have managed to rinse films with really cold water without damage

For rinsing, it's no problem, except if the water is so cold that the gelatine 
of your negative cracks.  Check the ground temperature predictions in the 
weather report: after using a lot of water to develop, you'll be getting water 
out of the underground pipe, unheated by room heat.


> however, I have invested in a mixer tap in our spare kitchen so that I
> can stop risking my films.

The way I used to do it, was like this:

1) blend a VERY big container of water (>5 liter) to desired temperature (e.g. 
20C).
2) blend the quantities of water you need for processing, rinsing and fixing to 
the desired temperature.  Add the chemicals.
3) Put the small containers into the big container (as in the "bain marie" 
cooking technique).  This will keep everything at sufficiently constant 
temperature during the 20 minutes you need to process HP5.


> - - A buzzer is not absolutely necessary for timing; I have an ancient=20
> Paterson clockwork timer which is too big to ignore - for developing=20
> work.  My enlarger is connected to a Czech timer switch (illuminated).

As for clocks, and for thermometers, and everything you do in the dark room 
(and in photography too): having a very accurate clock/thermometer isn't 
necessary.  Make sure you make test strips for a sufficient amount of time.  If 
your temperature is 21C instead of 20C all the time, but the results come out 
great, then just make sure you keep using the same procedure.  The same for the 
time: if your clock counts 4.5sec instead of 5, who cares, if your results are 
great.

My teacher went so far as to force us to use this procedure for clocking.  If 
your test strip tells you that hitting the 1-second button for 12 times was the 
best, then while exposing, you should hit that button twelve times, and you 
shouldn't set the timer to a fixed 12 second period.

And the best way to use a thermometer, is to buy a good, expensive one.  Then, 
get a really cheap one.  Get a decent bucket of water at the temperature that 
you want, measured with the big thermometer.  Then, mark this temperature on 
the small one.  If you break the small one, repeat :-)

Aside from being very time-intensive, dark room work is also very water 
intensive.  A hidden cost that many forget.  We were actually told to let the 
water run for some minutes before using it, to avoid unpleasant temperature 
suprises (related to room heat, not to washing mashines or showers), and to 
rince the pipes.

Aside from that, does anybody know a good way to get rid of carbon ("kalk" in 
dutch) in pipe water ?  It's there in extreme amounts here...


Peter.



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