Luminous RC VCP

oriecat · Jan 1, 2005

So yesterday I decided to bust open the rainbow sampler pack of Luminous products I got a while back and try something new. It has 7 different types of paper in it, a variety of RC and FB. I decided to stick with the RC since I haven't finished making my drying screens yet... anyway I thought I would try the RC VC Pearl, mainly since I had 10 sheets of it. This stuff hated me. I now hate it back. I couldn't get a black to save my life. It incredible brown, but it doesn't say its warmtone. I work my way up in time and filters trying to get a black without losing my highlights and I keep getting this muddied mess. My initial exposure based on the test strip should have been about 20 sec at f11 with no filter. After many other tries, I finally give up when I'm using 4.5 filter at f5.6 for 15 seconds and still crap. Maybe I'm not thinking clearly because of my cold and I screwed up somewhere, but that just doesn't seem right to me. :?

Hertz van Rental · Jan 1, 2005

It might have something to do with your developer. I have found that one paper will come out with different casts and different tonal ranges depending on the print developer. Photochemistry can be a strange and unpredictable beast. Even the dilution can make a difference. Maybe try using a different paper developer?
But then a person does get those days when nothing goes right....

terri · Jan 1, 2005

Poor girlie. :hug: Did it come with some kind of spec sheet to give you any idea what developer(s) would work best? :scratch:

I feel your pain (and annoyance!). :wink:

oriecat · Jan 9, 2005

Well I decided to try out some of the other papers in my sampler pack last night, and I got the same thing at first! I started with a FB and I was getting the same weird brownness and no blacks. So I decided to try it with my crappy RC and see if I got something with that, and it too wasn't coming out good, so I knew the developer was a problem. Last time I also thought the developer was a problem and I made a fresh batch and nothing changed, but I guess it just wasn't strong enough, because last night I just said screw it and I just poured a bunch more stock in the tray while i had a test piece in and that thing just blacked right up. So I was finally getting somewhere. Of course since I didn't measure it, I don't know what I should mix it at next time. :| Oh well I'll figure it out.

So last night, I used up all 5 sheets of my sample of Charcoal. Really liked the look and feel of that. I tried a couple sheets of the Agfa. And something I can't remember right now. I knew that would happen, too many papers in one night.

terri · Jan 10, 2005

How annoying! :irked:

I am pretty anal and like to keep a pad and pen next to me whenever I'm doing stuff in the darkroom OR trying new things with the Daylab....most of the time I don't need to refer back to anything, but on the occasions I do, I'm glad I kept a record.

At least you have a starting point - glad your paper is finally giving you something workable!