Incredibly Frustrated Newbie...Please Help!!!

[BGAndrea]

Hi there,

Out of curiousity what temperatures are your solutions? and are you agitating the print? if so, just how are you agitating.

Rich

Edit: Duhhh! After spending some time floating in the pool with a glass of ol'thought provoker I think I see your problem. At this point, IMO. it has nothing to do with your enlarger or print processing. I do believe you are trying to work from a crappy negative. There is no way your enlarger exposure should jump like that unless you're using a flashlight bulb for a light source!

Try holding up to the light a negative from your class next to a negative that is not printing correctly. I'd be willing to bet that the new negative is a LOT darker. You might also try printing one of your old negatives that worked so well in class. If, indeed, your new negatives are very much darker, we would need to address that problem first.

Soo.... if your new negs are noticeably darker, then it would help to know the following:

1. What film.
2. What developer
3. What temperature (remember for best results developer, stop bath, and fixer should be pretty durn close)
4. How long in the developer and with what kind of agitation ( I used to aggravate my film for about 15 seconds every minute)

I hope this helps.

Rich

Rich,
Thanks for your response. I almost hate to bring you bad news after such an enthusiastic response...lol However, the negatives are the exact ones that printed well in class. As a matter of fact, same exact sheet that I used for the contact sheet in class. I used the same ones to compare.

Film is both Ilford HP5+ 400 and Kodak TMax 400: problem appears with negatives from both

Developer is Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer
All chemicals are at 68 degrees

 

[BGAndrea]

Question: If the room has a light leak, what will happen to the prints? Wouldn't they just be a little darker overall?

 

[CaboSailor]

Dang, I was sure that was it.

As to the light leaks, paper can handle a bit more than film can before becoming noticeable.

The prior poster suggesting using the coins test is a good one for leaks. Even easier is to try processing after dark with the adjacent room lights off.

The lack of tonal range is vexing. I very much doubt the enlarger lens is responsible for such a huge difference. Sharpness, perhaps but if you can focus on the grain......

Right now, unless you somehow have contaminated the chemistry or exposed the paper to too much light (easy to check, develop an unexposed piece of paper), light leaks are once again tops on the list. Hmm.... have you checked to see if your safelight filter is compatible with the paper you're using? There are different filters ya know, including one or two that are even compatible with some films to a degree.

Don't worry, with all the folks around here we'll solve it.

Rich

 

[BGAndrea]

Dang, I was sure that was it.

As to the light leaks, paper can handle a bit more than film can before becoming noticeable.

The prior poster suggesting using the coins test is a good one for leaks. Even easier is to try processing after dark with the adjacent room lights off.

The lack of tonal range is vexing. I very much doubt the enlarger lens is responsible for such a huge difference. Sharpness, perhaps but if you can focus on the grain......

Right now, unless you somehow have contaminated the chemistry or exposed the paper to too much light (easy to check, develop an unexposed piece of paper), light leaks are once again tops on the list. Hmm.... have you checked to see if your safelight filter is compatible with the paper you're using? There are different filters ya know, including one or two that are even compatible with some films to a degree.

Don't worry, with all the folks around here we'll solve it.

Rich

Thanks. The safelight I am using (Delta 1 Bright Lab Jr.) says safe for all polycontrast rapid and all conventional Kodak, Ilford, AGFA, DuPont, and GAF papers...so I guess I'm good on that end.

 

[DSPhotography]

Focus with your enlarger lens wide open. Then stop down to an aperture that will give you about a 15 sec. exposure for a correctly-exposed print.

When I focus wide open and then stop down and check my focus, it seems to change. I'm not 100% sure though so I will check again.

Focusing wide open though gives you the smallest DoF, so if you can focus THAT image, it will be just as sharp (or sharper) when you stop down and expose. I've played around with my enlarger on the kitchen table (no paper, just getting used to using it) and that's what I did. It took me a few tries, as well as adjusting the tension on my focusing knob (I have an Omega C700).. but after a few tries, I'm able to focus perfectly at a wide open aperture and stop it all the way down to 11 and it still be in focus. Just experiment.

I can understand your frustration though seeing as how you went from doing it perfectly in a class, to having nothing but problems at home.. but like everyone else has said, every piece of equipment is different.

 

[DSPhotography]

Thanks. The safelight I am using (Delta 1 Bright Lab Jr.) says safe for all polycontrast rapid and all conventional Kodak, Ilford, AGFA, DuPont, and GAF papers...so I guess I'm good on that end.

Let me ask this.. what color is your safe light? Typically you'd want an Amber (usually labeled OC or #13) if you're using VC paper. If you're using a red or green safelight filter, that right there could be your problem.

 

[BGAndrea]

Thanks. The safelight I am using (Delta 1 Bright Lab Jr.) says safe for all polycontrast rapid and all conventional Kodak, Ilford, AGFA, DuPont, and GAF papers...so I guess I'm good on that end.

Let me ask this.. what color is your safe light? Typically you'd want an Amber (usually labeled OC or #13) if you're using VC paper. If you're using a red or green safelight filter, that right there could be your problem.

Before I had the red bulbs I was using a small amber safelight and I still had the problem.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Thanks. The safelight I am using (Delta 1 Bright Lab Jr.) says safe for all polycontrast rapid and all conventional Kodak, Ilford, AGFA, DuPont, and GAF papers...so I guess I'm good on that end.

The keyword being "Says." Much like how 400 iso film will say 400, its still best to get in there do an exposure test for your equipment to find an optiinmum film speed.

If it is too close the intensity can easily be enough that it will start to fog your paper. Every darkroom I've ever set up I've needed to either diffuse the safelight to lower its intesity, or aim it away from my enlarger and bounce the light off the walls and ceiling to lower it.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Also., do you have access to a scanner? It would probably be really benificial if you can scan one of these contact sheets and post it.

 

[christopher walrath]

I printed on Ilford WT RC VC under a red safelight 2.5 feet away from the paper and had no ill affects. So, I doubt it's the color.

My suggestion would be to print again. Let's see if anything improves. If it comes out then we can pickeverything apart and see what differences there are from failure to this success. All we're doing right now is spinning wheels.

ANDREA. Print again and then fill us in on a new thread. Start with a summation from this thread and then we'll go from there.

Oh, and the only thing I saw in your process that differs from anything i have done is your development time. 1 1/2-2 minutes always seemed fine for my work (leaning toward the 1 1/2 minute mark). Not only do some test prints but also fiddle with the process a little perhaps. So what comes up. Sorry we didn't get it yet but we are a persistent group of buggers. We'll get it.

 

[CaboSailor]

BGAndrea,

OK, as you can see a lot of nice folk are around to help fix your problem. First, you can forget the enlarger, it is not a problem since you have the same symptoms printing contact sheets. For that purpose the enlarger is no different than turning on the room lights. On the subject of blurriness in the enlargements, it MIGHT be a function of those long exposures. Heat buildup might be warping the negative after you've focused. Also, during such a long exposure there is the added potential for vibration in the enlarger causing a cumulative problem.

You don't specify if you are using the System 7 filter to print your contacts as well as your enlargements. If so, I'd suggest you ditch it temporarily in as much as it is a variable that we can eliminate.

There is no reason for a 2 min exposure, in my experience even a one minute exposure was extremely rare. Please try the experiments that were suggested above such as using NO lights, safe or otherwise, develop a piece of unexposed paper. You can do this by touch and use either your watch or a preset development timer. It should turn out pure white.

Next, follow the poster's suggestion for exposing a piece of paper to just your safelight and using the coins as he suggests for a total of 2-3 min of total exposure.

Each of these steps will eliminate a potential problem from the list or identify the culprit. Sooner or later we'll zero in.

Good luck,
Rich

 

[christopher walrath]

And it could have simply been a freak thing that will not duplicate itself and were chasing a shadow that's not really there.

Run your tests. Make sure it's not something you can fix yourself. And then do some more printing to see if it's there.

 

[DSPhotography]

So.. whatever happened?

 

[christopher walrath]

Yeah, fill us in. Pins and needles here. ;p

 

[randerson07]

I had some similar issues in my bathroom darkroom, Gray muddy prints, too dark and too light.

Turns out my problem was mostly light leak related. First off my bathroom has a really big mirror and it was right behind my enlarger, second my enlarger leaks some light, my bathroom isnt big so the farthest I was setting my safelight from the paper was only a couple feet, and finally I was sealing the door jams with masking tape.

My fix was to buy black plastic tarps for gardening, I cover the mirror and the doors completely with this stuff, then I use little strips of it over the light leaks on my enlarger. And just to be completely sure I keep my safelight pointed into a corner of the ceiling.

I cant really see all that well in the room anymore, its especially hard to see test strips in the 11x14 white trays, but the prints are much much better.