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Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 25th 04, 03:43 AM
Jos. Burke
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?

Want to try my hand at traditional color printing using a Durst enlarger (
CLS-301 head). My question--Which color printing aids are the best bet for a
beginner to get a good print? Kodak has them! Jobo has them? whats the best
bang for the buck?
This is in regard to obtaining proper (tweaking) filtration settings
primarily and exposure secondary.
J Buke


  #2  
Old January 25th 04, 02:04 PM
Jim Phelps
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?


"Jos. Burke" wrote in message
...
Want to try my hand at traditional color printing using a Durst enlarger (
CLS-301 head). My question--Which color printing aids are the best bet for

a
beginner to get a good print? Kodak has them! Jobo has them? whats the

best
bang for the buck?
This is in regard to obtaining proper (tweaking) filtration settings
primarily and exposure secondary.
J Buke



Get yourself a set of the Kodak Color Print Viewing Filters (pub R-25 IIRC).
These will help aid you in determining what and how much filtration you need
to adjust.

Also, Make a standard negative for your film and process. Include someone
with average skin tones and a color chart and gray scale. Process this the
way you will always process your film. We used to call this a 'Shirley' as
that was the name of the model who posed for Kodak (they came in the Color
Darkroom Dataguides).

Don't rely on someone else's standard negative. Make your own!

Jim


  #3  
Old January 25th 04, 02:32 PM
Nick Zentena
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?

Jos. Burke wrote:
Want to try my hand at traditional color printing using a Durst enlarger (
CLS-301 head). My question--Which color printing aids are the best bet for a
beginner to get a good print? Kodak has them! Jobo has them? whats the best
bang for the buck?
This is in regard to obtaining proper (tweaking) filtration settings
primarily and exposure secondary.



I was in the same spot more or less a few months ago.

1) A notebook. Write everything down. On the back of your test prints
right down the filter settings and exposure. Don't toss the bad ones. You
want to learn what happens when you change the filters.

2) On the Kodak website a series of pdfs on processing Ra-4 can be found.
In at least one of those documents is a little chart that goes something like

Your print is too:

Red add yellow and magenta
Yellow add yellow

etc
etc


I assume you mean the Kodak viewing filters. I don't think they are made
anymore. I bought a used set and to be honest I've never figured out
anything with them. For exposure I just do a test strip.

Once you've got the filter settings right for a photo then I found
any photo taken under the same lighting doesn't require a change in the
filters. It's just a question of getting the exposure right.

Nick

  #4  
Old January 25th 04, 03:03 PM
Nick Zentena
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?

Nick Zentena wrote:


2) On the Kodak website a series of pdfs on processing Ra-4 can be found.
In at least one of those documents is a little chart that goes something like

Your print is too:

Red add yellow and magenta
Yellow add yellow

etc
etc



Ooops the chart is in the document on the Kodak paper.


http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe....22.26.3&lc=en


I personally got more out of having the section on color balance next to
the enlarger then I did from the viewing filters.

Nick
  #5  
Old January 25th 04, 09:28 PM
Jim Phelps
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?


[snip]


I assume you mean the Kodak viewing filters. I don't think they are

made
anymore. I bought a used set and to be honest I've never figured out
anything with them. For exposure I just do a test strip.

Once you've got the filter settings right for a photo then I found
any photo taken under the same lighting doesn't require a change in the
filters. It's just a question of getting the exposure right.

Nick


Nick,

I believe they're still made. At least I see them still offered for sale.
They are acetate filters and if you bought a used set, they may be faded or
discolored, and therefore not usable. Especially if they came in the Kodak
Yellow wallet. The wallet color was changed to black several years ago. In
fact, I'm getting ready to order another set as the one's I have are faded
To test, lay them on a piece of color paper and give them a short exposure
at mid aperture range, and process. You should see the expected colors (red
under cyan, green under magenta, etc, etc, etc). You should also see
significant changes in color intensity and density. If you don't, they're
faded.

I found them very helpful when just starting out. Trying to earn the
experience to say the print is 7CC to yellow without them was frustrating.
However, I will admit, that was in the days of Ektacolor 37 paper (have I
been doing this that long - sheese). Ektacolor 37 (and later 74, which was
twice the speed) were very picky papers. A couple of seconds to long in the
developer and the color shifted. Same with temps.

To use them, under daylight (or viewing light if they will be hung under
other lighting), you dodge them in and out of your vision while looking at
your print at about arms length. Don't let the light that illuminates the
paper pass through the filter, or you have twice the color correction (once
as the light goes through the filter and again as it's reflected back to
your eye through the filter).

None of the above will be a help unless you've determined the correct
exposure for the print. It's important to have the correct density in your
test print before you begin to judge for color.

[Nick, some content of this message is for the OP]



  #6  
Old January 25th 04, 10:54 PM
Nick Zentena
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Default Newbie-- (WET!) Color printing aid question...Which is best?

Jim Phelps wrote:


I believe they're still made. At least I see them still offered for sale.


I couldn't find any when I was looking. I actually couldn't even find the
set of Kodak printing filters. The various retailers had single filters but
I couldn't find the CP set. My viewing filters are in the black wallet.
I'm not saying the viewing filters don't work it's just they seem to require
you to know what changes are needed. I ended up using the filters more for
confirming what the little chart from Kodak said then to figure out what to use.


Nick
 




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