PALLADIUM

[TheFlyingCamera]

Home-built UV unit made of black-light fixtures from Home Depot, made by GE, around $17-20 a pop. I've got 6 of them screwed to the bottom of a shelf in an IKEA shelving unit. All six are plugged in to a surge strip which is then hooked in to a Gra-lab timer.

[doughowk]

Light Unit: home-made under-the-counter with 7 spiral BLB bulbs in a 2-3-2 configuration. It enables me to handle up to 7X17 and 11X14 prints.

Methods: those who use dichromate in developer method for contrast control, is there any consistency problem? When I was printing Kallitypes and using different percentages of Dichromate in developer, my results would vary between sessions. It was extremely difficult to determine when the dichromate should be replenished. Its one reason I gave up on Kallitypes.

[sanking]

Methods: those who use dichromate in developer method for contrast control, is there any consistency problem? When I was printing Kallitypes and using different percentages of Dichromate in developer, my results would vary between sessions. It was extremely difficult to determine when the dichromate should be replenished. Its one reason I gave up on Kallitypes.

I have printed in both kallitype and pure palladium using the dichromate in developer control system and did not have any consistency problem between sessions that could not be attributed to another factor, coating procedure, room humidity or drying time for example.

Keep in mind that for maximum consistency one must add fresh solution to the developer using some type of replenishment system. I generally add about 100 ml of fresh solution for every 100 square inches of exposed paper that goes through the developer. Obviously you will need to add a proportionate amount of dichromate to the fresh solution to match what is in the solution being replenished.

There is of course something of a logistical problem with the dichromate control system if one is working with negatives of different density range in that several bottles of developer containing different amounts of dichromate must be kept on hand.

Sandy King

[Allen Friday]

I just keep adding fresh developer to replace the used developer. I keep a gallon of Pot. Ox in the darkroom with no dichromate added (grade 0). If I am using grade 2 developer, which requires 4 drops of dichromate per 100 ml of Pot. Ox, I will pour 100 ml into a beaker and add the drops of dichromate and then add the mixed solution to the developer. I just keep doing this over and over and have never had a problem with contrast. I do start with fresh developer every six months or so, but I also do large prints (16x20 and 20x24) so I go through a lot of developer.

If you read about the dichromate method, the books talk about keeping 7 bottles of developer around with different contrast mixtures. I don't. I develop my negatives pretty consistently, so I only keep bottles of developer 1, 2, and 3 handy, plus the large bottle of PO 0. It is kind of like keeping boxes of graded paper for silver work. You could buy boxes of grade 0,1,2,3,4,and 5 to cover all your negatives. But most people really only need grade 1,2,and 3 once they learn how to control their negatives. Just about all my negatives print well on grade 2 PO developer. I guess I use it for about 80% of my images.