Melenex subbed film base

[dwross]

Hi All,

For all you fearless and open-minded photographers, willing to brew your own emulsion, but unwilling to load your mule with glass plates, the Photographers' Formulary has Melenex subbed film base back on the market.

This morning I posted a bit of information on using the product. I love the stuff. I use the same recipe as I use for glass plates. I imagine a commercial Liquid Light type product would work also.

http://www.thelightfarm.com/Map/Film...s/MapTopic.htm

Denise

[CRhymer]

Hello Denise,

That is good news. I bought 60 linear feet of it about a year ago, but have not done much yet. I am currently working on wet-plate.

Cheers,
Clarence

[Kirk Keyes]

Clarence - how's that going? Made any 20x24 plates yet?

[CRhymer]

Hello Kirk,

In a word, no. It was a horrendous task to get the wet-plate chemicals shipped - hazmat, etc. etc. It is starting to get cold here, but nothing compared with what it will be like in six weeks. I have been fixing a Cirkut camera, which is rather time consuming, but a new emulsion and some collodion plates are on the list for December. The Cirkut camera will not be happy in the cold (and neither will I). It is a real pain to fiddle with equipment when it is minus 45 C., so I will be doing more indoor work. There is not a lot of light here in the winter, save for the occasional meteor.

Cheers,
Clarence

[dyetransfer]

The Melinex film is the roll I had here for coating my matrix film. It is the last roll in existance with the proper subbing layer which won't take up dyes and stain the hilights in a dye print. Dupont no longer stocks this film, but you can order a factory run for about $ 100K.

I also sold Bud the trough coater (the one in the plexi box) and the complete travelling slot coating system, including emulsion making equipment, sink, massive ultra flat aluminum vacuum platen, and the coater itself. Also the HEPA filtered dryer. This would be just the thing for coating large glass plates up to 32 x 42". After coating the sheet and setting the gel, you lift it off the coater and dry it in the HEPA filtered dryer. After drying, you can cut it up into any sized plate. This coater would be uniquely suited for this purpose. AFAIK, Bud at the Formulary hasn't used this piece of equipment, and would probably be willing to sell it to anyone interested in coating large glass plates. It would be perfect for plate work, and it occupies a very minimal amount of space considering that it is a sort of mini-factory. Please see my DT materials manual at www.dyetransfer.org to see pictures of all this.

Regards - Jim Browning

[wildbillbugman]

Denise,
What is wrong with glass plates? I love glass. Even if there is no image at all on it. A transparent,fluid solid! What could be more magical? You don,t need a mule. Just a wheel or two,or three or four. Plastic is tacky by comparison.
Cheers,
Bill

[Shangheye]

I have to say that for someone like me, just about to enter the own emulsion arena, this is a god send. It removes one variable (the subbing/holder issues) and allows me to develop my competence, and is yet another avenue for experimentation. I for one have already bought some Kal

[Hologram]

Hi All,
For all you fearless and open-minded photographers, willing to brew your own emulsion, but unwilling to load your mule with glass plates, the Photographers' Formulary has Melenex subbed film base back on the market.

Just wanted to remind you again that you might bath TAC (triacetate) film in a highly alkaline solution to make its surface hydrophilic.

As for PET films there are some “write-on film“ for overhead projection, mine are from FOLEX. They're “crystal“ clear. They obviously accept certain types of gelatin. For example, Aldrich's 300 bloom swine gelatin proofed to stick well on this type of film. The layers well survived Neutol development and EDTA bleaching.

[dwross]

Bill,
I think glass is magic, too. I just recently found out that scientists still aren't exactly sure what the physics of glass are. Too cool. And beautiful, and clear, and cheap, and almost certainly available for the rest of my emulsion-making days. But, I also agree with Kal. Melenex removes some of the initial hurdles of working with dry plates. It gives people time to collect holders and big cameras. Unfortunately, Jim's supply, now at the Formulary, is limited. I just hope it hooks a whole bunch of people on making emulsions before it runs out Beautiful glass will be there when it does. There might even be a new source of subbed film.

Holgram,
Thank you for the thoughts on pre-treating film. I have trying out your ideas on my ToDo list, but I'd love to see you get to it first and tell us all about it. Are you currently making emulsions or planning on it? You would certainly make some great contributions to the field.

Denise

[Hologram]

Holgram,
Thank you for the thoughts on pre-treating film. I have trying out your ideas on my ToDo list, but I'd love to see you get to it first and tell us all about it. Are you currently making emulsions or planning on it? You would certainly make some great contributions to the field.

Denise

I actually did make some AgX emulsions I coated on PET film – very few on TAC also (It turned out to be difficult to get small quantities of TAC). One problem in the area I am interested in, holography, is that the usual PET (as well as a great many plastic) films are optically active, birefringent. They change linear to random polarization. This leads to severe “cosmetic“ defects on the holograms. Hence, PET film definitely is not my first choice. My assumption though was that for photographic applications this will not be of an issue.