Kodak Masking Film

[snaggs]

I was reading up about Cibachromes, and they talk about getting Kodak Masking Film for making contrast masks. Can you still get this? or is there an alternative?

Daniel.

[Claire Senft]

I believe it is available in 8x10 sheets. Very expensive. Many people who are masking are using 100Tmax or other pan films given much reduced development in soft working developer. Some are using ortho films. For masking Ilfochromes a film with Pan sensitivity and a soft working developer is what I would recommend..one that gives a neutral colored...gray..film image to prevent cross over.

[Photo Engineer]

Kodak Pan Masking film has apparently been discontinued.

Any fine grained film developed to very low contrast might work to reduce the contrast of pos-pos prints. I have not tried this personally though.

PE

[Bob Carnie]

Hi There
Donald Miller on this site has done extensive masking and as well he has an article describing making unsharp masks , I would look at his article and maybe pm him with any questions on contrast control using masks.

[Photo Engineer]

There are many ways that masking films or masks can be used.

1. Color correction masking. A mask or masks are used with transparency film to correct color errors in a manner similar to the orange mask that is present in color negatives.

2. Unsharp masking used to change the 'tone' of a print from a transparency. It is similar to using a pyro developer with B&W.

3. Contrast control. This is a bit different than unsharp masking in that it is used to lower the overall contrast of a color transparency and make the print less garish, the usual result from pos-pos printing. It affects the entire gamut of the transparency, but #2 and #4 below affect mainly the toe of the final image.

4. Highlight masking. This is similar to #2 above but can be applied to any color record or to all 3 in a given scene. Often 2 and 4 are lumped together into one subject, but there are subtle differences. For example, the highlight mask can be sharp, but the unsharp mask is by definition unsharp.

Kodak has published a series of dataguides on all of these topics, but since the films are no longer available I doubt if the books are in print. In any event, if you can get them I suggeste you read up on it. They also have some very good photographs illustrating the results from each method. They also include some of this in their dataguides for the printing industry where they discuss halftone printing of color.

PE

[ras351]

As far as I'm aware Kodak have discontinued their Masking film (along with a lot of other lab products). I've used TMax100 for contrast reduction masking of transparencies for Ilfochrome printing. You get a colour shift which changes your filter pack and with some developers this can be different between the highlights and shadow although it's not usually noticeable. For a starting point underexpose the film and develop in a dilute film developer (I used ID11 1+3) for 5 minutes. If you use a tungsten source to expose the mask and use daylight balanced film you may find you need to adjust the light colour to approximate daylight (or use a filter) although you can use this to your advantage to help minimise colour crossover. I find that for the majority of my transparencies which require masking, as mentioned in another thread, I can alter contrast during the Ilfochrome development stage.

Roger.

[Robert Brummitt]

When I was in the lab business I used EktaPan film with HC 110 solution of 1to15 and worked from there.
You can try with and good quaility film.

[Donald Miller]

I was reading up about Cibachromes, and they talk about getting Kodak Masking Film for making contrast masks. Can you still get this? or is there an alternative?

Daniel.

There are several alternatives that one may use. Any conventional pan film will work. I would opt for a slow speed film (25-125 ISO) since this gives more freedom in exposures.

I would not use an ortho film such as APHS in the case of masking a color material. The ortho emulsion will not work as well because it is not balanced nearly as well to the colors in the transparency.

[boyooso]

I have found, or I believe that TMAX is TOO SHARP for my contrast reducing and color correcting masks.

I like FP4 plus. I use DDX diluted 850ml water 120ml DDX stock I process at 20/68 degrees and process from anywhere between 3-8 minutes depending upon needs. You would need to experiment for exposure.

Just my experience.

Corey

[Steve Sherman]

If anyone is interested in the real Pan Masking film by Kodak, I do have some unopened boxed 8X10 film which orginally sold for about $250.00. Send me a PM