Intro to Color Printing

[Tom Taylor]

Tom, try the Fuji at room temperature! And have fun.

As for the starter, if you want to work at RT then leave the starter out and use the replenisher.

PE

Thanks for the reply PE but it begs the question: What purpose does the starter serve?

I process with a Jobo at the Kodak and Jobo recommended temperature and Kodak recommended time.

Thomas

[Photo Engineer]

Tom;

You asked "why leave the starter out" and the answer is that the developer then reacts better at room temp.

Your second question in post #11 is "what purpose does the starter serve" and the answer has been posted here many times. Namely, the starter makes the developer look "seasoned" as if it was used in a continuous process. It adds ingredients leached out of the paper during processing.

PE

[Tom Taylor]

Thanks again PE. Good information to keep in mind in case the Jobo goes out and I have to process by hand at room temperature.

[Wolfeye]

One other question - what exactly is a "color analyzer" and what does it do? I'm totally guessing - do you project the negative onto this device and it tells you what it thinks the color settings should be?

[Photo Engineer]

You have to make a good print first. Then you read a point on that negative with the analyzer and set that to a standard. When you print a new negative, you pick a point close to the same color and use those settings to adjust the filter pack. That is one type. Another type looks at the entire print and integrates the color and assumes it to be overall neutral gray. If that makes a good print, then the assumption is continued and if a negative integrates as other than gray, the analyzer suggests a change.

I don't use one. It is too cumbersome and expensive. It is also error prone to novice users. Color negative films give me the same results for the last 60 years for filter pack with modern papers.

PE

[2F/2F]

I came across a Tetenal 2-step paper developing kit so now I'm curious about maybe trying color printing. I have an Omega C700 enlarger. If I wanted to use that enlarger and not purchase a color head, would a filter pack be the only way to go? What kind of safelight is good /safe with color paper - if any?

A good beginning book for color pix is Henry Horenstein's, with the Mapplethorpe pic on the cover (purple/yellow). I think it is simply called "Color Photography". It would be much better for all concerned than putting together/handing out the pieces bit by bit online if people would read a basic text before diving into a very technically involved practice. Your questions, all of the basic color printing concerns, and many less-than-basic ones are covered in this text, which is quite thin, and easy to read.

[tiberiustibz]

In addition to a black and white darkroom, for RA4 you need: Chemistry, paper, and filters or a dichro head for your enlarger

[3Dfan]

Can you use a flatbed scanner as a color analyzer?

[tiberiustibz]

Can you use a flatbed scanner as a color analyzer?

No. You can use your eyes though.

If the print is cyan, subtract magenta and yellow. print will darken
If the print is magenta, add magenta. print will lighten
If the print is yellow, add yellow. print will lighten
If the print is red, add magenta and yellow. print will lighten
If the print is green, subtract magenta. print will darken
If the print is blue, subtract yellow. print will darken
If the print is dark, shorten the exposure or close the lens aperture
If the print is light, increase the time or open the lens aperture

Generally a color analyzer looks at the color of the light emitted from the enlarger and compares it to a calibrated reference value (that you establish!) and tells you when it matches. For example, you can photograph a grey card. When you make your first print look neutral, you calibrate the analyzer. The next time you have a negative of a different film with a grey card, you can compare the two and set it equal. The alternative is remembering your number for each film and being able to adapt them when necessary. Remember that either way you're on your own making the first print.

You could use a scanner if you scanned and had the computer look at the print but why do that when YOU can look at the print.

[3Dfan]

I wouldn't want the scanner to look at the print. I would want it to look at the negative. Why waste paper?