drydown

[lewis]

If I quickly dry a fibre paper test strip - will it be a reliable guide to the tones in a print that is dried slowly ? ie - if i dry it on an oven, but hang the paper to dry...?

[Dave Miller]

It should do, didn't AA use a microwave oven of this purpose?

[Sean]

I use the microwave quite a bit to test dry down..

[ann]

Donald, yes he did.

Lewis, tear the print in half, especially at the highlight areas, dry one half and then you can compare the dry to the wet side. Or, of course a whole print; one dry one wet.

Different papers will have different times, just keep a record.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Also, read Les McLean's article on drydown in the articles section of APUG.

[Wally H]

I found that that reducing the wattage of the inspection lamp was a more practical way (for me) to deal with dry down issues. I kept reducing the wattage until I felt that my inspections matched (at least my expectations of) the print when dry. To test this I kept a final dry print, re-wet it and then matched it to a newly made print. I still use this technique if I need to match a print as exactly as possible. I also squeegee the print of excess water during inspection as I feel the wet print tones did not match a dry print, (at least with the paper I use).

[dphphoto]

When A A did this, it was called a radar range.
How long do you develop your prints for? I was fortunate enough to take George Tice's b&w printing workshop in Maine about 10 years ago. I learned that if you develop your prints for 3 minutes you significantly reduce drydown, almost to the point of irrelevancy. I still print that way to this day. Dean

[hortense]

Here’s what John Sexton does – and, what I do:
1. Get 45 watt (GTE Jordan Flan) GT8 or something roughly equivatlent.
2. Preferably direct the light vertically downward on a slanted white acrylic surface that has a standard gray card positioned on it.
3. Set your light meter on ASA 100. Viewing distance should be 8-feet or whatever distance you view your wet prints.
4. Set the distance for you light such that your meter will read EV 6.5 to 7.0.
Bruce Barnbaum must do something like this since has and several articles, “There is no such thing as dry-down.” While we all now that dry-down effect print emulsions, this is a faster way of getting to the final print.

[jovo]

If I quickly dry a fibre paper test strip - will it be a reliable guide to the tones in a print that is dried slowly ? ie - if i dry it on an oven, but hang the paper to dry...?

After you've done whatever you think might work to quickly dry a print, drop some water on a light area and watch for the immediate lightening that will occur. Any doubt about whether or not dry down has occured will be convincingly eliminated and you'll get a quick sense of how much you'll need to compensate.

[Wally H]

When A A did this, it was called a radar range.
How long do you develop your prints for? I was fortunate enough to take George Tice's b&w printing workshop in Maine about 10 years ago. I learned that if you develop your prints for 3 minutes you significantly reduce drydown, almost to the point of irrelevancy. I still print that way to this day. Dean

I have one of these Amana "Radar Ranges" for sale... Although it is not signed by AA, it is very retro cool and zaps stuff much better than the newer, safer models...