what to use if not Azo?

[mark]

How do you control the exposure? Aren't the times really short?

(I was lumping POP into the general "alt" category...)

I assume you are talking about the POP. If not disregard this post.

My shortest exposure has been 8 minutes at 6500 feet in direct sunlight. We have lots of UV here.

[John Koehrer]

To control times w/o an enlarger Why not use an enlarging timer w/your bare bulb? Exposures could be as short as .1 sec. this could also be adjusted by distance from lamp to paper.

[bmac]

That is what I do. I find with my non technical approach that the warm up time for the lamop doesnt make a difference. I also use a 120 bulb instead of a 150 or 200, so my exposure times are longer.

[Max]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm personally not really all that interested in using enlarging papers (at least at the moment), but this kind of info is why APUG is such a great resource - if I had seen this info in my searching before I started using Azo last year, well... I probably would have still chosen Azo, but I would have been armed with more knowledge.

[c6h6o3]

what can you use besides Azo?

I've made some really nice contact prints on Bergger VCNB paper under the enlarger.

I've gone through a few boxes of Centennial POP from CAW. You can make beautiful prints with it, but you have to capture the image you want in the negative. There's absolutely no contrast control whatsoever. And of course dodging and burning become a problem with exposures of anywhere from 6 to 20 minutes. All in all I find it too much trouble to justify such a low 'keeper ratio'.

[roy]

[QUOTE=c6h6o3]I've made some really nice contact prints on Bergger VCNB paper under the enlarger.

I would be interested to know what developer you used for this paper. I have it in mind for something I want to do.

[c6h6o3]

I would be interested to know what developer you used for this paper. I have it in mind for something I want to do.

Sprint (faux Dektol)

[c6h6o3]

From the CAW website:

"Increased contrast, of more than one printing grade, may be achieved by exposing for extremely long durations (24 hours or more) under fluorescent illumination."

I guess their fluorescent lamp is more powerful than mine. I tried it. Still got mud. And besides, what do you do about a negative where you want to reduce contrast? (yes, I have some).