First of all, this post has SUV content because it is an important element
to the story--you have been warned.
Saturday was the first time in about two years that I've been in my darkroom
actually making prints. It was both a joyous time and a very frustrating
time. Joyous, because of the beautiful results of silver-gelatin on fiber
prints that result. Looking at the prints I was utterly amazed at the glow,
the sharpness and the overall aesthetic of the images. Oh, and the
tonalities. WOW!
Several observations on film:
1. Ilford PanF really does have one of the smoothest tonality sweeps I've
ever encountered in any film and the tonal separation is simply amazing.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try, it is impossible to get the same
when scanned. It's something that can only be seen with a chemical print, I
think.
2. Ilford Delta 400 pushed two stops (ISO 1600), works extremely well
(processed in Ilfotec DD-X) and although not grainless is outstanding for
event work. I've never liked 1600/3200 films as the grain is not only the
size of golf-balls, but the films are generally not sharp. Delta 400, when
pushed, maintains the sharpness and grainsize of it being shot at ISO 400,
just that the grain contrast (acutance) is increased.
3. Fuji Neopan 100ss is a nice film and everything, but definitely does not
have the PanF tonalities. It seems to be a good general-purpose film for
people and street photography where you can hide a multitude of sins in the
shadows, but for landscape work, the film is a bit unrefined. That said, it
does scan quite well and isn't a bad film, just not the best film. It was
dirt-cheep, though, and served its purpose. I think what really bit me is
that the color reponse of the film is dramatically different than what i am
used to and exposure variance when using filters gave me some underexposed
shots as well as overexposed shots when I was overcompensating. Would I buy
it again if I can find it? Maybe. We'll see. I won't commit right now.
But, like I said, for street photography, it's terrific.
So, back to the darkroom...
I had several things really different. Instead of my normal Ilford
Multigrade IV developer, I was using Dektol. Instead of my normal Ilford
Rapid fixer, I was using Kodak fixer. I didn't realize till later that my
Dektol was not diluted properly. Grrrrr. But that was the least of my
worries. Way too many things different to have any semblance of a system.
But that's ok, I wasn't expecting to do anything more than proof prints this
weekend. Oh, and did I mention that the temperature was almost 80 degrees
in the darkroom? Talk about active developer!
I was chasing exposures all over the place. Absolutely miserable. My meter
was worthless for giving me proper exposures. Finally, out of disgust I
reprogrammed the meter with exposure and contrast calibration data that
looked closer to what was coming out. But then the next set of prints were
all over in another neighborhood! Finally, I noticed something, so I took a
little piece of paper, placed something on a corner of it and set it on my
counter for a minute. When developed, I saw my problem. Light pollution.
I looked at my safelight and discovered that it was causing me problems, so
i moved it and pointed it up at the ceiling. Took care of some of the
problem... But it didn't address all the light coming in through the door.
Later, in the evening after the sun went down, everything returned closer
to, uh, normal...
Which brings me to the SUV...
To use the darkroom, I had to drive my wife's Jeep out of it.
Yup, you guessed it--I'm set up on a workbench in the garage. Light leakage
through the gaps between the panels in the garage door made for enough light
in the "darkroom" that you could almost read a newspaper. So, to address
that, I set up the photographic backdrop to create a bit of a "wall" in the
garage.
Oh, for my own dedicated workspace again.... We moved to the condo to save
money--which we did and are. Fortunately, we sold our house before the
meltdown and reduced our mortgage payments by about $700 per month. The one
sacrifice I had to make was the loss of my darkroom space. I'm really
wanting it back somehow...
AG
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