DARKROOM LOGBOOK

09/16/2024

My first actual day of large format shooting, and finally I have a lensboard! This is actually made from wood that came with the camera. The laser cutter in my school's lab had been out of commission for some time because the fume extractor failed, but now that it's fixed I could cut the hole for the #1 shutter and mount it. I brought the camera out, and though it rained intermittently I managed to keep it dry photographing scenes around campus. I made one more awful print from each of the new negatives, trying lower contrast grades. Turned out that negative contrast was about the same, I was just misjudging more highlight density and area as more negative contrast. I really have to conserve paper now before the airshow — it'll be mostly negative creation trying to balance those hot edges and maintain sharpness from view to exposure between then and now. The interesting thing about the hot edges I'm seeing is, even in the new negatives, they expand into the unexposed border. It's like the developer is working on unexposed silver, not even just shadow areas on the negative. I want to figure out if there's a chemical solution to this.



09/14/2024

Big things! First, outside of the lab, I was noticing the shutter was getting worse so I did a partial teardown and cleaned the main ring (528) and its spring with naphtha. It's keeping perfect time now except for the 1/200 and 1/400 speeds, which are both about a stop slow. It's not great but it's enough until the Triflow gets here, apparently on the 18th. In the lab, my first 5x7 contact print! I'm getting vicious hot edges with the Fuji HR-T 5x7, which I suspect/have been advised is because I'm using a 5x7-sized tray, but I can't get an 8x10 Cescolite yet so I'll just have to live with them I guess. It's not very sharp since it's the last print I'm making without a lensboard but it's a start. 95M, about 12 seconds, lens stopped down to f/8 with no negative carrier. Fuji HR-T expired 2016 cut down to 5x7 on Arista EDU RC VC Semi-Matte paper. I hear this stuff is Fomaspeed Variant 312. I'd love to try Fomabrom soon, but it'll have to wait until whenever I get the money together. The negative was a little thin and foggy.



09/12/2024

This wasn't actually a lab day, but it was a manual photography day. I got this Schneider Symmar convertible 210/5.6 in a Compur MX-1 shutter today, earlier than expected which was nice. It was described only as "fog in lenses, speeds inaccurate, needs total overhaul" so I was prepared for the worst, but everything seemed to work fine. However, when I removed the front cell to see how the lens would look converted (as you do to get a 370mm f/12 with the first Symmars), the front plate came off. I'm fairly sure the cam that held it in place was already almost all the way off, and changing the shutter speed just dragged it, but whatever happened when it fell off made it impossible to just cam the plate back on. After a good while of cross-checking the pictures in the service manual and the one youtube video on the topic, I figured out all the issues and reassembled it, but unfortunately it seems that the main ring is still dragging. I have some Triflow oil on the way on recommendation of a dead forum thread about this shutter, so hopefully it'll work. I have to be very sparing with it.



08/31/2024

Poured a near-perfect carbon tissue yesterday, but bumped it before it set and since I'm trying a borderless tissue it flowed off the sheet. Pouring another one today, on the same piece of plastic. Just washed it off and did the detergent rinse. Hopefully this goes alright but I'm seeing the waves I had when I first tried carbon printing so I don't have a great deal of hope here.



08/27/2024

Starting the log here becuase I can't really remember the dates before. It was a slow day in the darkroom. I was mostly just clearing a sheet of 8x10 X-ray film and making ~140mL of glop in hopes of pouring another carbon tissue. My biggest problem in creating tissues is dust — it's basically unavoidable at the moment and it ruins every one of my tissues. If I can fix dust cheaply, I can fix my carbon tissues and as such all of my carbon problems at the moment. Everything else has a well-documented fix with a spot in the budget, but I can't squeeze this in and afford it. Attached is the cleared X-ray sheet, reflecting the lights of my bathroom lab.



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