Printing: new dog, old tricks.

[macmx]

Hi all,

I have been happy taking up traditional black and white printing. However, now I am demanding more and more from my prints. I am getting better at exposure and contrast control (I have en Ilford Multigrade enlarger), but I find that impurities, mainly dust and fibers, appear on my prints too often. This is especially a problem with dark skies in landscapes when using orange or red filters.

Can any of you experienced printers help my solve this problem? Using anti static cloth and compressed air doesn't seem to work as well as I hope. I am just not doing it thoroughly enough? Should I clean my enlarger more often/better? Are there any specific steps I can take? I think most of the problems comes from dust and fibers on the negative holder, which as you know has four planes of glass for dust to land on.

Any help is much appreciated.

After seeing an Ansel Adams exhibition, I realize that I must be able to do a much better job!

Thanks,

Mc

 

[nathantw666]

The anti-static cloth is your worse enemy. That's what put the dust and lint onto your negative. My suggestion is to not use it. What I use is a Discwasher Zerostat (not sure if it's still sold today) and then an old air brush that's attached to an air compressor and spray off anything that might be on the negative. I haven't had a problem with dust in the 26 years I've been doing this.

Some people like using a anti-static brush and compressed air. I'm sure that works too. When I needed to get the dust off a particularly dirty negative I have used one of those brushes that had a plastic bulb at the end that could be squeezed to blow dust off. Either way I think gently using a brush is better than using a cloth.

Good luck.

Nathan

 

[rexel]

Hi all,

I have been happy taking up traditional black and white printing. However, now I am demanding more and more from my prints. I am getting better at exposure and contrast control (I have en Ilford Multigrade enlarger), but I find that impurities, mainly dust and fibers, appear on my prints too often. This is especially a problem with dark skies in landscapes when using orange or red filters.

Can any of you experienced printers help my solve this problem? Using anti static cloth and compressed air doesn't seem to work as well as I hope. I am just not doing it thoroughly enough? Should I clean my enlarger more often/better? Are there any specific steps I can take? I think most of the problems comes from dust and fibers on the negative holder, which as you know has four planes of glass for dust to land on.

Any help is much appreciated.

After seeing an Ansel Adams exhibition, I realize that I must be able to do a much better job!

Thanks,

Mc

Hi I use a glassless negative holder which makes things a bit simpler and just a compressed air on the negative once in the holder.

The reality is that the odd speck of dust is inevitable. That shows you the print is a real picture made by a human and not splurged out of an inkjet machine. I have a set of Tetenal warm tone touch up pens and just fade out any anoying marks. Fibre based paper is a lot easier to patch up from this respect.

Richard