We are open as usual until 23rd of December.
24th of December we will open from 9.30am to 1pm.
Remember we are now open on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm -last saturday we will open is 20th of December.
Closing times: from 1pm 24th of December until 5th of January 2009.
We will back to open as usual on 5th of January 2009.

news!

FB Christmas Cards

The problem with using FB papers for cards is that folding in the normal way produces pronounced cracking of the surface, due to stressing the baryta layer beyond it's normal tolerance.
This handy little method enables a perfect permanent fold to be produced, with no cracking.

Boil up a bit of water, then with a reasonably fine brush (we used a no. 2) using a straight edge held a little above the surface, run a line of this hot water down the line of the fold, on the emulsion side. Keep the line of moisture as narrow as possible. Repeat a few times. Bend on the line of the fold, initially slightly emulsion in, then reverse the folding to emulsion out. Increase the pressure, and finally roll the fold down with something suitable, we used a roll of tape. Gives a perfect fold, no cracking. Any FB paper should respond the same way, the one we used to test was Ilford FB Warmtone glossy.

The 'Other Multigrade'

Soft-working print developers in recent years have slipped away from printers familiar territory, and as a blast from the past here is a new one, we are calling Speedibrews 'Adaptol II' in honour of an old Agfa predecessor.

The main characteristic of a soft working developer is a balance of developing agents tilted towards Metol, giving full speed, but controlling build-up of contrast. Most off-the-peg print developers are highly energetic, and tuned up to give maximum contrast from a material, as one would expect. Soft paper developers offer a way of controlling tonal range in the print at the development stage, and usually work about a grade or so softer than normal. They are particularly useful if aiming to produce maximum tonality in the print, and might complement, for example, a negative processed in pyro developer, containing a well separated range of tonal values.

Image colour is normally biased towards warm, when working with warm-tone papers. One technique to explore is using soft-working developer in conjunction with a full contrast print developer, with separate trays of each, giving perhaps 75% of the developing time in the soft working developer, draining quickly and then finishing with the remaining time in the full contrast one. This will have the effect of extending the tonal range with the first stage, and then ramming home the very deepest tonal values during the second part of the development.

Our Adaptol ll is supplied as a 2-part powder pack, making a 1 litre stock solution with plenty of capacity, which dilutes 1+3 for normal use. It dissolves easily when mixed into warm water, and contains components which assist in the mixing, as well as delivering a good Dmax from the metol-biased formula.
The price is £5.75, inc VAT. buy it here →

The test here shows an extreme case; the negative is a hand-coated 8 x 10" glass plate which being made from our SE1 print emulsion could be classed as 'bullet proof', with extremely high contrast and density. Prints were made onto Fomatone 131 glossy warm-tone FB paper, the enlarger head set for grade 2. Agfa Neutol WA was used as control for comparison with the Adaptol ll. Developing time was 1.5 minutes at 20° C.

The Adaptol ll clearly digs into the highlight information while restraining the build-up in the shadows, revealing the plate as the truly distressed artifact it is, and almost creating an art form out of the defects!

The New Fomatone 532

There are more funerals than christenings in photo materials, and it's a rarity for there to be a new black & white photo paper - when it happens, & it's a good one there's cause for serious celebration. This is the replacement for a discontinued Foma paper, Fomatone 'Nature', which became unavailable when the base paper was discontinued. Foma now have a new base paper; the paper is still branded 'Nature' but the code is now 532 ll. Although still using the warm Fomatone chloro-bromide emulsion the paper surface is quite different from it's predecessor, and we consider it now occupies a unique and valuable niche. The previous base had a significant texture, and was approaching matt. The new one is smoother, with a high degree of surface sheen, warm-tone with dense blacks. Visually it can be considered a smooth lustre finish, and can be used as an alternative to 'glossy unglazed'. Sizes are 9.5x12", 12x16", 16x20", and 20x24". The weight is 245gsm, the tint a natural white, ie slightly warm to complement the emulsion.

Pictures are;
Top - straight print in warm developer angled to show the surface sheen.
Left - the same print scanned, Neutol WA developer for normal time.
Below - both light & heavy lith prints using Fotospeed lith developer.