> Farmer's Reducer:
Neat chimical. I think it has some pretty noxious stuff in it, some compound of cyanide comes to mind, probably an iron compound (fericyanide??). It actually reduces the total silver content of the negative, bit tends to increase contrast as well, since the low density parts of the image are affected faster.
There seems to be a common thread of high contrast in this stuff. He also had some Kalt special effects film (ISO - 6) and "Title" film.
> > Kodak Film Cleaner:
Basic film cleaner, most are trichlorethylene or some such. Always wipe in a straight line along the film, don't wipe in circles.
Is it for the emulsion side, non-emulsion side, or both?
I've cleaned slides and negs on the non-emulsion slide with just a drop of distilled water on a swab. Seems safer....
> Potassium Dichromate:
Gum dichromate printing. I tried it when I was a kid in high school. The potassium dichromate is light sensitive, and you make an emulsion using it, gelatin and watecolour pigment. The emulsion is brushed onto watercolour paper that has been cured in a gelatin/formalin solution, then contact printed. After the exposure, generally a half hour or so in daylight, the print is soaked in several changes of water. The parts that are exposed have hardened, and the pigment stays, the unexposed parts are not hardened, and the pigment washes out. It is a process that dates back to the late 1800s.
Cool. That explains the packets of Knox gelatin that were with the Potassium Dichromate.
> Moving through the process - there are bottles of Rapid Fixer A and Rapid > Fixer B.
Part A is ammonium thosulphate, which is basic fixer. I can't remember what the part B is made from, but it is the hardener. Use the part A, and dispose of the part B according to local regulations. Modern black and white materials don't benefit from hardening anyway.
Yes, the bottle of Fixer-B is labelled as a hardener. The warnings on the bottle concern sulpheric acid and the attendant problems....
> I have one envelope of Hypo clear. Of course, it holds enough hypo powder > to make 5 gallons of solution.
Sift the powder into a mixing bowl, then measure how many teaspoons of powder there are. Divide the powder into 5 equal amounts and store each portion in a Baggie.
I've been told that a lot of photo chemicals in bags are like a cake mix - different dry chemicals dumped into the bag but not mixed up uniformly - making it all but impossible to get decent results by dividing the dry chemisty. Is hypo a homogenous chemical or do I have to really mix it up before dividing it.
Any of the cyanude compounds should probably be dealt with as a hazardous material.
Yeah - definitely!
Thanks Bill !
- MCC
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Mark Cassino
Kalamazoo, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Photos:
http://www.markcassino.com
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