Category: labnotes

2018 Pan Run

Posted on Posted in dye transfer, labnotes

End of run. The final bit of anti-halation black made for making panchromatic matrix emulsion. This washes out with a pre-soak as part of the processing of the matrix film; goes back to the 1950s method . After processing thru wash-off, the gelatin relief is clear, no black. This permits dye preview as in the “slip sheet” manner from the 50s. During transition of technology times, a manufacturer does not know which way the market will glide. Should we stay true, compatible with existing methods, or do we change product with expectation that the labs/market will adapt. Can we manage that risk: meaning absorb the cost and correct directions.

The initial Kodak relief, imbibition films, were clear-ish after wash-off. Previewing the color through a process of dyeing the mat, laying them atop the final support covered by a clear overlay (that 25th sheet) had become routine way of printing. A new matrix film should support that standardized lab method. Initially, PM did. But then, it didn’t. At first, PM relied upon a different tanning developer, and required a pre-wash to remove the acutance-black (sharpens by controlling “internal flare”). It was slightly blue, as was Defender-DuPont’s pan-chroma product. PM quickly moved away from the dye to a “pigment” dispersion throughout the coating. It didn’t wash out. Kodak also switched to a single tanning formula, dropping the specialized three part pan matrix developer. Soon after, PM got a number.

A long time ago doesn’t mean Y2K to me. 1950 is my long time ago.

Frank, November 2000:

During my initial years of making separations, I used Super-XX since a contact at Kodak’s Visual Research Studio suggested my PM exposures would be comparable. They were, within a step test.

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printon before ciba

Posted on Posted in labnotes, The Biz, The Positive

do you expend, or do you expand

… and Printon took an hour to soup .. it also had latency effect; the color balance changed over time between exposure and processing. A print that was exposed and processed beginning within 15 minutes of the exposure time looked one color, whereas, one which took 45 minutes before processing looked a different way. 15 minutes to 45 minutes varied towards the warm colors showing up more in a flashed border, making it possible to have a neutral print but warm toned borders; portrait shops loved it. Ansco filters were too broad stepped for fine rendering so I used them along with exposure thru wratten filters to achieve better color clarity. 

Along with these operations I could overprint using dye transfer matrices. This knowledge expanded to other print materials. I never knew of anyone else doing these things even though I told Kodak reps along with teaching methods to employees, and later, art students.

Color in one line: Dye- /coupling /transfer /destruction /diffusion

[ prelude … ]

noted: “Like many, I watched with sorrow in February as the Washington Post slashed its staff, including its classical music critic, Michael Andor Brodeur. That blow came a little less than a year after the New York Times shook up its culture desk and reassigned its classical music critic, Zachary Woolfe, to serve as the obituaries editor. (The paper is now actively searching for a new classical music critic.)” from: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/newsletter/2026-09-25/essential-arts-template?

Basic Orange

Posted on Posted in exs notebook, labnotes

squeeze the net hard enough, you get lemons.

consider the color negative. That piece of orange film -- so it seems. The base must be orange. It isn't. The orange is within the emulsion. Its purpose is color correction of dyes used in the Color Negative-Positive process of image making. 
I used to demonstrate, and have students attempt to duplicate with their explanation the following "test" -- experience.

     We will process color negative stubs (short 12 exposure rolls)
-- One is processed in D-76 developer  -thru fix, wash, dry. It may contain images. Your choice.
-- Another isn't exposed, it is unexposed but processed fully in Color negative line (C-4!) -- thru all chems, then dried.
-- Final one isn't exposed, but it isn't sent thru any developer. It is only fixed out using the C-41 fixer, then washed and dried.

Question: what are the differences? firstly, what do they look like? And, what are the differences in their curve shapes? Why do you think that is.

In this day, 2026, the mask is considered by most as existing uniformly and present in the "base". 
Adding a test -- can the orange be removed from the film: 
-- using abrasion
-- using chemistry

Did the base of the film disappear, dissolve, or merely look more like BW clear base.