![]() ![]() Ilford under the lens filter kits are provided with a universal filter drawer that will fit any enlarger. Ilford Over Lens filters are supplied in a cardboard box with internal dividers for each filter.įilters are individually labelled with the grade. The filter kits cover all of the grades from 0 to 5 in ½ grade steps. Under lens filters and above lens filter drawers are quite easy to use too. ![]() It is controlled by an electronic keypad and the Multigrade 500CPM is by far the best with 9 memories for exposures. The Ilford Multigrade 500 system is the ultimate in sophistication for this type of VC enlarger system. Some enlargers have VC heads with the filters built-in. A yellow filter blocks out most of the blue light for low contrast, magenta filters allow blue light to pass through resulting in high contrast.įilters for VC papers come in various shapes and sizes. In practice, exposure times are shorter using the complementary colours of yellow and magenta. Using blue-green or green light the sensitivity of each emulsion varies so this produces less density and in turn lower contrast. All 3 emulsions have the same high sensitivity to blue light which gives lots of density and this increases the contrast. Ilford Multigrade papers contain 3 emulsions with different sensitivities to blue and green light. In practice, filters are used to block particular colours. The useful colours that make variable contrast papers work are from blue to green light. With VC papers it is controlled using specific colours of light. Contrast comes from having different levels of silver built up across the print. The silver is coated with gelatin to hold it in place and is often referred to as a silver gelatin print. There is no ink in a darkroom print! The density in a black and white darkroom print is silver metal. If you are new to darkroom printing I suggest you start with RC Pearl paper. It also easier to handle as any marks are less obvious. It is good for framing prints without a window matt as the lightly textured surface prevents patterns forming between glass and print surface. Pearl is the compromise between glossy and matt. It is also good for displaying prints in areas where there is lots of light from many directions as it will not pick up reflections on the surface. It is best for high key images or those which don’t have strong blacks. Matt gives dark grey not black when compared to a glossy print. It is not good for situations with lots of handling of prints. There will be lots of reflections off the surface making fingerprints and other marks highly visible. Glossy gives deepest blacks and hence greatest contrast. It is much more difficult to use properly so I would suggest that you don’t use FB papers until you are making good prints with RC paper. The increase in density as prints dry is very difficult to judge, even for an experienced printer. ![]() ![]() This gives the ultimate quality, maximum black density and archival lifetime. You will be making good prints more quickly with RC paper.įB is for Fibre-Based. RC stands for resin-coated and is much easier and quicker to use. A leading example of this type of paper is Ilford Multigrade and it has effectively replaced graded papers for creative printing. You change the colour of the light used for the exposure to change the paper contrast. Variable Contrast, VC: This type of paper gives you all the contrasts from grades 0 to 5 in one box. Film needs to be processed so that the contrast of your films is roughly matched to the contrast of the paper. Ilford for example only make grades 2 and 3 for Galerie graded paper. This has led to a considerable reduction in the use of these papers and a reduced range of grades being available to buy. If you need to change the contrast in a print you will have to buy another box of paper with different contrast. Graded: these are papers with fixed contrast. There are 2 basic types of darkroom printing papers: This means that they can be handled for exposure and processing under red or orange coloured lights. The papers are sensitive to blue and green light (as well as white light of course) but not orange and red. As the grade number increases so does the contrast. Normal contrast is around grade 2 or 3, low contrast is 0 and high contrast is 5. The scale can vary between manufacturers but typically the contrast range is numbered between grades 0 and 5. To make it easy to follow, numbers have been assigned to contrast levels and these are referred to as grades. The key to good black and white printing is control of the contrast. ![]()
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