Brian Pritchard

Kodak have been fairly consistent over the years with their stock numbers; one of the odd ones was 35mm Plus-X negative which for many years was 4231. In general the first figure indicates the type of base and width. Super 8 is included in the 16mm range and 70mm and 65mm come under 35mm. 1=35mm nitrate 2=35mm polyester 3=16mm polyester 5=35mm acetate 7=16mm acetate The second figure indicates negative type emulsion and 3 indicates positive type emulsions. 7302 = 16mm Fine grain Release Positive 5234 = 35mm Fine Grain Duplicating Negative 1355 = 35mm Nitrate Duplicating Positive Brian

I don't have a time for 7363 but I would start with the same time you used for negative processing. Brian

This film is designed to be processed in D97 B/W positive developer. It is mainly used for shooting titles. The term negative and positive is really irelevlent. If you shoot black letters on a white background you will get white letters on a black background after processing, if you shoot white letters on a black background you will get black letters on a white background. If you used a rostrum to shoot a b/w photograph the result would be a negative, if you shot a negative you would get a print. You can also process 7363 as reversal, in which case you would get a positive if you start with a positive and a negative if you start with a negative. It was quite common in the past to use high contrast stock with reversal processing and start with white letters on a black background to produce white letters on a black background for superimposing. You avoid problems with flare which can occur when photographing black letters on a white background. You can download a datasheet from Kodak at http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFil..._lab_h15363.pdf Brian Brian

KS Perforations were introduced in 1924, Dubray-Howell were introduced in 1931. Cinemascope perforations have the same pitch as KS perforations (0.1870) but are smaller. Brian

Motion Picture camera film is normally BH short pitch known as neg perfs. Still film is normally KS (Kodak Standard) long pitch known as pos perfs. DH (Dubray Howell) perfs are the same shape as KS but the same height as BH perfs. They were designed for multiple pass printing (A & B Rolls etc), they are usually long pitch. They have the rounded corners of KS perfs to give strength on projection but the shorter height to give better registration when multiple pass printing. Brian

D76 which is (was) avaialble as a packaged chemical, is essential a 1 shot developer designed to be used once and thrown away. D96 is only available as a formula and is designed for continuous processing machines and to be replenished with D96R. The formula published is only a starting point and the chemist at the lab would modify the replenisher depending on the leader/ film ratio to maintain the sensitometric properties of the process. Brian

Not quite true, Karl, D76 is a stills developer; the motion picture equivalent is D96. Brian

Camera stock is normally perforated short pitch 0.2996" and print stock 0.3000". However, film for high-speed cameras is usually perforated long pitch. You might well manage to get away with long pitch stock, it depends on your camera. Print stock is very slow and, of course, does not have the integral masking of camera and internegative stocks. It will cause the lab a few difficulties if you want it printed. The usual technique is to use a piece of colour negative base in the printer; it won't replace the colour masking but will help with getting the colour balance right. You will also have very high contrast negative but it will certainly give you an interesting result provided you can get enough exposure. Brian

You don't say where you are from Fredrik but depending on what you want to use the print for you could ask your local lab to make you a 'joined' print which should be really cheap. They join up all their short ends to make up a roll of stock. It does mean you will almost certainly have joins through some of the frames. But if you can accept that it could be a cheap alternative. Brian

It is quite surprising how few intermediate stocks there has been over the years compared to camera stocks. 1956 - 1976 5253 1976 - 1992 5243 1992 - 2001 5244 2001 5242 Brian

I was up at Film Lab North the other day and Howard tells me they offer a student discount for both processing and telecine. Incidently they are also the only lab in the UK still offering 16mm colour prints with an applicated sound track, the only way to get a decent quality sound track on 16mm. Brian.

The easiest way to check fixer is to make up a small quantity and stick a bit of raw stock in it, agitate it about and see how long it takes to clear. Fixing times are usually twice the clearing time. So if you know what the fixing time is for the process you are running you can see if it is any good. Make sure the temperature is near enough as that will affect the fixing time. You can do a similar thing for B/W developers and stick a bit of raw stock into the developer, agitate it for about the correct development time and make sure the film has gone good and black. You do this in the light. Brian

The options are: Film Lab North (In Leeds) - 01132 228333 - Talk to Howard Dawson ILab - 0207 287 9520 - Talk to Nigel Horn Film & Photo - 0208 992 0037 - Talk to Tony Scott Soho Lab - 0207 437 0831 - Len Thornton Brian

Glen, Kodachrome does not go through the E6 process. It has its own process which is very complicated and difficult to operate. This is why there have been very few labs over the years who have run the Kodachrome process. Brian.

A normal 35mm motion picture contact print will give you what you want. If there are no frame lines on your original then the print will not have frame lines. You will find a problem getting a reversal color print, firstly there is a problem getting reversal print stock and secondly finding someone running an E6 process. There is a lab in London that could do it, Film & Photo, 0208 992 0037, I don't know where you are based so I don't know if that helps. Brian

If you insult the Americans the way you insult Europeans you won't get any customers! Brian

Have a look at this document on the Kodak website; http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFil...h2415_h2415.pdf It will tell you most of what you want to know. Otherwise any good photographic manual will tell you about processing. Motion Picture is just like Stills except the film is in longer lengths. Brian

There is no reason why you can't use it, provded it is fairly fresh. I assume it is a powder, if it is a solution then it might not be much good if it has been around a while as it could have oxidised. D76 is a standard Kodak formulation for stills negative. The motion picture equivalent, D96, has a slightly different formualtion for use in a continuous processing machine. Brian

Serge I wasn't pointing a finger, what I was trying to say was that if you carry out flashing before exposure on your camera film and something goes wrong you have to re-take, if that is possible. If you do the work in the lab then you still have your camera original safe. I am a great believer in the principle that if you start out with a correctly exposed, normal camera original you can then do what you please in the lab or when making a digital intermediate. I am not against experimentation provided it doesn't matter if it turns out wrong. If someone wants to run their negative through the camera wet, then fine, but don't photograph an unique event in case it doesn't work out. Brian

I don't honestly know what the result would be other than it would probably wreck the printer. Fixer is very acidic and would cause rust. You would have to strip the printer down to avoid contamination of the next roll. I think his idea was that the fixer would partly fix the undeveloped print stock and give a very odd look with part of the picture missing. Having paid over £20,000 for the printer in the early 60's I wasn't going to find out. Brian

Changing the exposure won't alter the contrast; over exposing will push the highlights up onto the shoulder of the curve, giving loss of shadow detail in the print. Underexposing will lose highlight detail in the print, the sections on the straight line will still have the same contrast. I would never recommend flashing a negative stock before exposure, there is too much danger of static, scratching, uneven exposure etc. If you make an error your film could well turn out to be useless. Such techniques should, normally, be confined to laboratory work, in my opinion. Brian

Film and Photo Ltd in Acton can process super 8. They run ECN2 and E6. Tel: 0208 992 0037. Brian

I don't know how you alter the contrast of a negative in camera unless you change the lighting ratio but that is not always possible. What we were discussing was making a print from a negative already made, which has high contrast. In that case you have to try to make a low contrast print by one of the methods mentioned. Brian

You have to bear in mind that not all laboratories are in a position to alter parameters for processing and printing. Laboratories specialising in film preservation such as the laboratory at the bfi/National archive, will process almost every duplicate and print differently to get the exact match when copying sections from different generation masters. Major laboratories, who in the heyday of film production might be printing and processing 5 million feet a day, had to maintain the processing and printing to exact standards so that prints made today will be the same as prints made last year and that duplicates were processed so that you obtained the best possible result. They did not have the time to alter parameters to suit individual cinematographer unless he had a lot of clout such as Stanley Kubrick and was having thousands of prints. You have to go to a smaller lab to try experiments and be prepared to pay the price. Processing camera negatives was different. Every cameraman did gamma tests before commencing the shoot so that the lab would know what speed to process his film. Every batch was different and required different development times and Kodak would select batches to match a previous batch if the particular emulsion ran out during the shoot, One of my first jobs in the industry. Brian

I always tried in my days as a lab Technical Director to do whatever the customer wanted although I had to draw the line with the film maker who wanted to print his negative when still wet with fixer! Brian