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prismatic viewer/gate focuser for RX bolexes - any leads?
Richard Tuohy replied to Richard Tuohy's topic in Bolex
Interesting point Simon! But it is hard to think of a better way to check critical framing. I use these viewers in 'film out' setups (ie video back to film). Any suggestions appreciated! -
Hi, I'm keen to get one of the little Bolex gate focusing pisms - often called the critical gate focuser or prismatic focuser. Does anyone happen to have one they don't need or have leads on one? many thanks richard
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Hand Processing Flicker Query
Richard Tuohy replied to Christian Flemm's topic in Film Stocks & Processing
It is an agitation thing (as others have suggested). Especially for bw negative, developing motion picture in a spiral needs special attention to agitation to get a good result. But you can get a perfect result. Process with the lid off in the dark. Lift the spiral right out of the tank every say 30 seconds and let it drip for about 3 seconds. As you get close to the final time, put the lid back on and you can turn the lights back on. Makes a huge difference. -
Hand Processing Conundrum
Richard Tuohy replied to Christian Flemm's topic in Film Stocks & Processing
I reckon you have both a negative (from the first dev) and a partial positive there. Looks to me like the bleach didn't work at all (as Mark says above) but also that the second dev was not good enough. The edges of the film should be black after second developing, whereas they just look pale grey. was it permangenate or dichromate bleach? The dichromate being much easier to use and better. when it comes to second developing, don't worry about the time ... just do it until you have a really good black ... and if in doubt, do it longer. You can't over do it. You know, it is humanly possible to have inadequate re-exposure, but it is kind of hard to do. That wouldn't account for the failure to bleach out the neg, but it COULD possibly account for the thin positive image. In any case, there are at least two chemical problems here: inadequate or no bleaching action and inadequate second dev either because of inactive developer, inadequate time, or possibly inadequate exposure. -
ORWO NC500 initial thoughts
Richard Tuohy replied to Tyler Purcell's topic in Film Stocks & Processing
Well just for the record and for those similarly interested in the new rem jet free NC500 from ORWO ... last week I did indeed receive a large order of NC500 from ORWO. I had put in an order for 8000 feet of NC500 in 16mm and 8600 feet of UN54, again in 16mm. This was for several thousand Euros. But I had bought large amounts of film from ORWO (filmotec) over the years, so this wasn't unusual. I had also ordered previously from this new British owned version of the company. When i ordered in January I wasn't aware that they weren't going to be able to fulfil the order. There was a long series of not getting much by way of information on my order and not getting reply emails to enquires ... but I got the occasional response. I had had one message reporting a new make was going to take place at the start of April. But then after a further enquiry where I got a reply I was told 16mm colour wouldn't be available still for some more months. I noted that they still had 35mm NC500 listed on their site, so I changed my order to 35mm. So now I have 4000 feet of 35mm NC500 ... and 3 x 100 foot rolls of 16mm nc500. It wasn't what I wanted of course. There is bugger all market for 35mm of any sort in Australia at the moment. But I am pleased to have something for my investment. I really do hope that this 'new' version of ORWO can continue to make film in the future. A remjet free negative in 16mm could be a boon for the artist run film lab community who mostly hand process in Lomo tanks (I use machines, but I am a big supporter of the artist run labs that work with Lomos). Remjet free stock would be a game changer for DIY colour neg processing. But that would only happen if they are able to make it in any kind of volume. It appears this time that wasn't possible. -
ORWO NC500 initial thoughts
Richard Tuohy replied to Tyler Purcell's topic in Film Stocks & Processing
Hi all, has anybody received any ORWO NC500 lately at all? My order from late January still ins't filled ... and it was a rather hefty order. Is the business dead? Anyone receiving anything from them? richard -
Those little bits of emulsion slithers are called 'skivings'. Yep, they are a problem. Indeed, with normal 'soft touch' rollers the roller underneath the rubber or silicone tyre are actually a little bit shaped, rising to a gentle point in the middle. This causes the film to ever so slightly move towards the centre of the roller away from the edges so as to avoid this rubbing that causes skivings.
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Hi Andrew, I think you might be referring to the rubber 'tyres' that make contact with the film. Actually, they aren't rubber but rather silicone (at least mine are). They are called 'soft touch rollers' They are soft, but not like foam. Sounds like what you have 3D printer are more like the rollers called 'emulsion rollers'. These only touch the film on the edges and are what is required when you need to have the film run emulsion side down on a roller. cheers richard
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HI all, I recently acquired a (or should I say 'the') Bell and Howell 6127 16mm panel printer from the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra. The light valves are controlled by a 'Printernet' printer controller. (this one just says Printernet, so I assume it is the first itteration ... I believe there at least two later versions). The printernet controller is based on a PC. It worked for about a week at my place and I was trying to work out what the printernet files actually looked like so I could write some for the 3.5 inch floppy drive ... and then the hard drive broke. It did the click click click thing. No luck repairing it. As far as I can see I have only a few options for getting the light valves to work: I could replace the light valves with the older 'mechanical' solenoid based light valves from a model C printer and then make another light valve controller for them (I've made light valve controllers for model C printers a couple of times and that is quite 'doable'.) I could 'clone' a C drive from another Printernet computer somewhere in the world I could build a new controller for these modern types of light valves. This option strikes me as possible, but rather hard because they use digital signals. I have the circuit diagram of a tape reader from the same era. It shows me the pin wiring of the multi pin connectors for these light valves. The tricky bit is to do with the 4 pins marked d0, d1, d2 and d3 and two pins marked ack0 and ack1. I am assuming the pins marked 'ack' are acknowldedgement pins. This I also assumes means the data is sent serially to the light valves (and It kind of would have to be because 4 data pins would only make for 16 'points' of change whereas the actual figure is something like 75 x 2 (because they are actually half points). It will be difficult to work out the protocol of the data pins and ack pins (and the three pins to select red, green or blue) without some tips! So I am wondering whether anyone can help with my Printernet woes! all the best from nanolab in Australia richard
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many black and white lab stocks have a yellow antihalation layer which is effectively a yellow filter to cut the transmission of reflected blue light (I';m talking about normal blue sensitive only lab stocks, not panchromatic lab stocks). this yellow filter however normally dissolves during the development. I suspect you may not have adequately fixed the film and what you are seeing is silver halide retention. Make some fresh fix and try again.