Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/18

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Subject: [Leica] Ilfochrome
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 11:32:19 -0400

Three quick points on Ilfochrome:

First, contrast isn't the problem today that it used to be, and a lot of
slides can be directly printed without a mask or flashing of the paper.  

Second, the new process lends itself neatly to small-volume work in a home
lab.  I do not have a CAP-40, but I would if I were doing volume work.  As
it is, I do fifteen or twenty at a shot, for which I use a Beseler motor
drive.  It works well, and the P30 chemistry is relatively
temperature-tolerant.

Third, colour balance is NOT the problem with Ilfochrome that it can be
with colour-negative printing.  With Ilfochrome, you "register" your
enlarger, that is, you run some test prints to determine how far from the
hypothetical norm your particular enlarger might be, a factor influenced by
the age of the filters and the age of the bulb.  Then you add or subtract
this registration factor from the correction factor Ilford includes on each
box of paper -- and you will almost always be dead-on with a good print,
provided you have the aperture and time correctly gauged.  This contrasts
strongly with RA-4 or EP-2 work, where every picture on some rolls has to
have the colour balance manipulated a bit.

Marc


msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!