[ytterbium]

Following Adams advice i'll contribute to increase some activity in here, with a question i had not researched yet.

Just did my first prints. Even if i didn't expect anything great, i exposed them at F8 and took great care to focus them at F2.8. Enlarging lens used was decent to good m39 camera lens (Industar 26m http://pondriv.sunnyday.jp/camera/lenses/img_lens/industar_26m.jpg).
So if not looking at low contrast, fogging, uneven paper and other defects i expected the resolution to be better.

What are the most common resolution reducers when making prints and where should i start looking, to get some improvement.

Here is a scan of one print (click for full size):

Most of the fine "grain" visible in picture is some sort of noise from scanner, that appeared after i disassembled it.
Shot taken on FOMAPAN ISO400 film, that might have gotten some prolonged stay in camera, during warm (~27+ C) summer. Camera used canon autoboy (sure shot 35).

[stevebrot]

Lack of resolution in a print can be caused by a number of factors:

• Non-flat-field lens...Enlarger lenses are optimized to project onto a flat surface
• Poor quality lens
• Negative not flat in carrier
• Negative "pop" from heat after focusing
• OOF...a grain focus device is worth its weight in gold
• OOF...Poor enlarger alignment
• OOF...Focus on wrong plane (focus on a scrap sheet of the same paper you are going to expose to)
• Dirty/Poor quality glass negative carrier

And last, but not least:

• "Soft"/non-sharp negative

Steve

[BillM]

OOF...Focus on wrong plane (focus on a scrap sheet of the same paper you are going to expose to)

Was always a big part of my inabilty to talk nice.
dont know how many times I forgot.
resorted to glueing small scrap of paper to base of grain focuser.
Worked pretty good untill I swtched paper.

[Ratmagiclady]

Also, it's a good idea to be sure your enlarger is relatively stable and that you don't cause vibration either with your body or even starting the exposure, (My favorite kind of enlarger timer is the old time-O-Lite which really does kind of tempt one to whap the 'expose' button more than you need to, anyway.) It's a good idea to have the timer on a different surface than the baseboard, if everything isn't built like a Mack truck.

Also, don't use really short exposure times, which doesn't seem to be your problem. I'd often catch students (even would-be teachers) exposing wide-open to 'get it done faster,' and that hurts you in various ways.

[stevebrot]

Also, it's a good idea to be sure your enlarger is relatively stable and that you don't cause vibration either with your body or even starting the exposure, (My favorite kind of enlarger timer is the old time-O-Lite which really does kind of tempt one to whap the 'expose' button more than you need to, anyway.) It's a good idea to have the timer on a different surface than the baseboard, if everything isn't built like a Mack truck.

Also, don't use really short exposure times, which doesn't seem to be your problem. I'd often catch students (even would-be teachers) exposing wide-open to 'get it done faster,' and that hurts you in various ways.

Thanks RML for adding the vibration factor. I put my enlarger on a heavy table, wait for vibrations to quiet after focus and stopping the lens down, and try not to be moving about the room when doing the exposure. A heavy baseboard of high density material also helps.


Steve

[ytterbium]

There might be my problem.
Since i use CFL bulb, i let it warm up while focussing, position the paper with red filter, and then quickly go to expose (bulb off, filter away, stop down, bulb on), while the bulb is still hot. And had completely forgotten that vibration is a factor.
My setup was very unstable and i was sneaking around the enlarger while exposing.

Another thing might be focusing. I focused on a plain A4 paper instead of same type scrap paper as is the photo paper (which is ticker than A4). Also the paper was not and could not be perfectly flat, because the enlarger base is old, dirty and uneven (because humid storage)... probably i should use some flat plane on top of that.

[Wheatfield]

Why are you using a CFL?
They are crap light and are a dirty nightmare for the environment.

[BillM]

CFL bulb

last time I heard "Reprocit. Failure" was in reference to that lamp

[ytterbium]

Because i could not get ordinary matte bulb.
You may know that incandescent bulbs are generally forbidden to manufacture in EU. Accordingly their availability has decreased.
My enlarger was without the diffuser (which supposed to be there) so i needed a matte bulb.

Also, it has many positive aspects.
The CFL itself did it's job quite nice as a light source. Enough predictable when warmed up, doesnt heats up my small enlarger as much (allows for a beginner like me mess around focusing, adjusting etc for a long time with bulb on). Because of reduced heat, i can use 60 or more watt equivalent light output in an enlarger that can withstand only 40w incandescent heat.

[BillM]

Didnt know that in regards to EU regs, remember when they were introduced
and one argument was that output could cause problems with say a somewhat
dark negative, leading to reprocitity failure... I dont know, like to here some thoughts
From what I understand, afforable dichroic heads can be attributed to them.

[Nesster]

a proper enlarging lens will do better than your Industar... even a low priced enlarging lens, stopped down a bit, will have a flat field of focus. Where in the frame did you focus the enlarger?

I don't find Foma 400 to be high resolution, rather, it tends to be more impressionistic. Your Canon Autoboy, what era is that from, and does it have a zoom lens? Depending, you may not have captured the highest resolution to start with.

Otherwise, yeah to what Steve and RML say.

[stevebrot]

...Also the paper was not and could not be perfectly flat, because the enlarger base is old, dirty and uneven (because humid storage)... probably i should use some flat plane on top of that.

Oooooohhh!

Prescription:

• Make new enlarger base out of pressed board with a laminate top (think counter-top)
• Use an enlarging easel to hold the paper flat and as an aid with cropping
• Sacrifice a piece of photo paper to focus on
• Scrap the CFL bulb. They are slow to come to full luminance and continue to fluoresce after they are turned off ()
• Double check that your enlarger is aligned. This can be done with a bubble level. For general work the plane of the negative carrier MUST be parallel to the paper plane
• Get a real enlarger lens. I know that sounds harsh, but fortunately they are not that expensive now days. $50 USD or less for a decent 50mm. Often they come with an enlarger attached

Steve

[ytterbium]

Thanks for the useful suggestions.

I might try some of them, because most of the stuff i use is nearly free. Any greater increase in expenses makes it more wiser to pay local photo club fee. There i can use proper, quality enlarger in real darkroom. At least at the rate i'm currently shooting B&W.

When i'm around specialty store, ill get incandescent matte bulb and a wooden blank for flat base.

Probably its because of the CFL, why it was very hard to expose dark areas in negs. E.g. in the picture attached i did ~40 second exposure and was covering the dark parts (dodging?) ~half of the time. At least from the points you make about reciprocity failure.

Could using F11...F16 improve the situation a bit? So i don't have to buy enlarger lens. Or it would only introduce diffraction resolution loss.
I know where to get enlarger lenses for 2..5$ but they are probably worse than my industar - by the looks i suspect no coatings and 2..3 elements.

[BillM]

Hi ytterbium, Hard to say in terms of resolution loss, test print might be best way
to mitigate.
I know from my own experience that once one settles in to a routine, its hard to
alter it.
Instead of purchasing matte, at least quickly, How do you think it would work out
to use some sort of lens cover. Let your lamp come up to full brightness,
expose, and cover again.
Awkward it is, but it might help you get an ideal of how inconsistant lamp output is.
A benefit of CFL is that once at normal output they are somewhat self-regulatory in
nature, ie. change in supply voltage from electrical grid.

[HGMonaro]

I never had a enlarger timer for years and just flipped (gently) the red filter in and out while counting to myself or watching a clock. Some years later (had a timer at this stage), I couldn't get the special lamp my Durst used so I installed a low voltage halogen globe (house downlight with transformer) which worked fine for many years. Was much brighter than the original lamp too which was a bonus!