Digital BW, The Print

Hi All,

I've recently built a "sort-of" Plugercam out of an old Bronica S2A I
bought off of ebay and I'd like to start developing the negatives at
home but I've never had much luck in keeping the dust and spots off of
them.

What are folks doing to keep your negatives clean and dust free?  How
do you dry them?

Thanks,

Richard Cooke

PS. Please excuse this post if this has been covered here but I tried
looking through the archives without any luck.

A drying cabinet works for us at home.  There are masses of them about 
these days in 2nd hand shops.  Not too expensive - worth every penny 
(cent?)
Make sure you get a 'long' one so that it will take a 220/36 exp 35mm  
film.  Also make sure it has a new filter in it.

Go on then - what's a Plugercam?
Regards,
Simon

On Sunday, Feb 9, 2003, at 20:26 Europe/London, Richard Cooke 
<rcooke@...> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I've recently built a "sort-of" Plugercam out of an old Bronica S2A I
> bought off of ebay and I'd like to start developing the negatives at
> home but I've never had much luck in keeping the dust and spots off of
> them.
>
> What are folks doing to keep your negatives clean and dust free?  How
> do you dry them?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Richard Cooke
>
> PS. Please excuse this post if this has been covered here but I tried
> looking through the archives without any luck.
>
Simon Whitehead
4 Colleton Crescent
Exeter
Devon EX2 4DG
England
01392 217873
s.whitehead@...

Simon,

Thanks for the reply.

A Plungercam is actually a modified 6x6 camera that I believe Mark
Tucker invented.  If you haven't checked out his website
www.marktucker.com yet you should.  He's got more talent in his pinky
than I could ever hope for, but I digress.

His invention is glueing a lens from a loupe to his hasselblad.  This
gives a wonderfully distorted effect to the image.  He's got a page on
his site explaining it all.  I can't afford his type of camera but I
was able to pick up a Bronica S2A for about $200 and since I'm an
engineer by day I did what every good engineer does and did some
calculating and bought an achromat lens from an optics company and
built my own "plungercam". 

I just got back my first roll from the lab and they actually look like
I hoped they would.  Maybe there is hope for me yet with this artsy stuff.

Richard



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Simon Whitehead
<s.whitehead@i...> wrote:

> A drying cabinet works for us at home.  There are masses of them about 
> these days in 2nd hand shops.  Not too expensive - worth every penny 
> (cent?)
> Make sure you get a 'long' one so that it will take a 220/36 exp 35mm  
> film.  Also make sure it has a new filter in it.
> 
> Go on then - what's a Plugercam?
> Regards,
> Simon
> 
> On Sunday, Feb 9, 2003, at 20:26 Europe/London, Richard Cooke 
> <rcooke@r...> wrote:
> 
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I've recently built a "sort-of" Plugercam out of an old Bronica S2A I
> > bought off of ebay and I'd like to start developing the negatives at
> > home but I've never had much luck in keeping the dust and spots off of
> > them.
> >
> > What are folks doing to keep your negatives clean and dust free?  How
> > do you dry them?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Richard Cooke
> >
> > PS. Please excuse this post if this has been covered here but I tried
> > looking through the archives without any luck.
> >
> Simon Whitehead
> 4 Colleton Crescent
> Exeter
> Devon EX2 4DG
> England
> 01392 217873
> s.whitehead@i...

Caution!! Entering instructional mode!

Richard:
There are a number of "old" tricks for keeping negs dust-free until
they're dry.

1. If you are developing and/or drying in a bathroom with a shower, turn
on the hot water for a few minutes to fill the room with steam. The
moisture in the air will grab the airborne dust and settle it to the
floor.

2. Make a drying "cabinet." There is a bag, made to hang in a closet for
clothes. It's about 16"x20"x5' as I recall. It's similar to the hanging
shoe bags minus the shelves. Cut a small hole in the bottom to fit the
nozzle of a hair dryer. Now, cut a hole in the top and cover it with a
few layers of cheesecloth. The war air from the hair dryer comes in the
bottom and exits at the top. The cheesecloth is just to keep dust out.
This cabinet is easy to keep clean with a damp cloth.

Hope this helps.

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Cooke <rcooke@...>
[mailto:rcooke@...] 
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2003 3:27 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] B&W developing at home

Hi All,

I've recently built a "sort-of" Plugercam out of an old Bronica S2A I
bought off of ebay and I'd like to start developing the negatives at
home but I've never had much luck in keeping the dust and spots off of
them.

What are folks doing to keep your negatives clean and dust free?  How
do you dry them?

Thanks,

Richard Cooke

PS. Please excuse this post if this has been covered here but I tried
looking through the archives without any luck.


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