Toinght my first day off I decided to do a bit of printing with the new/used Laborator 138S and a 35mm neg. I could not focus the enlarger with a 50mm lens but with a 80mm and recessed lens board I could, then the problem was I had no where to hang my filters as the lens was inside the enlarger. I settled on a 105mm lens which allowed me to attach the filters to the lens. The problem now is to do a 11x14 print I have the enlarger head way up and the baseboard way down!! Not an ideal situation sort of half assed and not very functional. I will probably just do 4x5 and 5x7 work in this machine (maybe 6x6, 6x7) and do all my 35mm in my standards Saunders LPL and the new great 1200 Durst. Today is just a bit of fun playing and learning the new machine.
The neg I am working is high contrast, it is a 800ASA Tri-s shot of dad. With the 5x7 condenser enlarger the contrast might go up a bit, I will have to pull it down somewhat with some burning and low end filters. This is probably not the idea neg for this enlarger, but I want to see what it looks like, maybe going ultra contrast will help it not hurt it.
I also dug out a bag of old dectol that Jack gave me, when I poured it into the mixing water everything went DEEP brown, maybe even black. The powder must have oxidized over the years as there was a small whole in the bag when I got it. Boy did that stuff look nasty, I poured it out and am now mixing a new batch up with newer dectol chemistry ( small mechanical mixer machine doing the work for me).
The neg I am working is high contrast, it is a 800ASA Tri-s shot of dad. With the 5x7 condenser enlarger the contrast might go up a bit, I will have to pull it down somewhat with some burning and low end filters. This is probably not the idea neg for this enlarger, but I want to see what it looks like, maybe going ultra contrast will help it not hurt it.
I also dug out a bag of old dectol that Jack gave me, when I poured it into the mixing water everything went DEEP brown, maybe even black. The powder must have oxidized over the years as there was a small whole in the bag when I got it. Boy did that stuff look nasty, I poured it out and am now mixing a new batch up with newer dectol chemistry ( small mechanical mixer machine doing the work for me).
