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  #1  
Old 27th August 2019, 10:32 AM
Deryck Deryck is offline
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Question Densitometer

Hi from Denmark,

I am a 5x4 shooter with a dedicated small darkroom which suits me just fine and an "OMEGA PRO-LAB" enlarger doing the business.

Long have I wanted a densitometer to nail down some of the stuff I am working with, but the price of such has been way out of my league.
I now have the opportunity to buy an "X-RITE 890" densitometer at a price which is within the bounds of possibility, but before I make the investment,
I would like to ask if there are any FADU members who are in any way familiar with this instrument and if so, could they possibly give me some advice
that would get me off on the right foot regarding it's use.

I only work in black and white, and am fairly competent in the darkroom as this has been my hobby for more years than I care to contemplate.

Thanks in advance,
Deryck.
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Old 27th August 2019, 08:35 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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People generally use a densitometer to calibrate film exposure and development. I bought one for that purpose. It has to be a transmission type to do that. I’m not sure whether yours is transmission, reflection or both?
I have used mine to calibrate exposure index for some films I use, but once you’ve done that there might not be much more use for it. It’s good to have for occasions when you want to try new film/developer combinations, or to test for reduced or extended development times.
Reflection types can be used for printing tests, but I’ve never done that.
Alex


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Old 28th August 2019, 04:14 PM
JimW JimW is offline
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Are you sure this densitometer will do what you want it to do? I have had a quick look at the instruction manual https://www.xrite.com/-/media/xrite/..._manual_en.pdf and I'm not sure what you want to do. I have used densitometers for work (I am a litho printer) and we tell the densitometer what to do, what to look for, and how to present that information to us.
Does it come with a (necessary!) calibration strip?
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Old 28th August 2019, 10:20 PM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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What do you want to do with a densitometer? I have two photographic interests: I use a Macbeth 1224 for measuring the gamma/contrast of images exposed by contact under a stepwedge with blue and green LED illumination in varying proportion.
But I also make B&W prints of things I find attractive, which does not require a densitometer. I think it would get in the way of making ordinary images.
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Old 28th August 2019, 10:52 PM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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Default X-rite 890

I looked it up! The X-rite densitometer is designed for process control in minilabs. You put the C-41 reference film strip into the slot and read off the should-be values. You then put in your sample and read off the differences, making corrections to replenishment rates etc. You then do the same for the RA-4 paper printer/processor. The film and paper reference strips only cost about £2.60 each and, if your results are close to the references, you get the right to hang a Kodak or Fuji quality approval sign outside your shop.
But none of the above has any meaning for a typical amateur darkroom, although you can still purchase used Copal, Noritsu or Agfa film + printer/paper processor systems for less than $3500! And they are really compact - they need no darkroom or plumbing and the whole system, along with a till and a display of films, will fit into an average living room.
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Old 29th August 2019, 03:23 AM
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Dave Hodson Dave Hodson is offline
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See if you can get your hands on Phil Davis's "Beyond The Zone System". Chapter 5 explains using a spotmeter for transmission and reflective measurements and Appendix 2 has plans. I built one for my Pentax (using an old lens instead of his single cell) and it works for what I need.

Regards
Dave
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Old 30th September 2019, 12:48 PM
Deryck Deryck is offline
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Thanks for all the enlightening replies, they have led me to the conclusion that I probably don't need a densitometer, and that using
the MARK 1 eyeball on test-strips is still the way go.

Again thanks to all,
Deryck
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Old 30th September 2019, 03:06 PM
mpirie mpirie is offline
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Hi Deryck,

You certainly don't need a process control densitometer like the 890.

If you want to send your test film to me, i can read the densities and send the results back to you.

My process involves contact-exposing a Stouffer step wedge to a sheet of the film to be tested. Once the film's processed and dried, the steps are read on the densitometer and an H&D graph produced.

My densitometer is a monochrome one, so if you're planning to use a staining developer, then you'd (ideally) need a colour densitometer with a blue channel to negate the developer stain. There is a method of reading stained negatives with the addition of a Wratten 47 filter but i haven't tried it yet.

Mike
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Old 30th September 2019, 05:31 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deryck View Post
Hi from Denmark,

I am a 5x4 shooter with a dedicated small darkroom which suits me just fine and an "OMEGA PRO-LAB" enlarger doing the business.

Long have I wanted a densitometer to nail down some of the stuff I am working with, but the price of such has been way out of my league.
I now have the opportunity to buy an "X-RITE 890" densitometer at a price which is within the bounds of possibility, but before I make the investment,
I would like to ask if there are any FADU members who are in any way familiar with this instrument and if so, could they possibly give me some advice
that would get me off on the right foot regarding it's use.

I only work in black and white, and am fairly competent in the darkroom as this has been my hobby for more years than I care to contemplate.

Thanks in advance,
Deryck.
This might help.

I have used the services of Fred Newman to do a zone system test for me.

https://viewcamerastore.com/products...film-test-roll

These days it seems he is only doing zone tests on Delta 100.

Basically, he exposes the film for you using a calibrated light source and a calibrated step wedge, sends it to you, you develop sheets of the film (for various given times) and send the film back to him.

Fred then measures the various sheets of film and e-mails you back the results.

You then know what exposure/developing time you require for the various subject brightness ratios you may encounter during shooting.

I have enquired about doing a repeat exercise as I have a new processing method (using a Jobo and its continuous rotary system) rather than my old method of intermittent agitation.

To save the film needlessly crossing the Atlantic, we agreed that I would buy a box of film from him, he them exposes it for me and then sends it to me to develop and then he measures it in the normal way.

I hope this might help you achieve what you want to do.

Thanks

Martin
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