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  #11  
Old 19th January 2022, 03:44 PM
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The very long exposure time surprised me as well. My lens is a Rodagon f/2.8 so luckily f/4 is not fully wide open, but I'd prefer to stop it down a little more than that ofcourse.
The negative looks relatively normal to me. Not too dense but definitely not thin as well.
Haven't made any regular prints of this negative yet.

Another lith print needed a similar exaggerated exposure time on this paper, and that one printed quite normally for my setup in regular B&W (f/5.6 and a grade 2½ filter, 6 seconds on Ilford MG V RC 8x10").

I must admit that my Portriga-speed paper is seriously fogged (a sheet turns about zone III grey in normal Polymax T developer) so possibly that has something to do with things as well...
I don't have enough experience yet to know if this makes any difference to what colors it produces (you could see it as pre-flashed paper I guess), but to be honest I was surprised how nice the results were when developed in Easy Lith.

Here in your topic about Easy Lith kits I have included a photo of my first prints on Portriga-speed paper.
The left image was exposed at 4½ minutes, the right one I believe at 6 minutes but I'm not 100% sure on that one.
And now I remember, the test strip below them is made on Brovira-speed. That is much more yellow compared to the Portriga-speed paper when in your hands.
Now color accuracy of the digital snap is nowhere near the real prints but still it might give you some idea of what it produced for me.
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  #12  
Old 19th January 2022, 05:18 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Originally Posted by BuzzNL View Post
The very long exposure time surprised me as well.The negative looks relatively normal to me. Not too dense but definitely not thin as well.

Another lith print needed a similar exaggerated exposure time on this paper, and that one printed quite normally for my setup in regular B&W (f/5.6 and a grade 2½ filter, 6 seconds on Ilford MG V RC 8x10").

I must admit that my Portriga-speed paper is seriously fogged (a sheet turns about zone III grey in normal Polymax T developer) so possibly that has something to do with things as well...
I don't have enough experience yet to know if this makes any difference to what colors it produces... but to be honest I was surprised how nice the results were when developed in Easy Lith.
Thanks for the further details and link Buzz.

I too have not had that much experience of lith, more here and there over a longish period.

Interesting to see the two relevant times of making an 'ordinary' print, compared to a lith print from the same negative though.

Despite my reading it many times, of how seriously fogged paper produces great lith prints, I'm still amazed by the whole process. I was going to recommend Benzotriazole to you, which is basically an anti-foggant, used in VERY small amounts (so a little goes a VERY long way, with usage at about 0.1%, that's only 0.1 gram of it in a litre of water(!) and the shelf life of it is extremely good from what I've read). With this you could try the paper as a 'normal' printing paper as well, but just looking for it, it seems very hard to find at the moment, at least in the UK. Maybe it's easier to find in the NL's? I would have offered to send you a small amount, but I'd be a bit worried about sending a small packet of white crystals through international post, or maybe I'm just being paranoid?

I'll finish here, but all this reading and writing about lith has really made me want to get in the darkroom and have another session. So hopefully soon eh?

Terry S

P.S. I meant to add this link, which covers what I've mentioned:

http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...=benzotriazole
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  #13  
Old 19th January 2022, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
Thanks for the further details and link Buzz.

I too have not had that much experience of lith, more here and there over a longish period.

Interesting to see the two relevant times of making an 'ordinary' print, compared to a lith print from the same negative though.

Despite my reading it many times, of how seriously fogged paper produces great lith prints, I'm still amazed by the whole process. I was going to recommend Benzotriazole to you, which is basically an anti-foggant, used in VERY small amounts (so a little goes a VERY long way, with usage at about 0.1%, that's only 0.1 gram of it in a litre of water(!) and the shelf life of it is extremely good from what I've read). With this you could try the paper as a 'normal' printing paper as well, but just looking for it, it seems very hard to find at the moment, at least in the UK. Maybe it's easier to find in the NL's? I would have offered to send you a small amount, but I'd be a bit worried about sending a small packet of white crystals through international post, or maybe I'm just being paranoid?

I'll finish here, but all this reading and writing about lith has really made me want to get in the darkroom and have another session. So hopefully soon eh?

Terry S

P.S. I meant to add this link, which covers what I've mentioned:

http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...=benzotriazole
Thanks for the offer Terry, very kind of you! But indeed, not so sure whether we'd get away with it via the regular mail...
However, I had ordered some Moersch Restrainer (which is said to be the ready-to-use BZT solution) for this exact purpose a long time ago but haven't gotten around to testing it yet...
I definitely should give it a go!
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  #14  
Old 22nd January 2022, 06:34 PM
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so a little goes a VERY long way, with usage at about 0.1%, that's only 0.1 gram of it in a litre of water(!)
Small typo: a 0.1% solution (W/V) would be 0.1g per 100ml water - or 1g per 1 litre. In general, an N% solution is N grams of the solid dissolved into the solvent (water in this case) to make a total of 100ml.

The general suggestion I have followed is to make a 2% stock solution and dilute further as required in use. I used it in attempts to make cold-tone developers from published formulas, but so far without success - modern papers are possibly too determined to go their own way!

Last edited by Bob; 22nd January 2022 at 06:39 PM.
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