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  #11  
Old 11th March 2020, 07:13 PM
ssharp ssharp is offline
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Hi All,

Thanks a bunch for the replies and yes vanannan is spot on with the split grade mode. The thing is is you have to menu dive for it as suggested, it isn't on the front panel as it is with the standard StopClock.

When you switch the unit into 'split' mode then 100% of either soft or hard grades appear to be just that. Full counts of grade 0 or 5.

However, if you switch out of split mode then the previous issues come back, namely even when set at grade 0.0 over a ten second exposure 1.10 secs of that will be at grade grade 5. This remains confusing but from now i'll menu dive the unit and switch to split which appears to get it working the way i would like it to.

Many thanks for all your help !

Simon
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  #12  
Old 12th March 2020, 02:12 PM
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RH Designs RH Designs is offline
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I've spoken to Chris who designed the unit and he doesn't think there is a separate split-grade mode as normal operation is split-grade anyway; however if you've found a way of making it do what you want then that's fine .
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  #13  
Old 12th March 2020, 04:35 PM
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vanannan vanannan is offline
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Sorry but the Stopclock 500 does have a specific channel for split grade printing.
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  #14  
Old 12th March 2020, 06:29 PM
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I believe you Tony, but it's not mentioned in the User Manual!
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  #15  
Old 13th March 2020, 11:14 AM
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vanannan vanannan is offline
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I have had a look at the manual for the Stopclock 500 on the Secondhand darkroom supplies website and it is slightly different to my hard copy, here are a couple of scans of the relevant information from my manual.

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I hope this helps .

Last edited by vanannan; 13th March 2020 at 11:19 AM.
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  #16  
Old 14th March 2020, 09:47 AM
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A bit more searching and yes, we did add the split grade mode to the SC500. Neither Chris nor I could remember doing that (it was in 2006!) and the User Manual was updated. SDS should have the latest version. If I can upload the later version I will do but last time I tried to update the RH web site the server refused to let me in. There have been quite a few changes at the hosting company lately; I'll find a way but it may be a while.
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  #17  
Old 15th February 2021, 06:34 PM
Paul M Paul M is offline
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Hi, did you ever manage to upload the newer user guide anywhere? I've just found this thread after trying for ages to figure out how to use the split grade function and it’s like I just got a upgrade!

My printed guide is still the one on the RH Designs site though and I'd like a copy of the updated one if that’s available anywhere. SDS are currently closed so I don’t think I can get it from there - from memory they just linked back to the RH Designs site anyway.

Thanks
Paul
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  #18  
Old 15th February 2021, 07:37 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Just out of curiosity but it appears as if the split grade mode being described works only via grade 0 and 5 which is admittedly what Les Mclean describes in his book. However since then a number of printers describe a way that doesn't necessarily involve the two extremes of 0 and 5 but grades other grades such as 1 and 5 as demonstrated by Dave Butcher in his video called the Ilford Way of Split Grade Printing which of course involves Ilford filters

Does this mean that such a method involving the use of grade 1 would not be possible using the Stop Clock 500 method of hard and soft as these are predetermined i.e. whatever the SC500 determines hard and soft to be is fixed?

It may well be that there is a debate to be had about whether what Dave Butcher does, can anyway be achieved equally well by alteration of the hard and soft times without the need to move from grade 0 to grade 1 to increase contrast of the print.

In case I have succeeded in confusing matters I should add that in the video Dave decides that altering the contrast is best done by a grade change from 0 to 1 but changes required at the hard end is simply by a change of time

Thanks

Mike
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  #19  
Old 15th February 2021, 08:11 PM
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I guess you could just use the normal mode rather than split mode and set the hard and soft grades manually on each channel.
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