Hi,

I'm printing 35mm negatives with my Opemus7 enlarger. Recently I started using multigrade paper with the Ilford contrast filters. Now my exposure times became very long which makes printing difficult (if I don't want to use my lense wide open). Do you have suggestions for decreasing exposure times with multigrade paper or do I have to live with it? I'm using a 150Watt light bulb which is the maximum for this enlarger. Would a change to the meograde system give much shorter exposure times?

Thanks,

-- gert raskin (gert@ster.kuleuven.ac.be), September 19, 2001

Answers

With a 150w bulb, you should be getting time around 10-30 seconds with 35mm. Make sure you are printing about 2 stops down from wide open and try again.

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), September 19, 2001.

Gert

I had a similar experience with an Opemus 6 and below the lens filters. I was using a Schneider 50mm f2.8 enlarging lens and found some exposures very long (especially with chlorobromide papers such as Forte Polywarm tone). I too had a 150 watt bulb.

On changing to a Meograde head, which has a 100 watt halogen bulb, I found my exposures were much reduced. Also Meopta have configured the filters so that exposure is constant right through grades 0 to 5. There is a two stop neutral density wheel that makes delicate burning a simple matter. It helps if you have the correct mixing chamber as well. I can recommend this head. Email me if you need the address of a Meopta supplier. I live in the UK.

Regards

Adrian

-- Adrian Twiss (avtwiss@ukonline.co.uk), September 19, 2001.

How large are you going with the print? 8x10 is one thing from 35mm but 11x14 or larger is quite another. At 50mm f2.8 you should be in the 10-30 sec range with 20 secs being normal for a normal neg. Are your negs a little too dense? Are you printing at grade 3 or higher? The higher grades(filters) will take longer to print with. james

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), September 19, 2001.

So that we don't have to make guesses: What times are you getting without filters? What times are getting with filters? What lens are you using? What aperture are you using? Are you surre that your negatives are not overly dense?

-- Ed Farmer (photography2k@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001.