Hello members,
I am a new member of this on line Photoforum group. By way of
introduction, I teach photography at Le Moyne college in Syracuse NY and I
am also a commercial photographer. I am also a fine art photographer and I
presently use a large self made pinhole camera to make images.
I am interested in buying a film made by Maco, a German company, called
Genius Print Film. It is sold by Freestyle here in the USA. That's a pretty
cocky name for any product don't you think? But anyway, I plan to buy very
large sheets of this film (20x24") to use in my pinhole camera. I plan to
contact print positives from these negative transparencies.
I have never used this film before and do not know anyone else who's
used it either. I downloaded the tech sheet from their website. My questions
to all of you "geniuses" out there have to do with processing this film.
While they say the film can be processed in all types of B&W
developers, the type of developer exerts a pronounced influence on the
characteristics of the film. They seem to have very specific chemicals they
recommend using in the processing and though I've been processing black and
white materials for many years,typically using Kodak products, the products
they recommend here are unfamiliar to me and I wonder how necessary they
are.
1. For developer, they recommend MACO ecoprint or Ilford PQ-Universal. They
then say to use the hardening developer LP-Geladur to avoid scratches. I've
never heard of any of these developers, especially a hardening developer and
wonder if anyone out there has.
2. Stop bath - they recommend a hardening stop bath: LP-Citrodur; I don't
know if the stop bath I currently use, Kodak Indicator stop bath, is a
hardening stop bath.
3. Fixer: they recommend a fixing bath based on ammonium thisulphate - Lp
FIX Supra or Ilford Hypam; I currently use Kodak Rapid fixer and don't know
if this is based on ammonium thiosulphate
4. washing - they recommend cascade washing in a fixed volume of water at
68; I'm not familiar with the term cascade washing nor do I understand the
idea of a fixed volume of water; any info here would be helpful
- they also recommend using LP-Selenia for silver protection half way
through the wash process; I've never heard of doing this
5. wetting agent - they say a final bath in demineralized, doionized, or
distilled water should be used to avoid drying marks and to reduce static
charges; perhaps this is necessary with film of this size but I really don't
know.
I hope this list isn't too exhaustive. Anyone who has used this film or
anyone knowledgeable about these processing chemicals would be of
considerable help. Thanks.
Dave Moore
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