And while I'm at it...

Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: 70802

Does anyone here have any experience with lith printing? I've just been given one bag each of Kodalith parts A and B, and have been looking around online for info. I think I've got a firm grasp of what to do once I've got the developer mixed and I'm at the printing/developing stage, but I'm trying to get some more detailed information on just what effects I could produce by mixing the developer in ratios other than 1:1.

Is that even something you would do? I was told by the guy that gave me the stuff that he's heard of people doing that to get some interesting results, but he hasn't tried it either.

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 577 Location: Rochester, NY

What are you looking to do? Kodalith is a hot developer and would produce very high contrast with most off the shelf black and white negative films.

Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: 70802

The idea is that you dilute the lith developer to well below what the instructions would suggest and dramatically overexpose on the enlarger. When you put the paper into the developer, you wait 'till the blacks just pop and yank the paper out and into the stop. Having over exposed in the enlarger will give you the midtones.

Here's a good site for info. And a Google search for the term lith printing gets some decent results.

Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 2:21 pm

Lith printing leads to great results. But I think you just have to take the plunge and experiment. The world of photo papers changed radically and many helpful advice on this topic are simply old... So, if yyou already know the basics, just do it and post your results - I would be very interested.

regards
René

Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: 70802

Ok, I've got some Kodalith Super RT developer, do you know (roughly) what ratios/dilution I should start at?

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 577 Location: Rochester, NY

Try split bath development. The technique uses two development baths--one with a hard working developer and one with a soft working developer. Even with dilution I can't see any benefits to using Kodalith in order to have any dramatic advantages in tone.

Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 11:36 am

I believe that Kodalith was not intended for the enlarger. It was (is) a material for the printing trade. You will have to experiment. It was never meant to have any middle tones.

Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: 70802

Quote:

I believe that Kodalith was not intended for the enlarger. It was (is) a material for the printing trade. You will have to experiment. It was never meant to have any middle tones.

I hope not. I got the stuff from one of the photography departments here, so I would assumer they've been using it for something photographic.

Quote:

Try split bath development. The technique uses two development baths--one with a hard working developer and one with a soft working developer. Even with dilution I can't see any benefits to using Kodalith in order to have any dramatic advantages in tone.

Do you mean to have one bath with the part A and one with the part B?

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 577 Location: Rochester, NY

They could have been using it with Kodalith (a high contrast graphic arts film) to produce unsharp masks. Kodalith is by no means a continuous tone emulsion.