PRINTS
FROM SLIDES USING ILFOCHROME CLASSIC
(nêe Cibachrome)
As
Practiced by John Buchan (Area One)
I use use a
Durst M370 Colour Enlarger and a Jobo CPE Processor. The enlarger has a
colour head obviating the need for filters. My first attempts at colour
printing were straight prints from colour negatives. I would dearly love
to have a Durst Colour Analyser, but the price has put it way out. I
tried quite a lot of prints on a hit and miss basis
but
what I wasted on paper would have bought me an analyser. However someone
told me about the Unicolour Duocube. My local dealer told me he had
heard of them but had never seen one. He also told me that he`d heard
that it was quite good. But he didn`t know where to get
one.
I
discovered that they were imported by what used to be Johnsons of Hendon
and eventually managed to get one - can`t remember
where. The Duocube solved a lot of problems for a bout the cost
of the thing itself plus about four sheets of colour paper. It was a bit
fiddly at first, but certainly works well.
When
Cibachrome became available I decided to try it. My first attempts were
not too bad and with a little practice I became quite good at it. Before
embarking on the exercise I bought the manual and read about the
procedures. There is very little that
any member of the CRC couldn`t master. I had all the equipment
ready to hand so I bought a packet of 5 x 7 paper and a kit of the three
brews - that`s all that is needed - Developer, Bleach and Fixer, plus
water. The Jobo processor is a great boon but I wish I had gone for a
more advanced model with the LIFT facility which would have made life a
little more easy.
(The `lift` for the jobo is available as an optional extra if you want
to upgrade - Roy).
Every pack
of Ilfochrome paper comes with a basic filtration. I have found this to
be fairly good and because I use mainly the same film stock (Ektachrome
Elite II) I find that the results are acceptable.
On
processing the print I have little difficulty. The usual test strip
procedure gets you going and in less than fifteen minutes you will have
a good crisp colour print to be dried. I usually hang it up to dry but
if I am in a hurry I resort to borrowing Rita`s hairdrier and this does
the job in a very short time. One point that I have found extremely
helpful and would recommend is a pre-soak with water at 24C for one
minute. There have been occasions when I have had a streaky print, but
the one minute pre-soak has eliminated this entirely.
I make a
detailed note of everything I do in a notebook and I can do a
repeat print even days later. The height of the enlarger on the
column, lens aperture, exposure, filtration etc., so that I have a
starting point for my next printing session. I don`t consider myself an
expert, but I feel that my attempts are certainly acceptable.
The print
of my grandson is a little streaky because I did it without the
pre-soak. I must never do that again.
(See my
notes about the above prints - Roy).