I purchased an “Agfachrome-Speed Test
Set” from EFC West Drayton on offer for £7. It contained eleven sheets
5 x 7 paper, activator, Pot. Bromide and a pair of rubber gloves,
together with a set of simple instructions. The basic colour correction
code was 00,00,00 indicating that the paper was a neutral match with the
production standard.
The instructions were very simple,
Expose the paper, immerse in activator and then’ wash for 5 minutes.
Colour compensation is as for reversal paper.
How did I get on? Very well considering
it was a totally new process to me. I used a dish for the activator and
counted up to 90 for the 90 second immersion and there were difficulties
cutting paper and identifying the live side. 1 held all temperatures
roughly at 75F.
I only had eleven small sheets to work
with and it seemed that the best test strip size was a half sheet so I
decided to attempt full-scale colour compensation. Two sheets were used to
find a centre exposure value. A further two sheets were used for tests and
seven prints were made without colour compensation.
On my enlarger (Krokus with colour head)
light slides required 12 seconds at Fl 1 and dense slides 24 seconds at
Fl1. An exceptional slide required 28 sees. at F8 with colour
compensation.
The first slide was of a church lit by
daylight. On a projector it shows clean whites and good natural colouring.
The print shows a colour cast of yellow which when viewed through Simmard
filters 20 Cyan 20 Magenta (20CM and Simmard in all future references)
gives, reasonable compensation.
The second slide was .a difficult one,
it shows the Rhine Fall with White Water and dark nearly black river water
and white spray in the air against a dark background. The print showed the
white water as yellow and the dark water as more blue. I decided to try
some colour compensation so printed two test strips, one at 50CM (Agfa
Colour Head) and the other at 70GM. The dark water went more blue the
white water went a mixed yellow blue in the ‘first and decidedly blue in
the second. This was going to take a lot of investigation so I did not
persue it further. I am inclined to think that the base material is not
white under saturation conditions and difficult subjects are going to be
devils. The print did not really flatter the subject.
The third slide worth discussing is of a
statue in a courtyard with large gray walls with a red pattern of bricks.
As is usual this scene probably has a deceptive amount of blue in the
gray, as to the eye, when printed, it looks green. When viewed through
30CM (Simmard) filters it appears a nice neutral colour.
The rest of the slides all lit by.
daylight have about the same cast and about the same compensation. when
viewed through 30CM filters. Of course the actual filters required could
be very different, colour is so subjective but the indications are that
one. particular filter will be a good starting point. I am unable to say
what minor variation there is between slides as it effects Agfachrome-Speed.
The exposure latitude of the paper is
wide but the Agfa instructions say the reciprocity is designed to fall
over the range of exposure from 5 seconds to 20 seconds so you cannot lash
out regardless.
To explore this paper further requires
lots more paper as the indications are that colour compensation is just as
difficult as with any paper.
I exposed processed and then dried the
paper with a hair dryer to the point where the prints were crisp and
springy and you could judge the colour balance. I viewed them under
daylight, skylight, sunlight and artificial light to get some sort of a