contact printing in your bathroom

[msbarnes]

What's the most feasible way of doing so? I've read, very briefly, about some ways of doing so without an enlarger but they sound kind of a mess.

[ghostwriter69]

There are some slower papers which can be used for contact printing. I've done this in the past without a darkroom, using 4x5 and 8x10 sheet film, though this could also be used for proof sheets for 35mm or 120.

The paper I've used in the past was Kodak Azo, which you can't buy new nowadays (it pops up for sale every now and then on some large format lists). It's a silver chloride paper, is slower than regular enlarging paper. I'm not sure if this is typical for all silver chloride papers.

For new paper, you can buy Lodima (http://www.michaelandpaula.com), which was designed as an Azo replacement.

I have no experience with the Lodima, but I hear good things about it.

There's also Foma Fomalux FB 111 and Foma Fomalux 312 RC, which are supposedly "contact speed". I don't know how they compare to Azo or Lodima, as I haven't looked them up, but you can get them for cheaper.

Good luck.

[ghostwriter69]

Forgot to add, this is how everything was set up.

I'd put my negatives in a contact printing frame, under a darklight. This sandwiches everything together so it's all flat:

glass
negative
paper
back of frame

Then, I'd turn on the lights to the bathroom. I have some incadescent light bulbs in the bathroom, not the flourescent spiraly ones. I've heard of people using a single high wattage bulb, and I think I just used one 100 watt bulb. I also used three lower wattage ones (because my bathroom has three lights above the sink). Basically, the contact print frame was a couple feet away from the lights. This gave me a reasonable exposure time, and time to dodge, burn, etc. for my large format negatives.

Then, I'd turn off the bathroom lights, and under safelight, remove the paper from the contact print frame. My developing trays were located in the bathtub, which made for easier cleanup, but it forces you to kneel down or bend over.

It worked out pretty well for me. They keys are the slow contact speed paper, the contact printing frame (or somehow making sure everything is flat together, like using a heavy piece of glass and some kind of clamp), and making the bathroom as dark as possible (this may mean printing everything at night).

I suppose you could use regular enlarging paper as well, but you'd need a smaller light source. I've never tried that; I've only used regular bathroom lighting with contact speed paper.

[rommelgc]

best setup for your requirements would be to use contact paper, as originally suggested

the only paper i used is Fuji Tone WP. it is sadly discontinued, and i only have around half a box remaining.

also, get this book:
http://archive.org/details/IlfordPrintingAndEnlarging
it is an ancient book but it has a good chapter on contact printing.

[Overkill-F1]

I have never used contact paper. I always use a regular graded 8x10"enlarging paper. I use an enlarger for the light source, but have also used a 40 watt light bulb that was just hanging above the bench. You just need to run a test strip and use a timer to control the light bulb and get the right exposure.
...Terry

[mike rosenlof]

You can do this. It's less convenient than a dedicated darkroom, but better than no darkroom!

You will probably want a lower wattage light source than most (bright) bathroom lighting. Especially if you use enlarging paper (the most common around by far) you may want 25W (incandescent) or even less. To get good consistency, a timer that controls the light is a great thing, but you can do really well with an electronic metronome. Some old guy from California named Ansel used a metronome for years. You can get one of them at a music store for about $20 maybe even less. Set it to 60 and you have a one beep per second timer.