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Last site update:   Sunday, January 15, 2012

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Quick links


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An easy-to-use Photoshop workalike that we use all the time.

Open ZIP files

Anti-Virus software

Anti-Spam for your e-mail

A superb Office suite (reads/writes MS Office documents)

Kiss those monthly cable-tv bills goodbye. Roku is a powerful replacement for your expensive cable-tv connection.

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Photographic chemicals and home processing equipment

    Quick links to processing chemicals and processing equipment

    • Developing tank for roll film: 35mm, 126, 127, 120, 620 (Yes, you can process your color or black and white 127 film).
    • Spiral reels only (for customers who already own Patterson-type tanks)
    • Dark bags, for handling light-sensitive products without a darkroom.
    • Developer, Bluefire for use with Bluefire Police film
    • Developer, D-76 type for use with conventional, non-tabular black and white films.
    • Emulsion gelatin and related chemicals for making emulsions, sizing paper, alt process work, etc.
    • Fixer
    • Wetting agent/rinse aid for spot-free drying of films and photographic papers. New biodegradable antistatic formula.

      New product: Bluefire® Emulsion Gelatin

    Hard (250 bloom), high-clarity, inert photographic gelatin, suitable for making your own silver-halide photographic emulsions (including holographic and Lippmann plates), for alternative processes such as carbon printing, for sizing paper, silk screen work, making photo stencils or pad-printing cliches, and similar uses. You can make your own photo paper at home, relatively easily. 

    Modern photographic gelatins like this one are highly purified. Unlike supermarket gelatins, they contain none of the various salts and trace components that are normal in food but react unpredictably with photosensitive compounds. 

    Paper is best sized with a 2% solution (20 grams of gelatin dissolved in a litre of water). Most emulsion formulas use 7 to 10 grams of gelatin per litre of emulsion, so a little goes a long way. 

    Specifications: viscosity, 9 cP; moisture, 12%; pH, 5.7; Methionine, 60 µMole/g.

    Note this is pure type B ossein photo gelatin only. You must add the chemicals that make it light-sensitive.



      Item: BEGEL/250


     
    per 250 grams
    Use this Add To Cart button to buy:

          

      Item: BEGEL/500


     
    per 500 grams
    Use this Add To Cart button to buy:

          


Liquid Light
® photographic emulsion for prints on wood, glass, ceramics, plastics, china, fabrics, metal, stone, paper, artist's canvas, walls — even an egg. Complete instructions are included. This emulsion is sensitive to daylight and room light, and must be handled under amber or red light. 

Makes wonderful prints on textured art papers available at art supply, crafts, and scrapbooking stores. For best results, size the paper with starch or intert photographic grade gelatin (offered above).

Coat it on glass or thick Mylar to make a very slow (approximately EI 1 or 2) film for making negatives in a view camera or pinhole camera. The emulsion will stick if you coat the glass or mylar first with a clear coating that adheres both to glass and gelatin. You can buy spray cans of clear urethane, which works well, at stores which sell art supplies.

Printing with Liquid Light is the same as with black-and-white enlargement paper. Under amber or red safelight, brush the emulsion onto a surface. Expose with an enlarger or slide projector, or make contact prints from full-size negatives. Process with any standard paper developer and fixer.

 

Prints are archivally-permanent with a full range of tones and transparent highlights that reveal the color and texture of the material underneath. Contrast is medium-high (approximately #3).

Coverage is approximately 1˝ square feet per ounce, or about 12 sq ft from this 8-ounce bottle. No fumes, odors or VOC's — Liquid Light is completely darkroom-safe.

  Item: RO-LLE/8


 
per 8-oz bottle
Use this Add To Cart button to buy:

      



Bluefire™ HR
An ultra-soft developer for long, soft pictorial gradation with ultra-fine grain films like Bluefire Police, Kodak Tech Pan, and microfilms. To learn more about this developer, go to the Bluefire catalog page (click here).

1-litre size Bluefire HR. Packaged in 2-part dry powder form. Mix with tap water to make 1 litre (1 quart) of concentrate. Dilute concentrate 1:16 to make one-time-use working solution (add 15 ml concentrate to 235 ml water to process one roll of 35mm). Sufficient to develop 66 rolls of 35mm film.

Product BHR1L



Bluefire HR 30-ml sample size. Will develop two rolls of 35mm film. Pre-mixed liquid. Product BHR30


 


Bluefire™ Micro
A high-contrast microfilm-style developer for hard blacks, hard whites, and little if any gray scale from ultra-fine grain films like Bluefire Police, Kodak Tech Pan, and microfilms. To learn more about this developer, go to the Bluefire catalog page (click here).


1 litre size Bluefire Micro, 2-part dry developer powder to be mixed with tap water. Long shelf life and excellent working capacity.


Product BMI-1L

 



Super-76 film developer

Concentrated liquid film developer, an improved formula of the Kodak D-76 type. However, Super-76 contains no Metol. Process your film using the same time, temperature, and agitation you would use with Kodak D-76 or Ilford ID-11, for the same excellent grain and tonal characteristics. You get the benefit of D-76 without the metol and the complication of mixing up powdered chemicals.

For standard D-76-type development, dilute 1:1 with water. For development equivalent to D-76 1:1, dilute 1:4 with water. For high contrast, use full strength.

Product NA-129


1 quart of Super-76 concentrate

 

Note: The Metol in ordinary D-76 type formulas can cause dermatitis in some people and is no longer widely used. Super-76 contains no Metol.


Need stop bath? Use ordinary household vinegar, diluted 1 part vinegar to 5 parts water.


Photographic fixer
, dry powder mix. Makes 1 litre (1 US quart). Ideal formula for fixing all modern black and white films, papers, or spreadable photographic emulsions. This is standard sodium thiosulfate fixer, not ammonium "rapid" fixer, so be sure to give your film adequate time in the fixer, at least five minutes. Washes out in three to five minutes if you use a sodium sulfite wash aid, but if no wash aid is available, a fifteen minute wash will be adequate.

 

Product NA-423, Standard Sodium thiosulfate non-hardening fixer crystals, 1-litre size


 


Bluefire SpotStat™ wetting agent
15 ml (1/2 oz.) bottle

Rapid drying, anti-static, anti-streaking.  A wetting agent is essential to reduce or eliminate water spots on negatives, even if you rinse in distilled water, and this product is not only economical, it's extremely effective. Compounded with safe, biodegradable ingredients and an antistatic agent that promotes dust-free drying. Use two drops in 400 ml of water for film, or four drops in a tray of water for rinsing 8x10 resin-coated photo papers.
 

Product NA-369


 


 

 


Equipment for processing film at home or on the road



These AP tanks can be used to process black and white, color, or  infrared film. Interchangeable with Patterson processing tanks and reels. But there is a good reason to prefer these to Patterson products.

Here's the reason. The spiral reels included with these tanks feature extra-large, thumb-sized tabs where the film-feed entry is located. There is a tab on top, and a larger tab on the bottom. They're dead easy to locate in the dark, and make it very unlikely you'll be trying to feed the film in backwards. 


Film loading bag

Elastic sleeves (above) and strong double zipper (below) exclude all light

This is a well-made double-layer fabric bag for handling light-sensitive materials, such as film, in daylight. It features a large double-zippered opening on one end, and elastic-lined wrist holes on the other. Totally light-proof.

Use it, for example, to load film onto spiral reels, and then into your processing tank. Makes it possible to develop film at home, with no darkroom, or while traveling. 

Small bag, 17 inches square. More than adequate for the 35mm photographer. Product BAG1717

 

Medium and large format film bag, 27 x 30 inches. Truly a portable darkroom. Product DL-0188


 



Denki® 1 Metal Thermometer
2-1/4" diameter darkroom thermometer for developing tank or tray. Calibrations are in 1° Celsius and 2° Farenheit increments. Total range from -32°F to 100°F for all color/black and white developing and printing. Durable and accurate.



Product DL-0559   ea.
 

AP Compact Developing tank with two easy-load spiral reels. Chemical-resistant plastic. Process color or black and white film, 35mm, 126, 127, 120, 620, and 220. 



Product APTAN
   ea.
 

AP Compact style spiral reels only. These fit standard Patterson tanks as well as AP tanks, but feature greatly improved film-loading flanges which considerably simplify film loading in the dark. The only quirk is that to remove processed film conveniently, you should pull the reel apart rather than simply pull the film out.



Product REEL
   ea.
 

Personal note: my experience makes it clear that these Compact style (wide-flange) reels are significantly easier to load in the dark than Patterson and Jobo reels. A roll of curly 120 can take me ten minutes with a Patterson reel, and I worry about kinking it. It rarely takes even 30 seconds with one of these.
David Foy



DELTA 1 Glass Thermometer
Crystal clear, hermetically sealed, 6" darkroom thermometer for developing tank or tray. Calibrations are in Fahrenheit and Celsius in 2° increments. 
Specifically marked and calibrated at 68° by an easy-to-see  triangle. Total range from -20°F to 120°F for all color/black and white developing and printing. Floats.



Product DL-0559   ea.
 

(Aquarium thermometers are an inexpensive alternative, but if you do much darkroom work, the calibrated markings on these specialized photo thermometers make life easier.)



Cassette Opener

DLC Cassette Hand held Opener
This cassette opener will open your 35mm cassettes without damaging the cassette. Use only in darkroom



Product DL-6060
   ea.
 

 


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