[Leica] Multigraph

["Rigatti Diego" <kuki@starlink.it>]

Hello folks,

I am writing from Milan, Italy. I have been lurking from February onwards
on the LUG, learning a lot of interesting technical things and listening to
many interesting stories, then before to jump into the discussion on the
above matter I want to thanks everybody out there for the relaxing pleasure
the Group is giving me everytime I check my E-mail box and I read your
messages.

Guido recently asked if anybody has any personal experience with
Multigraph, that is, for the people who never heard about it, a variable
contrast head developed by Durst.

I want to start by saying that I started to play in my first darkroom when
I was seven years old (26 years ago), learning from my father how to do it:
everybody who experienced it remembers  the first time he saw the shadows
coming out from the tray, under a strange red light. 

Year after year, the magic is always the same, but lesser the time to play
into the darkroom, lesser the ability to obtain from a negative a good,
basic picture in a quick way: now, as the major part of you, I work, and I
have a family, and I have only few hours at night to play under the red
light before to be heavy with sleep.

In these two-three hours it was sometimes hard for me to set up the
darkroom, print some contacts, choose the best pictures and, finally, try
to obtain some good prints. Especially with some negatives, it was
frustrating not to be able to obtain in a short time a good basic picture
to start to work on it, trying to create some fine art prints: when I was
ready, it was often too late in the night.

I tried several darkroom meters, to speed up this phase, but I was never
satisfied with them.

I discovered Multigraph head two years ago, and I experienced the rebirth
of my passion for B&W and darkroom games.

Now, in 15 seconds, with the probe connected with the meter and the timer,
I know exactly the time (in 1/10 of second) and the paper's grade (from 00
to 5, by tenth); in 5 minutes I have a correct print to work on. If I wont
to enlighten or to darken the picture, I can modify the exposure time in
seconds or in percentage; the same with the grade. I can use all the
current variable contrast papers (Ilford, Tetenal, Agfa , Kodak, Oriental,
etc.), each one with its own setting for the filter.  The head has an
internal probe that verify in real time the quantity of light, so modifying
the exposure time consequently (if the lamp is cold, or old, it is slower,
then the exposure time is automatically prolonged): you can be sure to
obtain always pictures with the same exposure.

Anybody who is serious about darkroom, has to give Multigraph a try: it is
not cheap (in Italy I think it costs like an M6), but you will never regret
to have bought it.

More informations (in English or in German) on Durst Web site:
www.durst.it.

Alla prossima

Diego Rigatti