Re: [Leica] OT Heiland Splitgrade- Lengthy reply, sure to rouse the ire of 'Purists' everywhere

["Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com>]

Richard-
I often wondered why anyone would spend a lot of money on a camera, get the
best meter they could to make the best negatives possible, then refuse to
meter in the darkroom!
I looked at the Heiland system, and like others found it too expensive, but
came up with an alternative that lets me use my cheapo Beseler color
analyzer as a densitometer and metering device for both regular and split
printing. The split printing system I am still working on, but with the help
of my Friend Bob, we are making headway.
Essentially, we use a step tablet to make our test prints- This was done by
first cutting 8x10 sheets of paper into twenty 2x8 strips- four sheets did
it.
After doing that, we set the enlarger to the height to make an 11x14, set
the aperture to 5.6, and then made a series of exposures with the the "00"
filter- the lowest contrast filter. Each exposure was in 6 second
increments, from 6 to 60 seconds. This used half the paper.
The other half, we exposed the with the step tablet, again, in six second
intervals using the "5" or highest contrast setting. This used the other
half of the paper.
We developed the strips for 3 minutes, stopped, fixed, washed and dried the
strips. Then we analyzed them.
To analyze them, we plotted the time it took to get the desired reflection
density on the strip with the time it took to expose the paper.
For example, with the high contrast filter, we got our shadow details. We
looked at each strip, determined which density of the step tablet gave the
density that would show shadow detail, and plotted it on a graph.
The low contrast exposure gave up the highlight detail information. We
plotted the time of exposure to get the proper density on the strip that
would represent a hilight value in a finished print, and plotted the
corresponding time and step tablet density on the graph.
When we finished, we had two charts- one with the curve representing shadow/
high contrast filtration. It was marked on the X axis with times from 6 to
60 seconds. The Y axis was film/step tablet density that gave the proper
print density on our test strips. The other durve was for thye highlight or
low contrast exposures.
To use the chart- we 'zeroed' the meter with the white light setting with
both the high and low contrast filtration, recording the respective number
on the dial as out 'program'.
This allows you to get the same amount of light coming out of the enlarger
everytime- if you raise the enlarger, you open the aperture to zero the
meter, and if you make a smaller print, you close the aperture. Once set for
you print, at the height for whatever magnification, and with the aperture
set to give the 'standard' amount of light on the easel- you get your
negative.
Then using the meter like a densitometer, you zero on the base+fog area of
the negative- usually the interstitial area around the frome or on an edge.
Then read the shadow density of the negative- record the density, then look
for an area that you want to print as a highlight area- and measure the
density and record it.
Then, referring to your charts, you find the time density that matches the
shadow density of your negative, read the time from the chart- and you have
the exposure time for the high contrast filter.
Refer to the chart and find the value of density on the Y axis, and that
point of the curve will intersect with the time of exposure for the
highlights, using the low contrast filter.
Since the paper emulsions are relatively insensitive to the other color, you
can add low contrast exposure with no effect on the shadows! This means that
if the shadows are okay, but your highlights are too dark (or light) that
you can pull or add low contrast exposure to bring them to the proper or
desired level with no effect on the high contrast emulsion! Or, vice versa!
We had good results right out of the gate, and the only drawback is that you
need to use the four sheets of paper for each type of paper that you use,
and plot each one- however, since we use either Ilford MG Deluxe as our RC
paper, and Ilford Warmtone Double weight Fiber Base paper as our "good"
stuff, we only need two tests and keep track of two sets of charts.
We found that the split printing can have times that don't add up to a
minute, as well. Sometimes you might need a 42 second exposure of the low
contrast filter, but a 24 second exposure of the high contrast filter- it
adds up to more than sixty seconds, but the results are better than printing
with a single filter setting.
I am hoping to get some dichroic blue and green filters to experiment with
sharp cut-off filtration, and see if there is a difference. I think the
result would be similar to using a greater stereo seperation in a sound
system- where one channel would have almost no effect on the other. So far,
the prices ($147 each!) have kept me at bay- so if anyone knows a source of
50mm dichroic filters on a glass matrix for a reasonable price- let me know,
Please!
Sorry for the long post, but I felt compelled to wade in here. I know that a
lot of you have limited resources- and with 11x14 sheets of paper- the good
stuff, costing over a dollar a sheet, limiting waste can save a lot of time
and money. It can also make the rewards of darkroom work greater because you
have less frustration, and more immediate gratitude!
Dan ( All wet in the darkroom- " YIKES!- WHO LEFT THE WATER RUNNING?") Post
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <Disfromage@aol.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 8:17 PM
Subject: [Leica] OT Heiland Splitgrade


> I just finished reading Erwin Puts' article in Camera and Darkroom
Magazine
> (a wonderful publication BTW) about the Heiland Splitgrade system which
> automatically calculates and sets VC filtration and time for enlarging.
It
> sounds like a great timesaver.  I am wondering if anyone here has
experience
> with it, and if it really does what it is supposed to.  And now back to
our
> show....
>
> Richard Wasserman