Using a Jubo drum I have been expiriencing an unknown source of contamination to my prints which shows up as a yellowish tinge from the paper edge to about 1 inch in on the unprinted white border (I print 6x9 on 8x10 paper). This never occurs on the first run, but often on the second run. The image itself is unblemished. Paper is Ilford MG Fiber Warmtone. I process as follows: No presoak. 3 mins. Ilford universal paper developer 1:9, 30 sec. stop, 1 minute Ilford fix (1:3), 2 30 second washes. Prints are then left in a tray of water for later final wash. The yellowish tinge is obvious as soon as I remove them from the drum, and doesn't wash out. Also, I use a Jobo lift.

What am I picking up, and from where ??? I have solved it by washing the heck out of the drums between runs, but I would feel better if I knew the source. It's almost a sepia yellow fringing.

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), September 23, 1998

Answers

I don't have the answer for your problem, probably contamination. Why would you want to use a JOBO drum for black & white printing? Three trays in 8X10 or 11x14 can be had for under $10.00, a little more for nicer trays. To me darkroom time is precious and I would not want to be spending my time washing and drying drums. I am a big JOBO fan but not in this situation. My guess for your contamination is that developer is not very good mixed with fixer.

-- Jeff White (zonie@computer-concepts.com), September 23, 1998.

Jeff: I go with the Jobo for black and white because I get,up until this recent contamination :-),

A) perfect consistancy from print to print. B) It's more economical when I just want to do one or two quick prints/contacts. C) It's a lot less mess/ waste/and spillage. D) Counter space in my darkroom is at a premium.

In other words, unless I'm doing a lot of printing, I enjoy being able to go in, mix up 100 ml of chemestry, pop out two prints, cleaning up in two minutes, and walking away. Using trays two prints equals an hour of mixing and cleanup and a lot of wasted/spoiled chemistry.

In regards to your respones....you think it's fixer getting into the developer ?

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), September 23, 1998.