Yesterday I first tried lith printing and found the results extremely encouraging, although I'm sure I can improve my process and my prints in the future. The only "concern" I have is that, unlike what most people say about lith printing, my development times were not that long : between 3 and 4 minutes before I had to snatch the prints out of the bath. The developer used was Fotospeed LD 20 diluted 1 + 4 for each part A and B. Paper was Forte Polywarmtone FB. No toning yet.

I have several questions for the experts on this forum : would I get even better results with more dilution ? Given that the negs used were not grainy (Agfa APX 25 in 35 mm and 6X6 enlarged at 24 X 30 cm), would more grainy negs give enhanced lith effects ? And finally, can I store the diluted developer and reuse it as is (or more diluted)until exhaustion actually shows ?

Thks for your answers.

Pascal

-- Pascal Quint (quint.pascal@wanadoo.fr), May 02, 2002

Answers

Q1: Yes, and overexpose with 2 stops Q2: Matter of taste. I use mostly Kodak IR or Ilford SFX as preferred film Q3: No. Lith developer exhausts very quickly. I can only make maximum 5/6 prints in one session (dilute lith developer) however.

-- Marc Leest (lith@leest.net), May 02, 2002.

I agree. I think you might want to try a dilution of about 1:16 or so. Then the developing times will be slower. I do re-use my lith developer, if I am printing within a few days. The characteristic of the print do change with the older developer. I too think it is a matter of taste on the grain. I am finding that I like overexposed negs best. Also I am greatly enjoying the results I get with digital negatives and pinhole negatives.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), May 02, 2002.