Posted by Ed Kiser on August 07, 2009 at 02:21:17 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Dick's camera (was Re: Richard Morrison in The Times) posted by Jon on August 06, 2009 at 15:22:24:
quoting from...
BS CH 31:
For the first few moments Pete could not see a thing. Black
darkness everywhere, except the dim red glimmer of the
lamp which seemed to throw no light at all. Then, dimly, he
saw Dick's face in the red glimmer, and caught a red
reflection off Dick's spectacles. Then he saw hands, glowing
red, working at the camera. He saw the spool of film lifted
out.
Dick could not have been using panchromatic film, as such is sensitive to red light. He was using a red light as a safelight in his darkroom, that even though it was not bright, was glowing just enough so they could see where things were. That red light would have fogged panchromatic film, so what he was using must have been orthochromatic file that is not sensitive to red light. One of the results of that ortho film is that lipstick would come out very black in the final print.
The above quote shows that it was roll film, as it was referred to as a "spool of film."
I find it rather surprising that scientific Dick did not prep his chemicals before getting to the film, but took the film from the camera, cut off the unwanted wasted portion of the roll, then mixed his developer. The negative was processing in the developer before they started to dissolve the Hypo needed to FIX the film and stop its development. One splash of that hypo (sodium thiosulphate) would have spoiled the developer, as he so noted.
Dick said:
One drop in the developer would spoil it...
Rather than the "short stop" bath (usually acetic acid) after the developer to halt that chemical process, Dick just washed the negative in running water, to rinse off the developer.
Again quoting:
"Turn on the tap," said Dick. "We've got to wash it and
then we'll put it in the fixing. After that it'll be safe to have a
proper look."
The purpose of the hypo is to dissolve off the remaining undeveloped silver crystals in the emulsion that are still light sensitive, as if they are left, white light will cause them to slowly darken until the entire negative is completely black. So the hypo preserves the image, once it is developed. This hypo chemical must be then washed thoroughly from the image or it will cause the image to fade. Dick's washing of the negative was simply rinsing it under the tap which is probably insufficient, but he was in a hurry.
This concept Dick used in making his print, as he is not developing it, but merely exposing it to light in the print frame. The darkening is a slow process. They were able to look at the print in ordinary light long enough to see the image properly, but that print would continue to darken until completely black.
Blueprints are made in a similar fashion, exposed to bright light, then simply washed to remove the light sensitive material and thus "fix" the image.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky