JAPANNED IRON DEVELOPING TRAYS.JAPANNED IRON DEVELOPING TRAYS.
JAPANNED IRON DEVELOPING TRAYS.
These are all made to suit the various sizes of plates in use; the japanned iron trays are the cheapest, but they wear out rapidly; the ebonite trays are ratherp169higher in price, but they are more durable, and have a clean polished surface. The hard rubber dishes are the most expensive, and perhaps the most durable.
EBONITE TRAYS.EBONITE TRAYS.
EBONITE TRAYS.
ANTHONY'S GLASS BATHS IN BOXES.ANTHONY'S GLASS BATHS IN BOXES.
ANTHONY'S GLASS BATHS IN BOXES.
The amateur should procure his trays of a size suitable for the largest plate he uses, and should have two or more on hand always for developing purposes. These dishes are also suitable for the clearing and fixing solutions; but for these solutions the upright bath dish and dipper are better for several reasons; first, because there is less evaporation; second, all sediment sinks to the bottom, and the solution is always clean; and last, but not least, they take up less room.
The gelatine plate requires much and prolongedp170washing to free it from the solutions by which it is developed and fixed, and which, if not thoroughly washed from the film, would ultimately injure and perhaps distroy it An apparatus has been devised for washing dry plates, which may be adapted to any size plate from 4×5 to 8×10.
It has a perforated false bottom, the water is received into the box beneath the bottom, passes up through the perforations and out through a pipe at the side; the plates are placed in the grooves and rest on the false bottom. The force of the water is checked in passing through the false bottom and flows evenly up through the plates. A half hour of washing in this box would be quite enough to thoroughly cleanse the film from hypo, etc.
Another and very effective model is theANTHONY SELF-CHANGING SHOWER WASHING BOX.ANTHONY SELF-CHANGING SHOWER WASHING BOX.
Another and very effective model is the
ANTHONY SELF-CHANGING SHOWER WASHING BOX.ANTHONY SELF-CHANGING SHOWER WASHING BOX.
ANTHONY SELF-CHANGING SHOWER WASHING BOX.
p171
The Anthony Self-Changing Shower Washing Box for dry plate negatives is a nicely constructed and convenient apparatus. Made substantially, and well japanned inside and out, it has interior grooves in which either 5×8 or 8×10 negatives may be placed. When the negatives are introduced, the hose is attached to a faucet; the lid is now closed and locked if desired, and the water turned on.
It will be seen that the water enters the washer from above, and that the inside of the lid is made in the form of a perforated fountain, which discharges a spray over the plates. When the negatives are entirely submerged, the water is all drawn off by means of a self-acting syphon, and the process of showering is repeated.
With this apparatus the hypo can be thoroughly eliminated from the gelatine film in from fifteen minutes to half an hour. The change of water is continuous.
When the plates are well washed they are removed from the washing box and set up in
where they will soon dry, and when dry they should be stored in boxes to be kept free from dampness and dust.
ANTHONY'S FOLDING NEGATIVE RACK.ANTHONY'S FOLDING NEGATIVE RACK.
ANTHONY'S FOLDING NEGATIVE RACK.
p172
NEGATIVE BOXES.NEGATIVE BOXES.
NEGATIVE BOXES.
These boxes are made of every size and are indispensable for the proper preservation of dry plates.
The solutions for developments, both by the neutral oxalate and the alkaline pyro processes, should be kept in air-tight glass-stoppered bottles; in fact, rubber stoppers are superior to glass for keeping out the air, and when they can be had should be preferred.
Glass funnels and filtering paper for filtering the various solutions should always be kept handy for use.
Glass graduates are quite indispensable in preparing and mixing the developing solutions.
A balance scale is equally necessary for the same purpose.
The chemical constituents of the developing outfit are:
It is not necessary that the amateur should have a thoroughly appointed dark room, although such a room is a great convenience and not at all difficult to construct nor expensive to keep up.
Those desiring to construct a convenient and safe dark room should consult the article on dark room in the first part of this book. Such a room might be put up in an out-building where running water could be had, but for occasional use the bath-room or any closet in the house that contained running water and is large enough to hold a small table would answer every purpose. It would be necessary to stop every crevice that would admit white light, by covering such places with heavy red orange paper. The window, if there is one, may be covered with the same paper or a heavy shawl. The room may then be lighted comfortably with Carbutt's Dry Plate Developing Lantern, which may set upon the table with the developing tray before, as in the cut.
When abroad making views it is sometimes necessary to change the plates in the holders; for this purpose carry with you a ruby glass gas burner chimney, which is a plain cylinder of ruby glass, about one and a half inches in diameter and six to eight inches long. Light a short piece of candle and set the chimney over it; this in any small dark closet will give plenty ofp174light for the purpose, and indeed might do to develop by at a pinch.
LANTERN ARRANGED FOR DEVELOPING, AND AFTER FIXING, EXAMINING NEGATIVES BY OPAL LIGHT.LANTERN ARRANGED FOR DEVELOPING, AND AFTER FIXING, EXAMINING NEGATIVES BY OPAL LIGHT.
LANTERN ARRANGED FOR DEVELOPING, AND AFTER FIXING, EXAMINING NEGATIVES BY OPAL LIGHT.
First make two stock solutions as follows:
No. 1. A saturated solution of oxalate of potash (a pint or quart) and test with blue litmus paper. If it does not show an acid reaction dissolve a little oxalic acid in water and add enough to the solution to cause the blue test paper to turn red.
This solution should be filtered for use.
No. 2. Make a saturated solution of pure sulphate of iron, and to one quart add three or five drops of sulphuric acid, to prevent oxidation, and filter.
Now, to develop a 5x8 plate, take three ounces of No. 1 and to this add one quarter of a dram of bromide of potassium solution (which is water one ounce, bromide of potassium twelve grains), then add half an ounce of No. 2; this forms the developer.p175
Then transfer the plate to a developing disk, and pour over it the developer. If the picture comes out gradually and develops sufficiently, it is good so far, but if from under-exposure the details hang back and refuse to develop further, then add two drams, or half an ounce, more of No. 2, which will bring out the picture with full details, unless greatly under-exposed.
Never exceed one ounce of No. 2 (iron) to three ounces of No. 1 (potash), for if you do you will form a sandy deposit and discontinue the action of the developer.
Always develop until the picture seems sunken into the surface. Do not judge by looking through the negative only. Wash and fix in hypo, 1 ounce; water, 8 to 10 ounces. After fixing, wash well.
For pictures taken instantaneously, use no bromide in the developer.
"No. 1.
No. 2.
To develop, take
For restraining over-exposure use the above quantity of developer, one-half to one dram of
"It is always advisable to use two developing trays,p176and have the normal developer in one and the restrained developer in the other. Then, by changing the plate from one tray to the other, the character of the negative is under full control. Four to six plates can be developed in one lot of developer.
"This developer can be used for a number of plates, and gives fine negatives of good printing quality.
"After development, return your old developer to a stoppered bottle, and keep for commencing development.
"The reason for doing this is as follows:
"As a rule, I give a little more time than necessary to make a full-timed negative, and, by commencing with the old developer, give the high lights a start of the shadows, which I can readily soften afterwards by the use of a stronger developer at the finish, thus obtaining the sparkling high lights so much admired in the wet plate; and so seldom found in the average Dry Plate Pictures.
"This developer never becomes muddy, and may be used repeatedly with fine effect.
"Always place plates in a strong solution of alum after developing and rinsing, and before fixing. This gives brilliancy to the negative and prevents the possibility of softening.
"In the use of the above formula it is important that the best Chemicals be employed."
It is not necessary to make up the full amount of 2 oz. pyro at one time.
In the foregoing two formulæ will be found all that is necessary for making good negatives by either process.
Every box of plates that is put up for sale carriesp177with it the formula supposed to be best for that plate. There are other forms of development that produce good work. The following is one of them:
Make a saturated solution of yellow prussiate of potassium and dilute with an equal bulk of water; add 2 drops of ammonia and 2 grains of dry pyro to each ounce used.
The solution can be used repeatedly until exhausted. Four ounces of this solution would contain 8 grains of pyro, which is enough to develop 2 8×10 plates, or their equivalent of smaller plates. Mix only the amount that will be used at one sitting.
It will be noticed in all the foregoing formulæ that the matter of greatest uncertainty is the exposure of the plate; you never can tell if your plate is properly exposed until you begin to develop, and then if your picture flashes out at once it is too late to correct by modifying the developer.
The theory of development is that the pyro is the developing agent and gives the strength.
The soda, or ammonia, as the case may be, gives the detail. The bromide is a restrainer, and to a certain extent will correct over-exposure. Sulphite of soda, citric acid and sulphurous acid are used to keep the pyro from oxidizing.
Therefore, when developing a plate, say a 5×7, put it in the tray and pour over it the amount of pyro necessary to develop such a plate, say two grains in four ounces of water, let the plate remain in this solution for a short time, in the meantime take of your alkaline solution the amount you would use for thep178same size plate, but add only a small portion to the solution covering the plate. To do this pour off the pyro solution into a graduate and add a drop or two of the alkaline solution, soda, potash or ammonia, whatever it may be, then turn the solution back on the plate and watch for the effect; if in a few minutes there is no change, then add more of the alkaline solution in the same manner, and in a short time the image will begin to appear; if it comes up too slowly, give it the remainder of the alkaline solution, and unless the plate has been under-exposed the image will come out and strengthen gradually until it has well sunken into the plate, when it may be removed and washed.
If you use the oxalate developer, proceed upon the same plan; oxalate in the place of pyro, iron in the place of alkali, but always add the iron to the oxalate, not the reverse.
Do not be persuaded that the bromide is only a restrainer; it is that and more too; it may greatly affect the quality of the negative, making it much finer in grain and clearer in the shadows.
Under-exposed plates at best make but poor negatives, and it is preferable to err, if at all, on the other side, but with the rapid plates now made exposures are very seldom too short.
When the plate has been developed it must be washed and then placed in the hypo solution to fix.
The most effective strength of hypo solution is half saturated. Make a saturated solution of hypo and dilute it with an equal bulk of water. The plate should lie in this solution until it appears perfectly clear, and about five or ten minutes longer, then it should bep179taken out and well washed. It should then be put in the
Allow the plate to remain in this solution a few minutes and it will be found to have been greatly improved, having lost the color and cleared the shadows. This solution, besides clearing the negative, decomposes the hypo remaining in the film, and a short wash after being taken from it is sufficient.
The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co., of Rochester, N. Y., exhibited at the P. A. of A. Exhibition, at Buffalo, N. Y., in July, 1885, a very remarkable display of photographs, the negatives of which were made on gelatinized paper and called the Eastman flexible negative support. They gave a demonstration of their process at the same time, and also explained the working of their new holder for a continuous web or band of paper.
The sensitive gelatine emulsion is prepared in the same manner as for glass plates, and it is spread by means of ingenious machinery on continuous bands of paper, which bands are afterwards cut into sizes, or rolled on spools which will contain enough paper to make from 24 to 40 views or portraits, according to size.
They have invented a very neat apparatus to hold the paper when cut into sizes so that it may be inserted in the common dry-plate holder.p180
They have also invented and patented a roller holder which may be made to fit any camera, in which is inserted a spool of the paper, and by means of ingenious devices it may be drawn across a flat table and wound upon another roller with an apparatus to register each length of paper as an exposure is made. This apparatus is absolutely correct in operation, and the proper length of paper is infallibly transferred from the table to the roller by simply turning the roller with a key from the outside.
By this invention the viewist is given command of as many as 24 exposures, with no greater weight to carry than one double dry-plate holder when filled with glass, thus reducing his "tote" the weight of five double dry-plate holders and ten glass plates, and his resources are increased two-fold.
The exposures having been made the holder is taken to the dark room, the paper unwound from the spools, cut at the register marks and developed in the same manner as glass plates, but with the difference that several pieces may be developed at the same time in the same manner that paper prints are toned, thus securing a uniform intensity to the negatives; the fixing and washing are performed in the same manner as silver prints and as easily.
The paper negatives after being washed are dried between blotters, or in any other preferred manner, and they are then saturated with castor oil and ironed with a hot flat-iron, to make the oil more effectually permeate the fibre of the paper.
These negatives are more perfectly susceptible of being retouched and worked up than those on glass.
They are printed from the gelatine side, and whenp181the prints are made the negatives are stored in portfolios. If after a time it is found that the oil has dried out of the film, they may be again oiled the same as at the first.
The roller holders are made for every size and style of camera box from the Detective and the Bijou pocket apparatus, up to the 20×24 mammoth size Novel Camera.
The Eastman paper films for the roll-holder are prepared in continuous bands, and are rolled up on wooden spools and neatly packed in paper boxes.
The spool may be removed from its box and placed in the holder in daylight, at the expense of the outside roll or length of paper necessary to extend from the spool to the winding-reel, so that if one were so situated as to find it necessary to change rolls in the field, the loss would be trifling—being at the utmost not more than would be required for two exposures from each spool.
The proper course, however, is to charge the holder with its spool of film in the dark room before going abroad.
In doing this it is necessary that the light in the room should be strong enough to enable the operator to see comfortably; but of such a quality as not to injure the paper, which is at least 25 per cent. more sensitive than the same emulsion would be if on glass instead of paper.
Figure 1 gives a general idea of the shape of the holder, with the slide partly drawn to show a portion of the film. Also may be seen the brass loops or clampsp182which hold the cover securely over the working parts, and the key at the bottom which turns the reel to which the loose end of the paper is attached.
FIG. 1.FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
FIG. 2.FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
The working parts are fastened to a light metal frame, and consist of a spool of film at the right end, and the winding reel at the left, as seen in Figure 2. Both the spool and the reel are provided with spring brakes, that prevent the uncoiling or unrolling of the paper from either the spool or reel. The milledp183heads of the chucks which hold the near ends of the spool and reel are provided with pawls, which, while permitting them to turn easily in the right direction, prevent the possibility of turning the other way.
When the cover, as seen in Fig. 2, is to be removed, the keyhole guard and the indicator knob are pulled out as far as they will come, the two loops on each side are turned down, the cover lifted off, leaving the working parts exposed, attached to the back of the holder by spring bolts, two at each end of the frame. Now, with the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand, press these bolts, and thus release the right end of the framework, which you may turn up, as seen in Fig. 3, which is the position for removing and replacing the roll of film.
FIG. 3.FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
p184
FIG. 4.FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
The proper method of doing this is more particularly shown in Fig. 4. With the left hand you hold the roll of film and draw back the spring brake; now press the end of the roller that has the saw-cut or groove across it against the chuck, as seen on the left, while the right hand unscrews the pivot or support for the other end of the roller, which is then placed in position; the pivot is inserted and screwed home.
This completes the operation of placing the roll of film in position. The frame is then turned down and secured by the two bolts, the paper band on the roll of film is torn off, and the end of the film is carried beneath the guide roller and over it and across the exposing table to the other end, which is next released and raised to a perpendicular position. The end of the film is now brought over the guide roller and attached to the winding reel, as shown in Fig. 5.p185
FIG. 5.FIG. 5.
FIG. 5.
The paper is fastened to the winding reel by a metallic clamp, which is pivoted to the ends of the winding reel. Now see that the film occupies a central position across the table and over the guide rolls, and then take up the slack by means of the milled head tension screw or chuck at one end of the reel. The pawls should now be adjusted on the milled heads of the chucks, the cover replaced and fastened by raising the loops or clamps over the pins in the side of the cover, and you are ready for work.
For the purpose of indicating plainly where the first exposure will be, insert the key and screw it home then turn it slowly until you hear a sharp click, then pull out the slide and draw a pencil across the film at each end of the holder, then return the slide.
When about to make another exposure, note the position of the indicator at the right end of the holder, then turn the key slowly; the proper length will bep186indicated both by the sound of the sharp click within and by the position of the indicator on the outside of the holder. At every turn of the guide-roll the paper is punctured by a sharp point which occurs simultaneously with the sound of the click. For the smaller sizes, three clicks and three punctures will surely indicate that the proper length of paper has been replaced on the exposing table. For the medium sizes four clicks and punctures are required. And for the larger sizes, as many as six or eight may be necessary. The proper information is given with the holder.
FIG. 6.FIG. 6.
FIG. 6.
When the exposures are made, and it is desired to remove the paper from the winding reel and cut it for development, proceed as before, and remove the cover from the holder; then, with a sharp knife-blade, cut the paper, as shown in Fig. 6, by drawing the blade over the paper and in the tin-lined groove in the guide-roll Then release the spring pawl at the reel end andp187draw the paper from the reel across the table, then cut by measurement, or by counting the punctures.
The directions for developing and preparing the films for printing accompany each package of the paper.
The year 1885 has been remarkable for the great importance of the numerous improvements in photographic processes that have been brought before the profession, and for the great impetus thereby given to the extension of the uses of the art.
The substitution of paper for glass as a vehicle for sustaining the sensitive film has long been an aspiration of the progressive photographer; and this year has witnessed the perfection of at least two paper film processes that may be said to be perfect.
The Eastman paper film has already established itself as a practical success, and now we have a new candidate for photographic favor in the Roche Film, just perfected and patented by that able experimentalist, and assigned to Messrs. Anthony & Co.
This Roche Film is remarkable for the ingenious manner by which the disagreeable necessity for oiling the paper is avoided.
This particular improvement consists in coating both sides of the paper with the same sensitized gelatine emulsion, which has the effect of preventing any trace of the fiber of the paper showing, from the fact that the light penetrating the front film has sufficient power to impress an image on the back film as well, the interstices between the fibres of the paper permitting a more energetic action of the light on the back film than through the fibre, equalizes the intensity and thus preventsp188the fibre showing in the negative when examined by transmitted light, or leaving any impression on prints made therefrom. The double impression has also the power of giving a more plucky or bolder character to the prints, and greatly enhancing the atmospheric effect and beauty of both portraits and landscape pictures. Also other imperfections, either in the front film or in the body of the paper, are corrected by the back coating, as neither the fibre of the paper nor any imperfection therein can have any effect on the front coating, but both the fibre and any spots, either opaque or transparent, in the paper or front film will affect the back image in the exact ratio of the opacity or transparency of the spots or imperfections.
In other words, all the imperfections of the paper and front film will be corrected by the back, rendering the double negative quite smooth and even, whatever the character of the texture of the paper may have been. This special paper offers other advantages. It will stand a protracted washing without weakening, and does not easily tear or crack from handling in the water, and when dried it will not curl, but remains flat, ready for immediate use.
Directions for development accompany each package.
Many amateurs have of late discarded their larger equipments, and for general work use the smallest sizes, such as the Detective Camera and the Bijou or Novelette, which are of the smallest sizes, such as 3¼×4¼ and 4×5.
It is contended on their part that these small outfits, which are so light and portable as to give the minimump189of trouble in their use, give also (when good lenses are used) the most brilliant and perfect negatives, which are capable of being enlarged to any desirable size. Indeed, the copying and duplicating apparatus may be found in the rooms of many of the leading amateurs. And by its use many valuable negatives are duplicated, and secured against loss by breakage; others are enlarged to more useful sizes, and most beautiful transparencies are made.
THE COPYING AND DUPLICATING CAMERA.THE COPYING AND DUPLICATING CAMERA.
THE COPYING AND DUPLICATING CAMERA.
This apparatus, as will be seen in the engraving, is a camera with an unusually long bed-rail and bellows. It has a central frame which supports a lens, and a front frame supporting a negative, so placed for duplicating or enlarging, which is done by transmitted light.
The front is fitted with a kit of frames for the various sizes of negatives, from 3¼×4¼ to 8×10, or the largest size the box is capable of producing.
For copying by reflected light the lens is removed from the central frame and adjusted or attached to the front, where the negative is seen in the cut; and the picture to be copied is attached to an upright support (which is usually a part of the copying table or stand)p190and exposed to the strongest diffused light available, the camera being adjusted squarely in front of it.
For duplicating or enlarging negatives the adjustment of the apparatus is as shown in the engraving. Such work being done by transmitted light. The negative to be enlarged is placed in the appropriate sized frame in front and the lens in the middle frame, which is placed nearer to the negative than to the ground glass. The conjugate focus is then found by drawing out the rear or ground glass focussing screen until the image is sharply defined on the glass. When the subject is sharply in focus, if the image is found to be too small the frame supporting the lens is pushed a little nearer the front; on the contrary, if the image is too large the lens is drawn back from the front.
For all such work the camera should be directed toward a window commanding a clear view of the sky, or if trees or buildings intervene then a sheet of tissue paper or a square of ground glass should be placed immediately in front of the camera and against the window. It will be found that Anthony's "mineral paper" is superior to either tissue paper or ground glass for this purpose, and should be used when it can be procured.
When it is desired to make a duplicate negative it is necessary first to produce a dia-positive or transparency; this is merely a copy of the negative (by transmitted light, or light passing through the negative to the lens) with its lights and shadows transposed or reversed. Great care must be taken to have this transparency in sharpest focus, and full-timed in exposure to secure line detail.
When a suitable positive has been secured it shouldp191be dried and set up in the place occupied by the negative from which it was made, and with the film side toward the lens.
The process is now repeated, but with a shorter exposure, and the resulting picture is a negative (if well done) identical with the original.
The adjustment for size is, as before mentioned, effected by moving the lens support. If it is desired to enlarge, the lens is moved nearer the subject; if to reduce, move the lens back from the front. If the duplicate negative is to be of the same size as the original, the lens is moved to the position near the centre between the front and back, which will give the image on the ground glass the same dimensions by measurements as the original.
It will be observed that as there are two plates to be used the utmost care must be taken in the adjustment of the focus and in timing the exposure in both instances, to avoid loss of definition or quality.
Duplicates and enlargements of negatives made by this process and with dry plates need be in no particular inferior to the originals, if care and skill are exercised in their production.
When it is not desired either to enlarge or reduce the size of the duplicate, a more direct and simple method is to make the positive by contact printing.
Place the negative in a printing frame, and upon it lay a dry plate so that the two film surfaces are together; use a thick pad and see that the pressure is strong enough to force the two surfaces into intimate contact; now expose to a gas flame for four to sixp192seconds and develop. This will make an admirable positive or transparency if properly done. The same process repeated, serves to make a duplicate negative from the transparency.
It is advisable to make a positive by this method from every valuable negative. This positive will serve to make duplicates from, should the original be lost or broken.
Enlarged prints from small negatives can be made by the use of Anthony's enlarging camera, and their gelatino-bromide paper by artificial light, so that when one or more or only a few large prints are required from a small negative it would perhaps be more advantageous to make them direct from the original negative by the use of this instrument than by making an enlarged negative and printing by contact. However, the latter method would be the best in cases where many prints are required.
The amateur who has secured a fine negative of some choice bit of scenery, or has made a "hit" on any subject interesting or beautiful, will naturally desire to secure prints or impressions from it, that he may gratify his friends with a copy or supply the demand for exchanges with the members of his camera club.
The accomplishment of this desire is neither difficult nor expensive, as there are several processes by which the amateur may print for himself as many impressions as will suit his purpose. If silver prints are preferred, any photographer will produce them at small expense; or if the amateur is sufficiently posted in this branch of the art, and has the facilities, he can easilyp193make them himself. The matter is much simplified by procuring from the nearest stock dealer or photographer, ready sensitized paper. Few amateurs, however, I imagine, would care to incur the expense of a silver-printing outfit. Those who would will find in the first part of this book full instructions in the article on silver printing.
The processes by which the amateur may most easily produce prints from his own negatives by his own skill and labor are:
This paper is prepared with a sensitive surface, similar to the dry plates commonly used, and must be handled with the same care and subject to the same conditions of light; consequently the printing must be done by artificial light only.
The paper being cut to the sizes desired, should be kept in a light-tight box, and in a dark room. When about to print, place the negative in a printing frame in the same manner as for silver printing, lay the paper with the gelatine surface down upon the negative, place a cloth pad upon the paper, then press the frame back firmly down to secure even contact of the paper with the negative.
All this should be done in a dark room by the aid of a non-actinic light, and for this purpose Anthony's Climax Dark-Room Lantern, Patented, as shown in the following cut,p194
TN: Anthony's Climax Dark-Room Lantern.
would seem to fulfil every requirement. A more expensive, but very convenient instrument, however, is
CARBUTT'S MULTUM IN PARVO DRY PLATE LANTERNCARBUTT'S MULTUM IN PARVO DRY PLATE LANTERN
CARBUTT'S MULTUM IN PARVO DRY PLATE LANTERN
p195
which has proved to be most suitable for this particular purpose.
The paper having been placed in the printing frame, the frame is set up,
Lantern arranged for making positives by contact.Lantern arranged for making positives by contact.
Lantern arranged for making positives by contact.
as seen in the cut, and the door in the side of the lantern opened, which permits the white light from the lamp to fall upon the surface of the negative; an exposure of from 5 to 10 seconds is all that will be necessary, even in case the negative is quite dense; a thin negative will print with less exposure, say 3 to 5 seconds, at a distance of from 12 to 15 inches from the light.
The paper when taken from the frame presents no change of surface, and must be developed in the same manner as a dry plate, to bring out the picture.
Previous to developing, lay the paper in a dish of clean water for a short time, and then transfer it to the developing tray.p196
The developing is done by the ferrous oxalate process. Solutions as follows:
This developer can be used several times successively until it becomes turbid. The best way is to first print and develop one print, to ascertain the proper time of exposure. Then make as many prints as are necessary, and develop them all together in a dish large enough, and with sufficient of the solution to cover them nicely. Observe carefully not to develop too far, as the resulting prints will be too dark. When the prints are developed, wash them well and fix them in a new solution of
The fixing will require from five to ten minutes; then wash and pass the prints through a clearing solution consisting of
then wash again and hang up, or place between clean blotters to dry.
It is necessary that the hands be free from any trace of silver or hypo when handling these prints while developing, or afterwards when wet, to avoid stains, etc. The same precautions as to the relative proportions of the oxalate solution and the iron are to be observed as for the development of negatives.p197
The Magic, or, more properly, the Projecting lantern, is an optical instrument, consisting of a case of wood or metal, enclosing a lamp or other illuminating agent, the light of which being gathered and condensed by a suitable condensing lens, and directed upon a small transparent picture, so powerfully illuminates it that its image, brilliantly lighted and greatly magnified, may be projected upon a distant screen by means of an objective—a combination of lenses in a tube—similar or identical in construction with a photographic portrait lens.
The modern projecting lantern, now a scientific instrument, bears very little if any resemblance to the earlier magic lantern, which was a rude construction, and, as its name implies, was first used by magicians, or professors of the magic arts, as a means of imposing upon the ignorance and superstition of their times. Later it became a toy for the amusement of young people. And occasionally it furnished amusement for popular assemblies, at what were called Magic lantern exhibitions, usually the projection upon a screen of greatly enlarged images of a series of comic pictures painted in brilliant colors upon glass.
The perfected instrument is now used in advanced schools and colleges for illustrating scientific lectures, and more popularly by public lecturers to illustrate by luminous projection scenes and incidents of travel, etc., without which the mere narrative would be exceedingly dry and devoid of interest.
Since dry plate photography became a popular amusement, the projecting lantern has greatly increased in public favor, and the members of the amateurp198photographic societies and camera clubs throughout the country are interested and engaged in the production, as slides for the lantern, of views of almost everything in animate or inanimate life.
The projecting lantern, in its highest development, is a complicated and costly instrument, the different designs and constructions of which have received, each, a long and high-sounding name, the antepenultimate of which is usually of Greek or Latin origin, such as panopticon, sciopticon, stereopticon, etc., etc., and requiring such powerful illumination as can only be furnished by the oxy-hydrogen or calcium lights or electricity.
A new instrument, however, suitable both in cost and in means of illumination for amateurs and amateur societies, has lately been introduced by Messrs. E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., which, to be in the fashion, has received the name Triplexicon.
The Triplexicon is the perfection of oil-burning lanterns; in it refined petroleum oil is burned in a burner having three wicks; the centre wick being opposite the centre of the condensing lens, and in its optical axis, entirely removes the most objectionable fault of such lanterns, the central shadow or flare.
The Triplexicon, therefore, being of its class the most perfect instrument, and requiring little if any skill to manage it, becomes the appropriate instrument for the amateur photographer whereby to exhibit in a very acceptable manner the trophies of his skill in the use of the camera and alkaline pyro.
A gentleman thoroughly familiar with all the various modifications of the magic lantern, in describing the Triplexicon says of it:
"We have seen many lanterns in our time, and inp199several respects this eclipses them all, especially those for use with kerosene oil only. The lamp itself is completely shielded with a well-made hood of Russia iron,