[LargeFormat] Sally Forth Unto A Bright New Day

[rstein]

Dear Friends, and Tori Nelson,

     I single you out, Tori, because you said nice things about me and you
have the same first name as my daughter. If you agree to clean up your room
and not leave pizza crusts and cast-off boyfriends lying around the house
for me to stumble over, you can apply for her job....

     Thank you for the vote of confidence. Should you wish to accompany that
vote with a cash donation, I can email you my postal address. I accept all
major currencies including Yap Island stone wheels.

     On to large format photography. The correspondents are sorting out the
water problem - the water stop and alkaline fixer sounds interesting and
cheaper than the current prepacked material. One problem - if I use a water
stop bath how will I know when it is exhausted? What colour will it change
to?

    I did a flow measurement last night for the Nova Speed washer I have.
For a full flow from the outlet pipe and no overflow it uses 150 litres per
hour. The recommended time for washing is 2 minutes so that uses 5 litres -
my processing times and workflow are fairly consistent so there are prints
going in and coming out on a regular basis - thus I can't really stop water
flow during the printing time.

    The final dip for stabilization is sounding pretty good for the C-41
line.

    And a final odd note - I visited my local camera knackers yard today and
passed the time of day with the proprietor. He advised me to purchase as
much sheet Polaroid for my 4 x 5 as I was likely to need and had capacity to
freeze. His reasoning centered around a viability issue with the
manufacturer and the unlikelihood of anyone else making 4 x 5 instant film
in sheets.

    Is this just a rumour or should I act accordingly and stock up? I do use
a Polaroid 4 x 5 sheet back for studio tests. Sad if it becomes a relic -
particularly since the Land Corp squashed the Kodak instant picture business
all those years ago.

    Uncle Dick