Dip-N-Shoot DCG film plates.

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:24 pm

i realized i needed to start a thread on the above subject after receiving numerous PMs.

For the highest sensitivity levels required to shoot in green, a simple way to achieve this is to try to get as much Dichromate into the emulsion as possible. The way i found the highest level was to continually dip/dry my test plates (TP), into a higher and higher dichromate level until the films surface showed signs of crystallization. Then a small amount(10%) of soapy water is now added to stop the crystals from forming and to also aid in uniform draining/drying.

to realize the films concentration level one should be able to easily see (quickly in an incandescent light), the golden color as seen below.

manalokos · Post by **manalokos** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:29 pm

Hi Dave,

That plate is really very very yellow!
Do you mean you dip the plate in several Di baths with different concentrations? Just like the alchohol baths?

Best regards
Filipe

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:05 pm

you need to find the highest dichromate level your TPs will take, only dip your plates once for 30 SECONDS..........

when dipping my plates i use a suction cup handle applied to the back of the plate for the duration of dipping/drying stage.

holo_cyware · Post by **holo_cyware** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:03 pm

What's the concentration in your experience just before the AmDi starts to crystallize out?

I used 5% with no sign of crystallization (I squeegeed the plates imediately after taking them out of the bath though). The plates looked pretty much like yours (very yellow). The results were pathetic though (not very holos bright that is).

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:42 pm

triple your exposuer ................can you post a picture ? It could also be your processing.

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:34 pm

holo_cyware wrote:What's the concentration in your experience just before the AmDi starts to crystallize out?

its hard to say as i have depleted its AMDI content a bit and then "recharged" it with a few additonal teaspoons of AMDI/500 ml.
the inital ammount was like 15grams/500ml .....

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:48 pm

holo_cyware wrote:I used 5% with no sign of crystallization (I squeegeed the plates imediately after taking them out of the bath though). The plates looked pretty much like yours (very yellow). The results were pathetic though (not very holos bright that is).

When you squeegee the surface there was no scratching? my emulsion is way to soft to do this( 14gr./100ml di water), it is only air dried and allowed to age a while (2 days or more), the fact that you can squeegee it tells me your gelatin is much harder than mine, i want my gel as soft as possible to allow for easy cross linking it the fringes, but hard enough to not be foggy in the finished hologram ............. ,also you have a "dim" hologram which could also point to a too hard gelatin, those among us that can shoot in blue don’t really need to worry about such details as the film is 10+ times LESS sensitive to green.......

holo_cyware · Post by **holo_cyware** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:33 pm

The gelatin layer from these plates is incredibly hard, actually it must be too hard. It obviously scratches easily, but squeegeeing it doesn't harm at all. If scratched with the nail, the removed part "jumps back" as if made of some sot of silicone rubber.

Are there any advices on what to do with such a hard gelatin for using it with DCG? (532). I'm a bit lazy here as I could have researched for a better gelatin (I actually found one), but since I have these plates why not trying to use them (it makes the things so much easier). I never had foggy holograms with these plates, no matter what (but nor did I have a bright hologram)

So, in short:
-very hard gelatin (think 300 bloom) already coated plates for DCG, 532 laser: should I give up?

dave battin · Post by **dave battin** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:45 pm

dave battin wrote:triple your exposuer ................can you post a picture ? It could also be your processing.

And above all "Dont give up" ! can you go to the local grocery and buy some powered cooking gelatin? (its very inexpensive).
im not to sure about the squeeging part either, as i let plates dry at a leaning angle for a few minuets .

holo_cyware · Post by **holo_cyware** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:58 pm

I already found a certain gelatin (out of 5 brands) that gave me the first hologram. I just hate to coat the plates, especially now that I have these already coated glass plates. It really reduces the spent time.

I squeegeed the plates because of the AmDi solution dropplets; now I'm realizig as I'm writing this that if I had used soap that would have created a nice layer with no dropplets. I guess that would simply double the amount of AmDi in the gelatin layer. I'll try this next.