Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1908 (Heft 23))

FRILLING AND AUTOCHROMES.
CHOSE who have used Autochrome plates and encountered
frilling know how it tries one’s temper and is apt to ruin
one’s nerves. Undoubtedly those photographers and experi-
menters who conscientiously follow the Lumiere instructions,
that the solutions used in the development of the plates be kept at 6o° F.,
and that the washing water, too, should register a similar temperature, have
but little or no trouble with frilling of plates. The professional or the
amateur fortunate enough to have his own work-place can regulate tempera-
tures at will; he can follow the instructions implicitly and in so doing save
money, energy, and a sweet disposition. But how about the photographic
vagabond of my type ? I have no place of my own ; my work is done here
and there, and everywhere. Regulating temperatures to a nicety—as the
Autochromes seem to require—under such conditions is not a simple
matter.
A few days ago, during the heated spell in May, I had a few Autochrome
portraits to develop. The room in which I was to undertake the develop-
ing registered 84° F.; the running water, 740 F.; and the various chemical
baths, 750 F. There was no ice procurable, or, at least I was too comfort-
able to get it. A bottle of Schering’s formalin was handy and looked very
tempting ; yet I remembered how Lumiere advised against its use; how
other authorities agreed with him; and how some of my close friends, pho-
tographic experts, were also opposed to its use with Autochrome plates.
Their advice had been accepted without question, but here was an opportunity
to put it to a practical test and verify it for myself.
The following is a record of six experiments made by me. In all of
them the chemicals registered a temperature of 750 F., and the running
water, 740 F.
Experiment I.—Developer, diluted, allowed to act six minutes; rinsed,
thirty seconds; permanganate bath, three minutes. After the plate had
been in the latter bath one minute, a tendency to frill along the edges was
observed; after the three minutes, frilling had spread all over the plate.
Result, plate useless.
Experiment II.—Developed and rinsed as in first experiment. Per-
manganate bath, four minutes; after first minute plate showed signs of
frilling; poured off permanganate and soaked plate in a Schering formalin
solution, $%> for one minute; rinsed 30 seconds and then continued per-
manganate treatment another three minutes. Rinsed one minute and
redeveloped for four minutes. Frilling showed slight signs of spreading,
but plate saved. Dried in sun, temperature 1250.
Experiment III.—Developed in a stronger solution than in II, for only
four minutes. Rinsed as usual, plate began to lift along edges. Bathed in a
formalin solution 3J6 for one minute and rinsed. Permanganate bath, rinsing
and redevelopment followed in the usual sequence. Plate dried in sun.
Result practically perfect.

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