244 



RECREATION. 



little ray of light, even through a keyhole, 

 will ruin a fast plate 5 feet away. I do the 

 trick with frames which are covered with 

 red paper and which fit the windows tight- 

 ly. I stow them on the ceiling by hooks 

 when not in use. 



Dry plates, having been fresh when used, 

 may be kept months in winter. Certain 

 cheap plates will only keep months, while 

 some of the first class ones keep years. I 

 recently developed some exposed 4 years 

 ago in India. They are good. 



E. W. N. 



SNAP SHOTS. 



In September Recreation I find the fol- 

 lowing in regard to separate gold bath: 

 "Neutralize by adding saturated solution of 

 borax, bicarbonate soda, etc." How much 

 of the solution of borax is required to neu- 

 tralize the 48 ounces of water and 1 ounce 

 of chloride of gold? 



How many 4x5 prints will chloride of 

 gold in 40 ounces of water tone? Will the 

 solution keep a week? 



F. T. Morgan, M. D., Pantego, N. C. 



ANSWER. 



One grain of gold will tone 24 4x5 prints, 

 even 30 at times. A gold bath will not 

 work well if neutral. It must be upon the 

 alkaline side in order to precipitate gold 

 on the print. A neutral bath works in- 

 differently, but will keep a week if neces- 

 sary. An alkaline bath must be used at 

 once. 



Test the gold after adding borax with 

 litmus until both blue and red litmus are 

 not changed. Two words fully answers the 

 question, viz. : Use litmus. 



E. W. Newcomb. 



Will you please tell me if the acid-fixing 

 bath, described in the August number, page 

 152, will keep as well as a plain hypo bath? 

 Please explain fully what is meant by the 

 different sensitometers stamped on plate 

 boxes. 



F. J. D., Elizabeth, N. J. 



ANSWER. 



The acid hypo bath will keep fairly well, 

 but no fixing bath in which acid or alum 

 is mixed will remain good as long as a 

 plain bath, for such additions are likely to 

 decompose the bath. Hypo is so cheap, 

 however, that one can afford to discard a 

 bath once a we"ek. The sensitometer is an 

 instrument for ascertaining the speed of 

 the emulsion with which the plate is 

 coated. The emulsion of a batch of plates 

 is tested with the sensitometer, and what- 

 ever speed the plate tests is marked on 

 the box as sensit. 40, 50, etc. The sensitom- 

 eters used by the different plate manu- 

 facturers are not alike, so it does not fol- 

 low that 2 different brands marked sensit. 

 50 are of the same rapidity, more's the pity! 



My experience in photography has been 

 somewhat checkered. I had no idea when 

 I purchased my first camera — a 2 x 2 — that 

 I should ever want another. Out of 36 

 plates one poor negative was the result of 

 my labors. The utterness of my failure 

 to make a good picture influenced me to 

 buy another machine. My next camera 

 was a 3% x 4%. The manufacturer made 

 a mistake and put a good lens in a cheap 

 box, so I had better success with that one. 

 1 had progressed far enough by that time 

 to undertake developing. In that I had 

 poor luck, but by patience and persever- 

 ance I obtained a lot of poor, some fair 

 and a few good negatives. When once 

 you get the craze you won't stop short of 

 a good camera. I now have an excellent 

 5x7. I am not thoroughly acquainted 

 with it yet, but have obtained some fine 

 negatives. 



C. W. Walden, Johnson City, Tenn. 



That is right. Every amateur should do 

 his own developing, toning, fixing, printing 

 and mounting. Any man who turns his 

 undeveloped plates over to a professional 

 misses the most interesting part of the 

 work. — Editor. 



Alum must not be used in the hypo 

 bath. There is no sense in it anyway, and 

 it causes more trouble than could be told. 

 Repeated articles on this subject do not 

 seem to deter some from using it, and then 

 they come to me with most uncommonly 

 dirty looking negatives and calmly blame 

 the plate. Alum and hypo do not mix and 

 stay mixed. After a little while the hypo, 

 if kept, is worthless; nothing remains but a 

 precipitate of sulphur. The hypo is decom- 

 posed. Even with fresh hypo and alum 

 there is generally a white deposit all over 

 the film which is by no means easy to re- 

 move. For hardening and clearing the 

 film the safest and best addition to hypo is 

 just plain bi-sulphite of soda. Mix 2 

 ounces with each pound of hypo in solu- 

 tion and you have a simple and effective 

 substitute for alum. If alum is preferred, 

 put the negative in a tray containing alum 

 solution and after a few minutes' immersion 

 take it out and rinse it well before it is put 

 in the hypo. 



Many negatives are lost through no 

 fault of the printer, by being cracked. If 

 the film is not broken, perfect prints can 

 be easily taken off in the following man- 

 ner: Take a clean glass and place in print- 

 ing frame, then cut a piece of plain al- 

 bumen paper (not silvered) the size of 

 negative, and place face down on the gla^s 

 in printing frame, so the albumenized side 

 will be facing out when the frame is 

 closed. Then place negative in frame on 



