11 Comments
User's avatar
Doug Morse's avatar

I learned to love lith printing though it took a while. I then started collecting old paper. Oriental Seagull is a favorite. I found burning and dodging really helped getting a more even exposure. Microwaving developer saved a lot of time.

Ed Lefkowicz's avatar

I haven’t worked in a darkroom in years, and never tried lith printing, but I love the results! Thanks for taking the time and effort to explain the process.

John Esco's Monochrome Space's avatar

great article, as usual, Andrew. I’ve never tried Lith printing, as I generally prefer the tonality and overall results of Kallitype. But you’ve definitely stirred my curiosity, so I might give it a try at some point.

Adrian Cullen's avatar

Great to see some love for lith printing. It has been my default process for a number of years. I take your point entirely about keeping it for special and not overusing it. That is something that I am guilty of, tempered by having an array of different papers that give different results. I for one quite like the pink tones from Kentona - although I use it sparingly. I think Forte Museum is probably my favourite. All discontinued. Only Moersch and Arista (not available in UK/Europe?) remain of the commercial lith developers.

without force or haste's avatar

Excellent article, as usual. It’s been several years since I last Lith printed. Piqued my interest again.

Many thanks

Xavi B.'s avatar

I love that print from Method A, the blacks are so dense!

Tina Rowe's avatar

If it hadn't been for lith printing I would never have gone back to the darkroom and the past 13 years of my life would have been entirely different. I like the fact that there are so many variables it is almost resistent to all the checks you normally do to ensure a print is good. It made me think about the darkroom in an entirely different way

kevinthephotographer's avatar

I don't think that the Rollei, Kodak, and Fotospeed lith developers are available any longer (I did see an old packet of Kodalith listed on an auction site for $100).

The only currently commercially available lith developers I know of are the Moersch products (SE5 or Easylith)

Andrew Sanderson's avatar

Thanks for letting me know.