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BB640: Still going strong?

Ronny Andreassen & Vidar Hegdal's tests BB640 from Color Holographics

Note: This article reflects the personal views of the authors only. This article does not claim to be a scientific test. The exposures were made using amateur equipment on a limited number of film samples.      

We have earlier been very impressed by these plates. If you would like study our notes and pictures from earlier BB640 tests, go to October 1999 and/or March 2000.

The results we got were simply better than with any other material we have ever used. Our recommendation at that time was clear: If you can afford it, you won’t be able to find better plates.

The price from HRT was high, but we always got very bright consistent results with the plates from HRT.  Both Ronny and I disappointed when we heard that HRT in Germany had stopped production of these plates.

The good news is that Color Holographics in England have started up production of BB640. Ronny ordered a box of 10x12cm from them and received the package shortly after.  We shot several single beams and split beam reflection holograms in Hønefoss and in Sandefjord, Norway.

Left: Split beam H1 reflection. Right: Single beam reflection. Note that the picture does not justify the described clean look of this hologram

Ronny, who is an expert in making and processing single beam holograms made some fantastic shots. Three plates were wasted before the proper exposure time was found, but after this initial and expected hassle the results became really good. According to Color Holographics, the new BB640 production batches must be pre-sensitized in 3% TEA and then dried before exposure.  

The old plates from HRT were bright and clear, but these plates are probably even better. We noticed no scattering whatsoever in the single beam shots. Looking at Ronny’s single beam shots, it was hard to believe that the object itself was not under the plate. Amazing! Encouraged by the fantastic single beam results, we expected even brighter split beam reflection shots with a beam ratio of 1:2 instead of the usual low single beam ratio. However, the first result was not as expected. We then made 2 more shots of this type with better results, but we were not able to obtain the same clean look as with the single beam technique.

The reason for this may of course be that our setup was not stable, but having many years of holography experience we usually don’t make this type of mistake. It is also possible that the plates itself are optimized for single beam setups, we will try to figure out if this is the case.

Our conclusion is however clear: These plates are simply fantastic and we are warmly recommending BB640 for reflection work – if you can afford them.