B&W papers??

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Greetings, It has been 3 or 4 years since I've done any B&W printing. When I last was doing it, I was using Kodak Elite Fine Arts paper...usually grades 2 or 3. I was wondering what might be 'state of the art' in B&W FB Dbl Wgt. papers?? Is it still Elite? Do any of the poly/multi contrast papers compare favorably?

Thanks...Howard

-- Howard Posner (hposner1@swarthmore.edu), March 10, 1998

Answers

Howard I don't use FB paper that often but I can tell you that Elite is no longer manufactured and neither is Oriental Seagull. Kodak replaced it's venerable paper with Polymax Fine Art and I haven't heard alot of good things about it. I think Ilford still produces their line of graded and VC papers and have added a new one called Warmtone which, as the name implies, is quite warm. Agfa seems to be doing well but I have only used their VC matte surface which I didn't like. That is about all that I can tell you.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), March 12, 1998.

Re: B&W papers..

I've been printing onto Kodak Polymax II RC for some time, and positively love it. While the permanence of RC is the subject of controversy, Kodak's E (lustre) surface gives a very pleasant appearance. Polymax II RC gives a very neutral (even mildly cold) tone with good hard blacks, a very nice Dmax even without toning. Toning in selenium 1+20 gives a mild enhancement to the Dmax and a slight change in tone.

Historically, I'd used Ilford MG FB, which was a nice paper. Now that Ilford has "upgraded" this to MG IV FB, I find I dislike it for most of the same reasons I dislike MG IV RC. I'll give MG IV FB a few more tries until the current envelope runs out, but I'm not expecting much. It seems to be good for working with overdeveloped (very contrasty) negs, but is oddly flat with 'normal' negs for me.

Kodak Polymax FB is like the 'old' Polymax RC - reasonably neutral tone, a disappointing Dmax, and not responsive to toning. I've already called Kodak to beg for Polymax II FB ;-)

Agfa Multi-Contrast Premium (MCP) is pretty nice.

Admittedly, I tend to prefer Kodak, Ilford and Agfa papers, because they're the most widely available in the US. Other papers, like New Seagull and Cachet, offer some very interesting products I've never tried. Frankly, Polymax II RC has been making me happy and is *so easy* to use that I'm not often inclined to print onto FB these days.

Dana K6JQ Dana@Source.Net

-- Dana H. Myers (Dana@Source.Net), March 13, 1998.


B&W papers..

Hello Dana, Have you tried "split contrast printing" (described a couple of days ago by Jeff Thompson in this board) on MG-papers? It would be interesting to hear.

-- Martin Glader (martin.glader@mesvac.fi), April 08, 1998.

Papers

Dear Andy, Actually, Kodak still DOES make Elite paper in grades 2 and 3. They only stopped manufacturing grades 1 and 4. (After reading your post I called them today) and, my local supplier has it in stock.

Howard

-- Howard (hposner1@swarthmore.edu), March 13, 1998.


papers

Howard, I'm surprised to hear this. I was told by my supplier that they had stopped manufacturing it totally. I haven't seen it at all in Vancouver for a couple of years now in any grade. This is good news.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), March 13, 1998.


Papers

Howard you were right. I called Kodak Canada and although they weren't sure at first they checked it and indeed grades 2 and 3 are still manufactured although they are not stocked in Canada at all and must be special ordered. My apologies if I led anyone astray.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), March 13, 1998.

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