Fomalux Contact Papers

[Michael A.Smith]

A quick check of one easy-to-access book says under " Contact printing equipment" (page 427 in Henney & Dudley, Handbook of Photography, 1939) (A great book if anyone is interested in the one complete book), "Gaslight or chloride paper used for contact printing . . ."

Further: "Chloride papers are completely developed in about 45 sec. to i min."

Elsewhere in the chapter: " Chloride papers are the slowest and are used for contact printing. "

There are different curves for chloride paper and for chlor0-bromide and bromide paper.

So, Jay, no, definitely no, it is not fair to say I know "no more about these emulsion formulae than what's printed on the packaging." I believe you are just trying to be antagonistic, not for the first time, and not that I am surprised.

[Jacques Augustowski]

Hi,

Does someone have their web site?

Thanks,

Jacques

[Jay DeFehr]

Michael,

you might consider reviewing your history. Chloro-bromide "Gaslight" papers were originally so-called because they could be exposed by gaslight, meaning they were much faster than the silver-chloride-only papers that preceded them. With the evolution of bromide emulsions, the term "gaslight" came to indicate that a paper was slow, and gaslight papers came to be known as "Contact papers". In fact, "Velox" comes from the Latin for, "quick". I post this correction because some here consider you an expert in the subject of contact printing papers, and might take your misinformation for fact. If you know the formula for either the Bergger paper, or Azo, it would be very helpful if you would share them here. If not, I'll asume you know no more than the rest of us regarding their respective formulae.

Jay

[Mike Lopez]

And here we go.....

Shit.

[Vui Shin Chong]

Hi guys,
I just tried the Fomalux papers and I must say that I am impressed. Exposed for just under 40 seconds for a contrasty negative which give me ample time to do some dodging. I liked the result very much. Definitely will try some more and it is pretty cheap too. (£3.49 for a pack of 10 - 9x12).

Regards

Chong

[Jay DeFehr]

Chong,

where did you find your Fomalux?

Jay

[Sal Santamaura]

From pages 119 and 222 of the First Edition (1984) of the Encyclopedia of Photography, published by the International Center of Photography, Cornell Capa Editorial Director:

"Contact Paper

Some printing papers are suitable only for contact-printing exposures; their emulsions are too slow (insensitive to light) to respond to the intensity of enlarging images. A contact paper is usually a chloride-emulsion paper"

and

"Gaslight Paper

Gaslight paper was a contact-printing, developing out paper with a gelatin-silver chloride emulsion that was slow enough to permit handling under weak artificial light -- from gas fixtures -- but sensitive enough to be exposed by stronger artificial light. If freed the photographer from having to use sunlight for printing-out exposures -- the common practice -- and from the difficulties of obtaining a properly ventilated gas safelight, required with the equally new and more sensitive bromide papers. It was only necessary to keep the ordinary gas jet turned low during set-up, turn it up to full intensity for exposure, and turn it down again for processing. This convenience first made the paper a favorite among amateurs, but it subsequently came into wide professional use as well. The first such emulsion was invented in 1881 by J. M. Eder and G. Pizzighelli, and a paper was manufactured the following year in Vienna by E. Just. The success of gaslight paper really began with the paper produced in London by Leon Warnerke in 1889 and especially with the introduction of Velox paper in 1893 by the Nepera Chemical Co. of Yonkers, New York."

[David Vickery]

Jay, with all due respect, you are being ...... well, I can't think of the right word at the moment. And Azo is a wonderful paper. You might do yourself a favor and give it a try sometime.
David

[Jay DeFehr]

Sal,

are you suggesting that ALL "gaslight" papers were silver chloride-only emulsions? If so, our sources disagree. There were also chloro-bromide, gaslight papers. I recommend Martin Reed's excellent article on the subject, "Yesterday's Papers"....

"'Gaslight' as a term was more an expression than a definition, and has changed its meaning as time has gone by. At the outset of their availability it indicated high speed, in that a chloride or chloro-bromide gelatin paper could be exposed by gaslight in the darkroom, as opposed to printing-out in a frame outdoors. The expression 'gaslight' was still in use even by the 1960s, although by this time it was an indication of the slowness of the paper. The papers of this type remaining in manufacture are now termed 'contact' papers."

David,

With all due respect, I have used Azo, and have never commented on the relative quality of that paper. What does this have to do with the discussion of the terms and definitions associated with contact printing papers? Is someone suggesting that Azo is NOT a contact printing paper? The disagreement here is a simple one; Michael asserts, as always, that Azo is the only silver chloride paper, and as such, the only true contact printing paper. Neither is accurate, regardless of the relative quality or characteristics of Azo. Whenever Michael makes these claims, I challenge him to corroborate them, which of course, he never can. Should we give Michael a pass and allow him to disseminate misinformation as he pleases? If so, why? Could a dealer of any other product expect the same latitude?

Jay

[N Dhananjay]

The silver halides do have differing sensitivities - choride being the slowest and iodide the fastest. Most films contain iodide and are of course orders of magnitude faster than papers. Most emulsions these days are chloro-bromide emulsions. It is also a fact that most papers for a long time were pure chloride papers (tracing back to the roots of silver printing which lie in what are now alternate processes such as POP, which all utilize silver chloride emulsions). In fact, the first bromide emulsions were considered to be pretty poor in quality and it took quite a bit of time and research to figure out how to make 'good' enlarging papers.

The following pages might make good reading. http://www.sharlot.org/archives/photographs/19th/book/chapter_14_section_3.html - see gaslight papers about halfway down the page for a reference to Azo and silver chloride. The references, especially to the Kodak pubs should help.I see no reason to doubt Azo being a chloride paper if only from the speed - it is much slower than other papers. I have not come across any other currently available paper that claims to be a pure chloride paper (as pointed out above, the Bergger aper seems to be a mix of chloride and iodide and it certainly seems much faster than Azo). And Azo certainly seems to have a different characteristic curve from other papers that we 'know' (or strongly suspect) to be chloro-bromide or bromide papers. So, to me Azo being a pure chloride paper is the mot parsimonious explanation for these bits of data.

Cheers, DJ