bad paper part II

[Ben Calwell]

Sorry -- my first post on this should read "I can't tell from the label when the paper expires."

[Henry Friedman]

Take it back to the folks who sold it to you, and request a replacement or refund. If they're not doing much business in silver based photography the paper might be left over from the Ford administration, or Bill Clinton's at the least.

I have always tried to support local merchants whever possible. In this case, though, you might just have to make your future purchases from a mail order firm that has frequent turnover of its stock. That is the unfortunate reality of "traditional" photography today.

[John Kasaian]

Ben,

If your local dealer carries graded fiber base paper thats a rare bird indeed(or you live in someplace like NYC) The two independent shops my my town only carry MG, so I buy all my paper from mail order places rather than put them through the hoops for special ordering for me(which they probably don't especially want to do anyway)

During the Ilford Panic of '04 I ordered a big fat box of Freestyle's label of the stuff---the same as Galerie glossy#2 and the box arrived a bit worse for wear---I couldn't make oout the expiration date either, so I sent it back and they sent me another box in better (looked like brand new) shape---no hassles at all.

If you're local shop isn't interested in your photo paper $$ I wouldn't hesitate to start doing business with a reputable dealer through the mail or internet. Freestyle, J and C , and Calumet offer a good selection of graded FB between them (BTW, Freestyle still lists graded fiber base Arista as well as Galerie) you should find something to your liking (and they'll treat you well!)

Cheers!

[John Cook]

Ben, deep in my heart of hearts, I would not expect the retail merchants to have much photographic knowledge these days. Possibly they might issue a refund to keep you as a happy customer. But reliable product information? No.

From experience, paper usually fogs before anything else. The unexposed print borders will go gray first, even when the silver image is still okay. The brown mottle could also be something with the batch of chemicals. Unless the paper is reeely, reeely old. Like fifty years or more.

My advice would be to first take a crack at Ilford Technical Information at:

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/ILFOPRO/techsupport.htm

They fired Wendy and David when the going got tough last year. But someone might still be available for problems like this. It would be interesting to know, before the big conference in Pasadena, if the new owners take customer satisfaction seriously.

[Jonathan_5775]

Or else someone could have left it on top of a toaster oven.