alot of papers still say they have developer chemicals added into the emulsion, I believe Foma still makes that claim.
for RC paper.
What i was saying if youd read the text... the interwebz states in many places that the normal RC paper, in developer, will show a "final print image" on the emulsion side inside of 20 seconds in the developer. But it wont be fully developed. So why bother with the whole "watch the image appear in the developer" hooey?
Hooey? No need to be disrespectful. It's with orthochromatic plates and sheet film that pulling development was an essential darkroom technique, in the days when emulsion speed could vary from batch to batch and there were no accurate light meters with which to judge correct exposure. Older papers that didn't incorporate developer can also be pulled, but most people would agree that if it's overexposed the pulled print will not be the highest quality and should be printed again.Originally Posted by Torquemada
Modern RC enlarging papers almost universally have developer incorporated into the emulsion, this makes them more suitable for machine processing as it shortens the development time which both allows the machine to be made smaller and improves throughput. Modern fibre multigrade papers probably are developer incorporated because they are based on the RC papers.
Last edited by Vaughan; 16-Dec-2023 at 05:25.
No, papers are not developer incorporated anymore... The last one was Kodak Polycontrast rapid III from the '90s... It was developer incorporated so when the paper hit the activator (a strong lye based alkaline solution), the image would develop in a split second, followed by a strong stop bath dip, then into a stabilizer or rapid fix, then a rinse in the processor...
The reason some papers print faster than others is like film... They have larger grains that are much faster/sensitive than other types... RC was made for rapid access printing where the exposure time was as short as possible for machine processing, for news, graphic arts etc... (I made 10's of thousands of processor prints in commercial photo labs, but now process is obsolete as no developer incorporated papers any more...)
Fun fact/ Colder tone papers are faster, even in FB as the paper grains are bigger/faster and make a deeper Dmax, warm tone papers are slower and the smaller grains below a certain size start reflecting different wavelengths of light color starting from black to blue, green to smaller grain mixes to sepia, yellow and smallest reds... Reductive toning shrinks grains to these sizes, additive toning adds smaller metals that reflect secondary wavelengths of color on top of the silver image...
Steve K
That’s why I suggest you follow the directions. Emulsions have various components. It’s not as simple as just AgX so images might appear at different times relative to the complete development time. If the RC paper instructions say develop for X minutes in developer Y, just do that. It isn’t complicated. Few contemporary papers respond well or in any meaningful way to altered development times. It’s a poor control and is a superfluous one anyway. Control your contrast under the enlarger.
As for whether or not a RC paper has a developer-incorporated emulsion, yes Fomaspeed has it. Ilford - I don’t know if the current versions do or don’t. You can test it fairly easily - out a drop of sodium carbonate solution on the paper and see if anything happens.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks