Anybody tried the new Bergger VCCB?

[Eric Woodbury]

I see that both Calumet and Freestyle have Bergger VCCB printing paper that I assume is made at the Ilford facility. Is it like the old, better, worse? How's the color? I'd love to know. Thanks.

[robert taylor]

Eric,

I tested the new VCCB, which is coated by Ilford, and found it very similar to Ilford Warmtone. The Ilford is slightly warmer--that can be seen comparing the paper bases. They also exhibit similar speed and contrast at the same vc settings. Toning was the key for me because I loved the plum tones of the old VCCB in selenium. Both papers responded quickly to 1:20 KRST at 70 degrees. Unfortunately, the special plum tone seems to be gone in the Ilford plant version. I do plan to test it this week against my last "old" VCCB 11x14 package--that will be definitive and if you or anyone is interested, I will post my results. Both papers, by the way, are lovely although the Bergger is 15-20% more expensive. Whether that is worth it for me depends on the toning.

[Michael Graves]

I'm interested in your results, Robert. I had just tried my first package of Bergger when it went bye-bye. I was a bit reticent to try the Ilford version. As much as I love their films, I haven't had the same fondness for their papers.

[Eric Woodbury]

I'm interested. What I like about the VCCB is the warmth of tone and the cold paper white. Ilford has a warm white. I like the Bergger as is and don't tone it. This is one of my reasons for using it -- not needing to be toned to correct color.

[jmcd]

I sure like the old version of Bergger VCCB, lovely tones, and sharp.

[shengja]

Ilford warmtone is one of the crappiest warmtone papers out there, IMHO.
Silver poor and not so responsive to developers or toners.
Try toning it 1:5 in selenium.
That will give you the nice chocolate brown look that used to be featured on their box.
It was the picture of BB King sitting in a chair, by Albert Watson.
For the best, most responsive paper out there, try the Bergger VCCB.
It responds well to developers and selenium and brown toner.
It gives a really nice warmtone with just dektol, no toning.
If you try selenium toning, start at 1:20.
It gives a really nice eggplant purplish tone at that dilution.

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