Replacement or closest to it?

[Allen in Montreal]

I am down to my last 100 or so sheets of Agfa Brovira.

What is the modern day equivalent or the closest one can get to Brovira?

[Louie Powell]

Hmm -

Brovira was a relatively cool toned graded paper.

I've never used much graded paper - I've always preferred VC. But in terms of tonality, the modern paper that comes to mind is Kentmere Fineprint VC.

[Sal Santamaura]

A good friend who used Brovira in its day has settled on Kentmere Bromide.

[Allen in Montreal]

Thank you, I will try a small pack of each Fine Art and Bromide.
Louie what is the Fine Art paper like to print with?

[Allen in Montreal]

My first box of Fineprint VC arrived a few weeks ago, the Ilford rep said I was the first person to ever request the paper (within her turf).
It worked out to be far cheaper to hound Ilford into getting it to my retailer than to buy from B+H.

Tonight was the first chance I had to print with it.

Seems like a nice paper at first glance, I printed two negatives.
The classic greenish cast, I did not try using any P Bromide added into the developer for the first go at it. It prints about a grade harder than my old out of date frozen Agfa has been printing but the detail and separation of tones is very nice and it responds very well to selenium toner. I processed with Edwal Platinum, I will try with Dektol next time around to see how it renders the paper.


The prints are sitting on the screens now, we will see how they dry down and what the curl amount is in the morning.


Which brings me to Insignia......

Is there a modern day "equivalent" to it?

[Drew Wiley]

Kentmere bromide and Fineprint are very different papers. Brovira was like the
Kentmere bromide paper - to me a so-so bromide at best, nowhere near in the league of the old Seagull G or original Zone VI Brilliant. I've been using Fineprint
for about a year now. Printing the same negative on both the graded bromide and
Fineprint, the latter paper really stands out. Besides being VC it's very rich with an
exceptionally long scale for a projection paper, one of the best now that the
coating bugs seem to be worked out. You can get deep cold tones using either amidol or glycin developers (fresh glycin only!). Responds less well to ordinary MQ
cold developers or Dektol, which tend toward a nutmeg brown or greenish black. Selenium and gold toners kick things into a more neutral or cold black.

[Allen in Montreal]

Thank you Drew,

I went back into the darkroom and printed one more neg, it is now 1:40am :--(
I swore to myself that as my paper supply ran out, I would move to VC paper, which I have used for long while printing 35mm on my V35, but I had always used graded paper on the 4x5 enlarger that was fitted with a non VC cold light head.

I think I am going to like this paper, I bought one 50 sheet box to test.
We seem to like similar papers, I still have one box of Brilliant left in the fridge, gr 3 in 11x14 and a little Oriental from different ages kicking around too. But I did like Insignia very much as well as Brovira and Agfa Classic too.
I will try it with Amidol in the coming weeks.

Have you tried the warm tone version of Fineprint? How did it fair?


The family will be happy to see the end of fridge always looking like this:

[John Powers]

Allen,

I have been using Kentmere Fineprint FBVC with Ilford Multigrade developer since Kodak Polymax was cut off. That may be five years now, certainly at least four. I use 16x20 and 20x24 inch sizes, buying from Freestyle. I don’t know what going into Canada does to the freight, but I believe Freestyle charges a lower freight rate so that they are cheaper to Cleveland than B&H. For my 7x17 negatives I cut the 16x20 in half using the scrap for test strips. The 7x17 prints dry so flat between two screens that I rarely have to flatten them in a press. The faster you dry them the more they curl. I let mine dry over night between screens in the darkroom with the darkroom ventilation fans turned off. The 16x20 and 20x24 require minor pressing. I have a Seal 210M press. U Akron has the largest size, 350 or 360. Much as I would like to use selenium toning I am allergic to ammonia. One of the benefits of a second marriage is that Dolly and I both entered it with our own 20 cubic foot freezers. Mine is in the basement next to the darkroom. It is loaded with the important stuff, film, ice cream, coffee and maple syrup. Hope this helps.

John

[Philippe Grunchec]

Slavich or Fomabrom?

[Allen in Montreal]

Thank you John,

I had a half sized fridge/freezer but when I unplugged it to move it last spring after running for about 15 years, it never started back up again.

The prints dried very flat, I like the finish, they look very nice. I have never used the Ilford developer, I have always used Dektol, Selectol Soft, Ultra Black or Platinum. I have just tried the Ilfospeed Rapid Fixer for the first time, I find the capacity estimates to be very high!

There is a lot of change (too much) in a short period of time in my darkroom at the moment.

Have a great holiday tomorrow.

Allen







QUOTE=John Powers;482720]Allen,

I have been using Kentmere Fineprint FBVC with Ilford Multigrade developer since Kodak Polymax was cut off. That may be five years now, certainly at least four. I use 16x20 and 20x24 inch sizes, buying from Freestyle. I don’t know what going into Canada does to the freight, but I believe Freestyle charges a lower freight rate so that they are cheaper to Cleveland than B&H. For my 7x17 negatives I cut the 16x20 in half using the scrap for test strips. The 7x17 prints dry so flat between two screens that I rarely have to flatten them in a press. The faster you dry them the more they curl. I let mine dry over night between screens in the darkroom with the darkroom ventilation fans turned off. The 16x20 and 20x24 require minor pressing. I have a Seal 210M press. U Akron has the largest size, 350 or 360. Much as I would like to use selenium toning I am allergic to ammonia. One of the benefits of a second marriage is that Dolly and I both entered it with our own 20 cubic foot freezers. Mine is in the basement next to the darkroom. It is loaded with the important stuff, film, ice cream, coffee and maple syrup. Hope this helps.

John[/QUOTE]