Pt/Pd negatives for Silver?

[William Marderness]

I am mainly interested in developing negatives for Pt/Pd. If I want to make an e nlarged silver print, is their any reason to make a lower contrast negative just for this purpose? Instead of developing a special negative to print on grade 2 paper, why not use the higher contrast Pt/Pd negative and enlarge on grade 0 pap er (using MC paper with filters). Wouldn't the gradation be better than using a normal negative with grade 2 paper?

(I know pyro negatives can be used for Pt/Pd and silver grade 2. I am talking ab out non-pyro negatives.)

[Joe Lipka]

Check the printing and finishing forum section of photo.net. Paste into your browser. Same discussion.

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=B%26W%20Photo%20%2d%20Pr inting%20%26%20Finishing

[Carl Weese]

VC papers are best at normal and higher grades. Tonality usually suffers at the lower settings. A straight graded 0 if available is a better choice for this. Grade one papers used with soft developer formulas may also handle many negatives meant for Pt/Pd.

[Ed Buffaloe]

If you are contact printing, I would suggest Azo grade 2 developed in a highly dilute developer like Defender D-3 (1:7). This combination gives a remarkable long scale.

[Per Volquartz]

Use Bergger film with Pyro.

Bergger is similar to the old Double X from kodak. It has a silver rich emulsion. When you develop it in PYRO (PYRO Rollo f. inst. when using a JOBO. Go to Bostick-Sullivan for info) You get a negative that prints well on regular paper using VC paper while you at the same time get a neg. that is highly stained - perfect for platinum. In addition you get negs that look incredible - more accutance = apparent sharpness than you may have been used to getting.

And, oh yes, the Bergger film says its ASA 200 - try it at ASA 100 instead - if you like luminous shadow detail.