Lodima users

[AgentX]

Hi-

Been out of the darkroom for many, many years but am looking to set one up again.

Considering my options for using large format and am thinking contact printing might be a very viable option for me.

Was wondering if users of the new Lodima paper had any comments on:

-Do negatives that print well on standard silver-gelatin enlarging papers also print well on Lodima, or is there a need to expose/process in a significantly different manner?

-Corollary: What characteristics do you need in your contact-printing negs, and how do you get them? (Never used Pyro but thinking Pyrocat might be worth a try for this paper...)

-What's your preferred paper processing method for Lodima? (Chems/times, washing, toning, etc?)

-How would you describe the difference between Lodima and a top-quality graded enlarging paper?


Considering it looks like my old 8x10 is broken, I'll probably be shooting 4x5 for large format, so enlarging still has its appeal, and Ilfobrom, etc. can make some really great images. But I've also been very happy with 4x5 prints I used to make on Centennial POP. (Which I *really* wish was still in production, simply for the ease of printing-out and processing...)

Thanks for your help and experience!

-Mike

[Payral]

Most of your questions answered there:
http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/Azo_Main.html

[AgentX]

Isn't that all about Azo, and not the new paper? Read there were some differences, regardless of the many similarities.

[Doug Howk]

Need to drill down a bit farther on the AZO forum to the Lodima section

[AgentX]

Ah. Didn't check the forum, based on the Azo name, I suppose. Ran google but came up with nothing. Thanks for the pointer.

[Ralph Miyashiro]

voice of inexperience here but the mention of POP (the paper I first printed on) caught my eye. FYI there is another silver chloride contact paper available. Fomalux 312, it's RC matt in one grade. Inexpensive and available, washes in a flash. When POP disappeared, I switched to this.