8x10 Contact Prints: Multigrade Warmtone RC Glossy or Pearl?

[Ed Bray]

As I now have a 8x10 camera it is time for me to dust off some of my print processing equipment and I plan to contact print the 8x10 negatives onto Multigrade Warmtone RC paper. I have chosen the RC over the FB versions as I do not have access to an archival print washer and being on a 'water meter' I do not envisage buying one.

So my question would be Glossy or Pearl? Is one better than the other for contact prints or is it a case of buy small packets of both and see which I like best?

Back in the day, my favourite paper/process was Selenium Toned Agfa Record Rapid Fibre Based which would be dried using a canvas covered print dryer, so would like something akin to that if anything available. I did not like images printed on matt paper as I never saw one thathad the depth of a nice full toned gloss or semi-gloss print.

[Chauncey Walden]

Neither. This is what you want to find. http://www.freestylephoto.biz/428282...ets?cat_id=505

[Ed Bray]

Neither. This is what you want to find. http://www.freestylephoto.biz/428282...ets?cat_id=505

Thanks for the reply, looking at the specifications isn't it very slow? Why would I want to use that when I could use something faster?

Is it more rich in silver? I notice it is also a matt paper and I have never seen an image I liked on a matt surface, this is not to say there are not great images on matt paper, just that I've never seen one.

What actually are the reasons for your suggestion?

[Chauncey Walden]

You said you wanted to make contact prints and this is a very beautiful silver chloride contact paper and the only one as far as I know that is available in RC. Contact papers are slow relative to enlarging papers but they are not exposed under an enlarger. Exposure times can run 5 to 30 seconds or so (depending on negative density, of course) under a 40 watt bulb at a distance of 3 to 4 feet. The listed grade is 2 but I would think it is more like 2.5. To me, the surface is more like pearl than matte. The paper is available in glossy but only in fiber base. You could at least give it a try against your enlarging papers but I can pretty much guarantee that you'll like the contact paper better.

[John O'Connell]

If you're contact printing, you should at least try a contact paper. I have AZO prints on my walls, and Multigrade Warmtone prints, and the contact paper--AZO--clearly has deeper blacks.

And glossy is what you want if you don't like matte prints, although I personally like ilford's pearl surface as a reasonable compromise between the two.

[mike rosenlof]

When I"m using Ilford RC paper, it's always the pearl finish. I seem to go through phases RC vs. FB (and don't want to start that debate here!). Currently Im on the RC side of the pendulum. I'm also fond of the FB Glossy air-dried. RC pearl is a nice finish.

[Gary L. Quay]

I wouldn't use the glossy paper. It scuffs way too easily, and it doesn't look good under glass in a frame. Luster is much better. I do all of my proofs on RC Luster paper, but I move to FB Glossy when I am making a fine print. If you are looking for a paper like the Agfa, You may want to try Adox MCC 110. The spectral sensitivity is nearly the same, although the density curve is a little less steep.

Another paper to look at is Lodima. I just got my first batch of it, and I'm going to try if in the next week or so. It's a silver chloride paper designed to look like AZO. They recommend a bare bulb to print as well, but I use the light from my enlarger. I have an Omega D5XL with a Dichloric head. It puts out quite a lot of light.

--Gary

[Ed Bray]

Thanks for all the replies folks, I have ordered a box of the recommended Formalux from Freestyle and also a box of Multigrade Warmtone from a more local supplier.

[cowanw]

It does not sound like you were ferrotyping your prints then. So I expect the pearl finish would more closely mimic what you were seeing with the Agfa.

As I now have a 8x10 camera it is time for me to dust off some of my print processing equipment and I plan to contact print the 8x10 negatives onto Multigrade Warmtone RC paper. I have chosen the RC over the FB versions as I do not have access to an archival print washer and being on a 'water meter' I do not envisage buying one.

So my question would be Glossy or Pearl? Is one better than the other for contact prints or is it a case of buy small packets of both and see which I like best?

Back in the day, my favourite paper/process was Selenium Toned Agfa Record Rapid Fibre Based which would be dried using a canvas covered print dryer, so would like something akin to that if anything available. I did not like images printed on matt paper as I never saw one thathad the depth of a nice full toned gloss or semi-gloss print.