New Ilford Positive Papers.

[Robert Skeoch]

So I put a sheet of paper into my 8x10 film holder. I make a one-of-a-kind original portrait that I develop in the darkroom and sell as exclusive.
What's not to like about this. Something unique that a photographer can charge a premium for.
-rob

[Daniel_Buck]

So I put a sheet of paper into my 8x10 film holder. I make a one-of-a-kind original portrait that I develop in the darkroom and sell as exclusive.
What's not to like about this. Something unique that a photographer can charge a premium for.
-rob

I would agree, it's kind of fun, some folks like knowing that there isn't a negative and when they have the print, they have the only print that can't be re-produced without scanning the original. I myself kind of like this, not for any exclusivity reasons, but just because I think it's more of a challenge, and more fun I think.

But the only thing that's keeping me from using positive paper more often, is the crazy amount of contrast I get when developing!

[ic-racer]

So I put a sheet of paper into my 8x10 film holder. I make a one-of-a-kind original portrait that I develop in the darkroom and sell as exclusive.
What's not to like about this. Something unique that a photographer can charge a premium for.
-rob

People may subliminally like it better than a 'standard' photographic portrait, because it will be the image of themselves they see in the mirror.

[JoeV]

I've used the Efke positive paper and have done a considerable amount of "testing" with it, to determine the best ratio of in-camera exposure to preflash exposure. What I've found suggests that it has considerable reciprocity failure, worse even than many films. For reference, conventional paper negatives have virtually no reciprocity failure up to exposure times of at least several minutes, so they can sometimes end up being faster in pinhole cameras than using sheet film.

With the Efke positive paper I found the only reliable method of getting a repeatably good exposure was to calibrate the preflash and in-camera exposure to one set of times, and always use that same exposure time and preflash amount. Then you compensate for variations in subject brightness by the aperture.

One thing I haven't tried is low-contrast developers, like Soemarko's, which some have reported works well with taming the inherently high contrast of Freestyle's Arista APHS ortho litho film.

One other tip about controlling contrast is, instead of using pinhole lenses, shoot these intrinsically high-contrast papers with a glass (or otherwise adapted refractive) lens near wide open; the soft, out-of-focus areas of the image will naturally tame the excess contrast of the emulsion. This works surprisingly well; pinhole images are often an extreme test of contrast control, because you never get enough out-of-focus areas (unless the pinhole is the size of a pencil).

~Joe

EDIT: I've done so much "testing" with my pack of Efke direct positive paper, compared to the number of "keeper" images, that I've decided that this is the business model chosen by Efke, to ensure maximum usage by making the paper as difficult as possible to work with.

I'm only (slightly) joking. I have a similar suspicion about the Impossible Project's instant films.

[sapata]

I think this is great just for its education value. When I was in Indonesia recently i made a red light out of a plastic sandwich box, and made and developed contacts in a closet for my nieces and nephews, and they were entranced watching the images appear. It would be very easy to do something similar with homemade pinhole cameras and this paper in schools. Real missionary work...

While in this photography event in Paraty, Brazil ( http://paratyemfoco.com/blog/ ) a month ago I met these guys from "Cidade Invertida" or in english "Inverterd City".

The project consists in a camper trailer transformed in a big pinhole camera and dark room where people could walk inside and see how a basic camera works. You're then invited to see the image projected in a large white wall and from there, play a bit with the focus by changing the stops (a cheap lens can also be placed instead the pinhole). You can choose the size o the paper and photograph by exposing for a few seconds the positive Ilford paper. The result can be seen "instantly" since the trailer also works as a dark room.

The whole thing might be familiar to the most of us but some people (specially the digital generation ) still don't have a clue how it works. The "Cidade Invertida" go around Brazil in association with museums and cultural/social projects, teaching traditional photography to people from either University level and schools.

I'm intending to use soon, I have a Petzval lens finally mounted in my 4x5 and because the ISO is very slow should work better.

Has anyone used here already ? Any tips ? Can I use Rodinal to develop ?

[Bill_1856]

How does one process the stuff?

[sapata]

The trailer has a space for the trays with chemicals
so everything is processed inside.

[Thalmees]

http://harmantechnologynews.com/2IQ-...U59V96/cr.aspx
These can be used for pinhole cameras and in some film-sheet holders.

Thanks.

[Greg_Thomas]

I've used the Efke positive paper and have done a considerable amount of "testing" with it, to determine the best ratio of in-camera exposure to preflash exposure. What I've found suggests that it has considerable reciprocity failure, worse even than many films. For reference, conventional paper negatives have virtually no reciprocity failure up to exposure times of at least several minutes, so they can sometimes end up being faster in pinhole cameras than using sheet film.

With the Efke positive paper I found the only reliable method of getting a repeatably good exposure was to calibrate the preflash and in-camera exposure to one set of times, and always use that same exposure time and preflash amount. Then you compensate for variations in subject brightness by the aperture.

One thing I haven't tried is low-contrast developers, like Soemarko's, which some have reported works well with taming the inherently high contrast of Freestyle's Arista APHS ortho litho film.

One other tip about controlling contrast is, instead of using pinhole lenses, shoot these intrinsically high-contrast papers with a glass (or otherwise adapted refractive) lens near wide open; the soft, out-of-focus areas of the image will naturally tame the excess contrast of the emulsion. This works surprisingly well; pinhole images are often an extreme test of contrast control, because you never get enough out-of-focus areas (unless the pinhole is the size of a pencil).

~Joe

EDIT: I've done so much "testing" with my pack of Efke direct positive paper, compared to the number of "keeper" images, that I've decided that this is the business model chosen by Efke, to ensure maximum usage by making the paper as difficult as possible to work with.

I'm only (slightly) joking. I have a similar suspicion about the Impossible Project's instant films.

Impossible Project is definitely milking the market with their sell everything they produce no matter how bad it performs attitude. To their credit they do put well written disclaimers on their films.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your review of the Ilford paper!

[Vlad Soare]

How does this paper work? How does it give a positive image without resorting to a reversal process?