Last Sheet of Forte

[John Layton]

I knew this day would come...when I'd need to decide how to use my last sheet of Forte Elegance WT Fiber. Decided on an image from my most recent roll from Monhegan. I so love the Fuji/Voigtlander as it allows me to work on the edge of what is possible with MF, more than adequately filling in when I don't happen to have my LF with me, in this case tripod-less as well.

Edit: what's with the smiley face? (someone hack this in?)

Data:Driftwood (16x20 print) - shot handheld with a Fuji/Voigtlander 667, TMY, 125thsec at f/9.5. Processed with Pyrocat HD in Glycol, 1:1:100, 18min. with modified minimal agitation (1 min, then 10 sec every 2 min). Printed split grade, Zone 6 Enlarger w/Heiland VC LED head, 100mm Companon-S at f/11:

183939

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've still got a 16x20 box of Forte Polygrade V fibre sitting in the freezer. Beautiful paper. That was my favourite paper. Saving it for something special...

[Mark Sawyer]

Edit: what's with the smiley face? (someone hack this in?)


I'd deduce you typed a colon followed by a capital D, html code for that particular smiley face.

A lovely image befitting your last sheet of Forte, btw, (though the pareidoliogist in me sees a horse talking to a chicken...)

[Bruce Barlow]

I have about 6 boxes of 8x10 Polygrade V, and three or four 5x7. All in deep freeze. For me, probably a lifetime supply, given all the other paper I have, too.

[scheinfluger_77]

I'd deduce you typed a colon followed by a capital D, html code for that particular smiley face.

A lovely image befitting your last sheet of Forte, btw, (though the pareidoliogist in me sees a horse talking to a chicken...)

Geez! You are absolutely correct, I did not see them earlier. Great call, kind of like making things out of clouds.

:cool:

[Drew Wiley]

There's a rumor that the Neutral Tone (not Warmtone) Bergger VC is similar to Polygrade V. I have yet to test it myself. I'm just about to drymount some 20x24 Polygrade V prints. I cooked up a special developer that gave this paper the most neutral cold tone of any recent paper, despite its official Neutral classification. Would love to find a substitute.

[Duolab123]

Amazing stuff, I still have some, I need to get to it.
And at first I saw a mummified baby mastodon. :)

[LabRat]

I haven't opened the box yet, but it sounds like when Oriental changed its WT, some of the signs were that the neutral Oriental was "improved" to make it warmer by base color and slightly slower speed, which would put it into Forte's range, so it might be an ok substitute to try...

Steve K

[Bruce Barlow]

There's a rumor that the Neutral Tone (not Warmtone) Bergger VC is similar to Polygrade V. I have yet to test it myself. I'm just about to drymount some 20x24 Polygrade V prints. I cooked up a special developer that gave this paper the most neutral cold tone of any recent paper, despite its official Neutral classification. Would love to find a substitute.

I tested them side-by-side years ago. Not even close, unless they have improved the Bergger. Polygrade V in Formulary's VersaPrint was the best combination of 12 papers and 12 developers I tested, and when I put some really terrific printers to the test of selecting their favorite combination at the View
Camera Conference in Monterey, only Paula Chamlee disagreed and chose Ilford Galerie with Dektol, toned lightly in selenium. Everybody else chose Polygrade V/VersaPrint (also toned lightly).

My fix for Dektol's greenish cast is the lightly-toning regimen. Usually about 2 minutes in a 1:20 dilution of RST. Green cast goes away, delightfully cool, to my eye. Good enough for photography.

I later visited Michael and Paula and used the now-defunct Azo enlarging head to test Azo/amidol. It blew away Polygrade V. Don't think I even toned it.

[Willie]

Had a good discussion with my Uncle and a few of his old friends on this paper some time back. Uncle was printing a project on Forte WarmTone paper and the images looked like tanned leather - really nice. Got another box and it was not the same. Very different look. He made contact with the dealer and then got referred higher. Seems he was at the changeover from Warmtone paper from Cadmium to NO Cadmium. US Federal regulations mandated elemination of Cadmium in the paper.

Forte scoured dealer network and got him the boxed needed to finish his project, but that was the last of the paper he really liked.

From regulation to market, things change. Forte Polygrade V was one beautiful paper.

[Greg Y]

Forte was a fantastic paper. I still have some Warmtone 11x14. My favorite was the warmtone graded paper Fortezo. That's the one Jay Dusard used to print his "The North American Cowboy: A Portrait." I've got a about half a box of Grade 2 & grade 3 left for special negatives.

[Iga]

184056

Polygrade V 5x7
Still have a lot of it ...

[Iga]

184057

20 min later ...

[interneg]

There's a rumor that the Neutral Tone (not Warmtone) Bergger VC is similar to Polygrade V. I have yet to test it myself. I'm just about to drymount some 20x24 Polygrade V prints. I cooked up a special developer that gave this paper the most neutral cold tone of any recent paper, despite its official Neutral classification. Would love to find a substitute.

The stuff coated by Forte may well have been very similar - today Bergger NB is coated by Ilford (as far as I know) to Bergger's specs - not a rebranded Ilford product.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

So what is the substitute for the Forte paper that everybody raves about?

[Larry Gebhardt]

So what is the substitute for the Forte paper that everybody raves about?

I’ve yet to find a true replacement, but adox is trying to bring it back. See https://www.adox.de/Photo/category/polywarmton/

[LabRat]

The newer "improved" Oriental warmtone is in that ballpark...

Steve K

[Drew Wiley]

Oriental is anemic. I think it's Ferrania who acquired the actual Forte warmtone formula and plans to mfg it in small batches in the next year; but I should try to find the actual press release audio again.

[Drew Wiley]

My mistake. It is Adox, not Ferrania, that has it already in the pipeline. But I see Larry already linked that.

[John Kasaian]

All my Forte has long flown the coop.
I've been using Fomabrom N111, but I don't think it's the same sort of critter as Forte.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

What happened to Forte?

[Larry Gebhardt]

What happened to Forte?

http://www.polywarmtone.com/

TLDNR; Company structure wasn't able to react quickly enough to the traditional photo market contraction as digital took over. Company went bankrupt.

[peter schrager]

http://www.polywarmtone.com/

TLDNR; Company structure wasn't able to react quickly enough to the traditional photo market contraction as digital took over. Company went bankrupt.
actually I believe the land the factory was on was worth lots of money
you people should try try Foma 131 warm tone paper..it's just beautiful

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

which developer do you use with the Forma 121 warm tone paper.

[peter schrager]

I make up my own D55...but the agfa wt developer is very nice...made lots of points on both
It's just cheaper and easier to make my own

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

Wanna tell us whats in that D55?

[Daniel Unkefer]

From Photo Lab Index:

Defender 55

Water, 125 F/52C 500cc
Metol 2.5g
Sodium Sulfite, desiccated 37.5g
Hydroquinone 10.0g
Sodium Carbonate, monohydrated 44.0g
Potassium Bromide 5.0g
Cold Water to 1.0 l

[Drew Wiley]

Forte had strong demand for their products right to the end, especially their VC paper, which many pro labs were using in high volume. But here's the problem of them sustaining profitability and choosing to throw in the towel, as I understand it: Their strongest point in competition was being able to deliver a high quality product at distinctly lower pricing. But facilities were wearing out and in need of a lot of maintenance expense. It seems all these Eastern Block coatings factories were once government subsidized for sake of government needed materials in volume. This allowed big factories, but simply too big to properly maintain once they became privatized. This kind of thing happened to various manufacturing lines which were not impacted by digital innovation at all. If a substantial nest egg is not put away for inevitable maintenance and remodeling needs, the business is either going to crash anyway, or has to find an investor with the necessary funds and willingness of risk, who will of course subsequently need to raise product prices accordingly. So no takers.

[Duolab123]

Forte also had to meet EU RoHS standards. Eliminating a whole host of substances. This did in a heck of a lot of cameras too. The Pentax 67II, XPAN, list goes on trying to eliminate Lead solder was a major challenge.
I don't understand why it's legal to make billions of tons of plastic yogurt cups, but not allow a little Cadmium in paper that will hang for 200 years

[Drew Wiley]

Those restrictions affected products well outside the EU, even earlier. It's rumored that the restriction of cadmium was the demise of the original Seagull G from Japan as well as Portriga from Agfa in Germany. It is a very nasty substance. There is such horrid soil contamination by lead and cadmium from former paint factories in this area that those particular neighborhoods are now essentially hermetically sealed by all that nasty stuff being capped off by concrete and asphalt; and you can't even drill a bolt hole in a concrete slab without a permit. I have artist friends with horrific health issues due to cadmium and lead in oil paints. There has been a method developed in the EU to coat cadmium with transparent titanium via vac deposition much like a lens, which makes it almost inert and harmless to mammalian physiology, even if accidentally swallowed. But ironically, the facilities that are capable of doing that aren't even allowed to obtain the cadmium, so unsafe artist's colors are still being made the old way on the basis of very restricted cadmium volumes. Leaded solder was voluntarily relinquished for use in Kentucky moonshine stills once people around there discovered they liked drinking lighter fluid better - that's a quip of course, but not far from the truth of what blinded certain people I grew up around in the foothills of the Sierra.

[Greg Y]

Here's the print (11"x14") on my last sheet of Forte Polygrade WT. It was my favourite paper.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50148142388_eda62be1b4_b.jpgFlickr

[MultiFormat Shooter]

Here's the print (11"x14") on my last sheet of Forte Polygrade WT. It was my favourite paper.

A beautiful image, you did your last sheet proud! :cool:

[PRJ]

I still have a few boxes of Forte, but it is roached. It was a sad day when I discovered that. I could still probably use it for lith prints, which I never do. Or figure out how much Benzo I can squeeze into a developer before it starts to glow in the dark.

The old purple label stuff was the best ever made. Such a shame it all went toots-up. Beautiful stuff. I am getting sad just looking at Greg's print. Lol. Oh well.

[Alan9940]

You did the last sheet proud! I still have about a half box of 11x14 left and only pull it out for images that deserve it. I sure hope to see Adox's version sometime soon.

[ic-racer]

I cut my last sheets into smaller pieces, so I'm not sure which is the actual LAST sheet, but it is all gone now :(

[Greg Y]

A beautiful image, you did your last sheet proud! :cool:

Thank you MF Shooter.