Kentmere papers

[jantman]

Does anyone know anything about Kentmere papers? Specifically the VC RC?

I've never used them before, but at B&H, they're the best value in rolls of VC RC.

[John Cook]

Sorry, Jason, no experience yet with their VC RC.

But I have recently put in a stock of Kentmere textured-surface fiber-based art papers with which to experiment this winter. They seem to be making the sort of thing, aimed at making classical display prints that hasn’t been available from Kodak for decades.

In celebration of the wonderful old printing techniques, I may even start wearing a tie in the darkroom.

Best news, in this era of vanishing manufacturers, is that the company is apparently quite financially sound with absolutely no corporate debt. Neat!

http://www.kentmereusa.com/

Not to slight B&H, but I have been dealing with Freestyle by telephone on this one, even though I’m on the East Coast.

Freestyle’s customer service guys are extremely patient and couldn’t be more helpful. What a pleasant change from the “New York Minute”.

And, I know you won’t believe this tall tale, but the shipping cartons actually stay together, keeping the paper boxes light-tight!

[Christopher Nisperos]

Good paper. A few years back I played around with one of their cream-tone papers and I was really pleased with the results. Sorry I'm not able to give you more specific or scientific info.

[Scott Davis]

Jason-

I recently made the switch (at least at smaller sizes, until I burn through my inventory) from Bergger to Kentmere fiber papers. I really like the Kentmere neutral tone VC fiber glossy. I also get mine from Freestyle. If I were you, I'd order a pack or two of whatever size you want to use, and give it a try to see if you like it without a major commitment. I highly recommend the Kentmere papers.

[MIke Sherck]

I'll second the positive comments on Kentmere's VC neutral-tone fiber paper. Excellent stuff! I began using it extensively this past summer, replacing Forte when it became difficult to get. A lovely paper with excellent characteristics.

[kthompson]

jason, I've used it a bit in the past when it was carried by Luminos as "Flexicon RC". I assume it's the same as the VC RC, but I'm not really sure. It struck me as a perfectly fine, capable vc paper. I never used it much since I could get kodak and ilford dirt cheap as well, but the Charcoal-R paper that Luminos had as rebranded kentmere was and is superb. it's probably the closest thing to ektalure out there now, and is a real joy to work with if you're looking for that kind of thing.....

[Pat Kearns]

From my understanding Luminos Flexicon VC was actually Kentmere VC. Luminos has discontinued B&W photo paper so that is probably why B&H has started stocking Kentmere. I have used the Luminos for years, both RC & Fiber based, and have been quite pleased with it. Luminos used to say that the RC and Fiber based paper had the same speed so you could do your test printing on the RC and then make your final print on Fiber without exposure adjustments. I never agreed with them and found the Fiber to be slower. I had to increase exposure time 75% on the Fiber when I tried their technique. Another product Luminos had that was quite unique was Photo Linen Paper. This was actually linen and was like printing on canvas. The difficulty using it was it was hard to tell which side the emulsion was on. You had to moisten your finger, touch the corner and the emulsion side would stick. The second problem was as soon as you put it in the developer it curled up like a straw. I wish I could find some more of the photo linen it was pretty neat for portraits. I think you will like the Kentmere. I will probably move to that when I run out of Luminos.

[kthompson]

another thing Luminos sold was a sampler of their papers, and you got about 3-5 sheets or something like that of each of a half dozen or so papers. there may have been 2 different samplers, I can't really remember right now, seems a long time ago for some reason...they also had a swatch book of the paper surfaces and a pretty neat little booklet of the tech facts and toning tips etc. I don't know if any of this was carried over from kentmere or if Luminos cooked it up or what, but it was a neat way to sample the products.

[Pat Kearns]

The Luminos website will direct you to the closeoutphotographic.com website that is disposing of the remaining stock of Luminos papers. I purchased a couple of boxes and delivery was in good shape and expediant. They don't have the Rainbow Sampler which was mentioned in another post that had the different papers in an 8x10 size in stock. That was a good introduction to their products. It would be a nice if some other manufacturers would offer a sample pack.

[Craig Wactor]

FYI, Freestyle resells Kentmere paper under the Arista II label. You can save a good bit buying it that way.