Filter settings for Ilford paper

[Joe O'Hara]

I'm using a local rent-a-darkroom to calibrate my film
speed and developing time. The operator is not sure
about the filter settings on the Sauders 4500II dichoic
head for Ilford Mulitgrade IV FB paper. The enlarger is
equipped with the manufacturer's regulated power
supply, FWIW.

I am able to get reasonable results with M=30, Y=0, C=0,
but I have no way to know whether the paper is in the
high or low contrast regime with that filtration. Ideally, I'd
like to have it acting like grade 2 while I'm doing this exercise.

Any suggestions on the filtration that will get me
close to grade 2 paper?

[Glenn Thoreson]

Go to Ilford's web site. There, you can find the dichroic equivelants for their filters. :D
Edit: Doesn't the data sheet that comes with the paper list this info? My failing memory tells me it used to.

[Oren Grad]

You can find Ilford's recommendations for color head filtration in this document:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006130201152306.pdf

Look on page 3 for filter settings recommended for the different enlarger types. The 4500II, although possibly labeled only Saunders, is an LPL enlarger. As you'll see, Ilford recommends using Kodak-type filtration for LPL enlargers. I've always used the Kodak settings when printing on Ilford Multigrade papers with my own LPL 4500II enlarger.

[Oren Grad]

Edit: Doesn't the data sheet that comes with the paper list this info? My failing memory tells me it used to.

Yes, it does. I've got a grillion copies of it floating around my dry-side workbench. ;)

[Oren Grad]

Any suggestions on the filtration that will get me
close to grade 2 paper?

One last point - grade 2 papers aren't alike. So the recommended neutral settings won't necessarily exactly match any particular grade 2 paper. If you prefer the results you get at 30M as your neutral point, there's no reason not to continue using it. The Ilford table will give you a sense of how to vary contrast in either direction from there.

[Bobf]

...

[Joe O'Hara]

Thanks, all. I'll look again on the sheet that came with the paper... don't know how
I could have overlooked it.

[ic-racer]

Depending on what you want to accomplish with the tests you are running, it might be prudent to get a Stouffer 21 step wedge. Then you can contact print this with whatever enlarger settings and paper you decide on and keep as a reverence. Then if you print in a different darkroom or with different paper or enlarger, make another step wedge contact print. If they don't match, you will know from the start your prior calibration results may not be valid. This may save you some wasted paper. You don't need a reflection densitometer. Just look at the print of the step wedge and count the number of gray bars. A number 2 paper will give about 7 or 8 gray bars.