using paper negs

[David Woods]

Hi
I am fairly new to LF and I have never used paper negs as a way of taking a picture, do you just load it as you would a normal neg, is there anything, I should do to make it turn out successful, I was thinking of using 5x7 Tetenal TT Vario RC?

Thanks

[Mark Woods]

Expose correctly? ;-)

[Darryl Baird]

exploit the variable contrast of the paper -- by using lower contrast filters (0-1) to overcome the ortho look and contrasty nature of printing paper

[jnantz]

be aware that your light meter may give you a false reading.
paper is sensitive to blue light and unless you use a blue filte
(sorry i dont know which blue ) your reading may be off.
also be aware that all paper isn't iso 6
some is slower and some is faster.

[robert j fallis]

I use Ilford multigrade with a pearl finish, this is what ilford recomend..as there is no water mark on the paper.. I expose as 4asa. then use the sunny 16 rule, and develop in a dilute paper developer at the moment its fotospeed, and with the development, I time it till the first full image appears and make this a quarter of the time e.g.if it takes 1min to appear. then full development would be 4 mins. have a look at Jim Galli's page for developing ortho film..it also applys to paper negs

regards
bob

[David Woods]

I use Ilford multigrade with a pearl finish, this is what ilford recomend..as there is no water mark on the paper.. I expose as 4asa. then use the sunny 16 rule, and develop in a dilute paper developer at the moment its fotospeed, and with the development, I time it till the first full image appears and make this a quarter of the time e.g.if it takes 1min to appear. then full development would be 4 mins. have a look at Jim Galli's page for developing ortho film..it also applys to paper negs

regards
bob

Thanks Robert

I exposed it at 10iso, I will develop and let you know how it went.

Regards

[jnantz]

you might consider using "experienced" or older paper
the fog will cut down on your excessive contrast,
and spent/oxidized/used developer
will control your contrast as well.

[JoeV]

When I use paper for prints, I've not watched the developer bath temperature as closely as one would for film. With paper negatives I've found more consistent results with maintaining bath temp around 68f, or whatever temp you calibrated your process at. And also being consistent with developer freshness and dilution helps with paper negatives, too. You're trying to hit the narrow band of continuous-tonal range between its two extremes, so this demands repeatable, consistent processing.

I haven't used filters with VC paper, but rather use grade 2 RC paper, from Freestyle (one of the few places I can find graded RC paper). I preflash the graded paper to yield a light gray tone to an otherwise unexposed sheet; it helps to control excess contrast in daylight conditions.

I rate the RC-2 paper at an exposure index of 12, provided the developer (Ilford Universal paper developer) is mixed 1:15 at 68f.

Glossy paper seems to contact print pretty nicely. I think it's a valid photographic medium, rather than a mere cheap alternative to sheet film. Its ortho-like tonal range is rather 19th century in appearance, somewhat like salted paper (which I suppose paper negatives are, modern-day, factory-coated Kalitypes).

Have fun and post some images.

~Joe