Kentmere VC Select for Contact Sheets

[Alessandro V.]

Hello,

I have just bought a package of Kentmere VS Select paper to try to print some contact sheets.
I know that this is paper to use with an enlarger and therefore it should be very fast if compared to contact sheets paper.
As I don't have an enlarger my idea was to use some ND foil filter to slow down the light.
Anyway I was thinking if there are some cons to this method (as I've never found it anywhere) and if there was a way to figure out the time that I need to expose the paper for...

Thank you very much for your help!


Alessandro

[Roger Thoms]

Or us a lower wattage bulb, or move the bulb further away. Test strips to determine exposure.

Roger

[Alessandro V.]

Thank you for the answer...

I am super new to large format and printing my own print so I do apology for the stupid question.
I've tried to search the forum but probably it's such an easy question that nobody has ever posted it...

How do you make a strip test!?

Thank you so much!

[Roger Thoms]

From a quick google search this pretty much sums it up. Same idea with a contact print. http://www.cjballphotography.org.uk/test-strip-article.htm

Roger

[Leigh]

Interesting.

I've been printing for 56 years and never heard of "contact" paper.

I always use my standard paper, either VC or graded, for contact prints and it works fine.

Guess I learned something new.

- Leigh

[Daniel Stone]

"contact" paper generally means a silver-chloride emulsion, rather than a silver bromide emulsion. Both can deliver exquisite results, but personally; for contact work, I prefer using chloride papers. There's two currently out there available fresh, Lodima(G2+G3), and one from Foma.

both are great, but I personally prefer the Lodima(G3). Developed in MAS Amidol, it gives superb results.

chloride papers are generally slower by about 4-5x, in my "testing".

if you want to stick with using VC papers, try just putting a ND gel(usually sold at pro photography shops in ~20"x24" sizes) over the glass, say, 2-3 1-stop gels, and you can use a 50-75w bulb to make your expsosure times, say 15-30s with a normal-contrast negative.

one persons methods don't always work for your workflow, you have to have your own mojo :)

-Dan