Favorite "analogue" paper & why.

[seezee]

There's a similar thread in the digital section, but I want to know specifically which paper you like best for darkroom work, and why? Let's leave silver chloride papers out of the discussion and concentrate on paper for enlargers.

Feel free to discuss developers as well.

[koraks]

I'm impartial to the Adox MC RC papers. Yes, that's right, resin coated. For their high gloss, ease of use and rapid processing. They also tone quite well. Very affordable too. They make wet printing a worry free and rewarding effort for me.

[IanG]

You mean partial not impartial Impartial - Treating all parties, rivals, or disputants equally; not partial; not biased; fair.

My favourite is Forte Polywarmtone (FB) I still have a reasonable amount left from the last production run and did some exhibition prints on it yesterday, just flattening in my Dry mounting press as I write. Great tonality wonderful warm tones my all time favourite paper, I'm having to replace it with Ilord Warmtone FB.

My main paper developer is Ilford ID-78 once commercially available, I mix more concentrated than the published formula substituting Potassium Carbonate and a small amount of Sodium Hydroxide for the Sodium Carbonate that gives me an equivalent to Ilford Warmtone and Agfa WA developers, excellent control of image warmth/colour.

Ian

[Oren Grad]

For me it doesn't make sense to think of a "best" or "favorite" paper, because what works best depends on the match between the paper's characteristic curve and the negative's characteristic curve. So pictures taken on different films and/or recording scenes with very different tonal scales will do best on different papers.

I try to keep in stock all of the current Ilford Multigrade emulsions - MG IV RC Deluxe, MG RC Warmtone, and MG RC Cooltone, MG FB Classic, MG FB Warmtone and MG FB Cooltone - since each has a different characteristic curve and so is best suited to different negatives. That's a lot of emulsions and so I don't have all of them in all sizes at all times, but that's the basic idea. An important point is that the Ilford RC and FB emulsions are not clones of each other. The RC and FB emulsions within each "pair" - RC Deluxe and FB Classic, RC and FB Cooltone, and RC and FB Warmtone - have quite different tonal scales.

EDIT: Forgot to add, I don't care that much about paper developers. Generally it's either Ilford PQ Universal or Ilford Multigrade, whichever I can get cheaper in the big 5 L jug.

[seezee]

For me it doesn't make sense to think of a "best" or "favorite" paper, because what works best depends on the match between the paper's characteristic curve and the negative's characteristic curve. So pictures taken on different films and/or recording scenes with very different tonal scales will do best on different papers.

Duly noted. Perhaps we should include which film we are printing from in the posts.

[Oren Grad]

Duly noted. Perhaps we should include which film we are printing from in the posts.

For large format, mostly HP5 Plus here these days. And with that film and making contact prints, I find myself using mostly MG RC Warmtone, sometimes MG RC Cooltone for denser negatives, once in a while something else to solve a special problem.

PS: Your word choice was fine - your meaning was clear.

[Sal Santamaura]

...Perhaps we should include which film we are printing from in the posts.

Some 320TXP, some Delta 100. All sheets, all developed in XTOL (1+1.5 for the 320TXP, 1+3 for the Delta 100).

[IanG]

For me it doesn't make sense to think of a "best" or "favorite" paper, because what works best depends on the match between the paper's characteristic curve and the negative's characteristic curve. So pictures taken on different films and/or recording scenes with very different tonal scales will do best on different papers.

I try to keep in stock all of the current Ilford Multigrade emulsions - MG IV RC Deluxe, MG RC Warmtone, and MG RC Cooltone, MG FB Classic, MG FB Warmtone and MG FB Cooltone - since each has a different characteristic curve and so is best suited to different negatives. That's a lot of emulsions and so I don't have all of them in all sizes at all times, but that's the basic idea. An important point is that the Ilford RC and FB emulsions are not clones of each other. The RC and FB emulsions within each "pair" - RC Deluxe and FB Classic, RC and FB Cooltone, and RC and FB Warmtone - have quite different tonal scales.

EDIT: Forgot to add, I don't care that much about paper developers. Generally it's either Ilford PQ Universal or Ilford Multigrade, whichever I can get cheaper in the big 5 L jug.

I think approaches vary, most likely because of the end goal which may differ quite substantially.

In my case I'm mostly working on coherent exhibition sets and print everything in a set in a similar way, same paper/developer and ocassionally have to reprint images where my initial interpretation may perhpas not fit well in a sequence despite being my prefferred interpretation as an indivdual print. It's mostly contrast/density rather than any dodging/burning.

With warm tone papers choice of developer has a big impact and is quite critical so I find your comment odd

Ian

[Oren Grad]

I think approaches vary, most likely because of the end goal which may differ quite substantially.

In my case I'm mostly working on coherent exhibition sets and print everything in a set in a similar way, same paper/developer...

This is a good point, and similarly Bob's concern about exhibiting. I might do the same, depending on what I was intending to show.

[Sal Santamaura]

I had high hopes for ADOX MCP 312, so ordered some directly from FOTOIMPEX, but was disappointed by this:

http://www.apug.org/forum/index.php?...2#post-1769123

Instead, I rely on Ilford Multigrade Warmtone RC Pearl, developed in ADOX MCC paper developer

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/55630-...veloper-1000ml

and then toned in Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner diluted 1+19 for two minutes at around 75 degrees F. Dead neutral results with the high dmax of Ilford's warmtone paper, very low water usage and more than enough print life for my purposes, even if sealed in a frame.