A very kind forum member sent me some AZO to try out. Several users on this forum have told me I should try printing on AZO (or Lodima) and that it is the "Best Paper Ever." On many occasions I have seen AZO sell for more than new Ilford paper in the classifieds. I am not one to buy into hype and I wasn't about to spend huge bucks on a large quantity of paper I wasn't sure about (and that is older than me!) so I must thank my benefactor for sending me this amount of paper to try out.
This morning I contact printed the same 8x10 negative on three papers - the AZO paper I was sent that is Grade 3, as well as Ilford's Warmtone semi-matte paper and some Galerie G2 paper I have on hand. I used freshly-mixed Ansco 130 for all 3 prints.
For the Warmtone, I used a #3 filter since it is multigrade. I left the filter in place for both the AZO and Galerie just to compare directly the exposure differences. I was pleasantly surprised that the Galerie paper had the exact same exposure time as the Warmtone. Since it was G2 I went ahead and overdeveloped it to give it a little more contrast. Finally, the AZO - it ended up taking a couple test strips to dial in exposure because it ended up taking 3.5 stops more light to get a similar exposure. I now understand why bare bulbs were used for contact printing!
I just scanned the now-dry prints and will post them below. Here's a few thoughts on the differences between the prints as I look at them:
- The AZO has some very apparent vignetting on the image, or I guess "reverse" vignetting - darkening of the corners from more exposure. I'm not sure what would cause this. Perhaps because it is old?
- I burned the top half of the image on the Warmtone and Galerie papers, to get a bit more of the highlights under control. The AZO did not need any burning.
- The lower midtones on the AZO seem a bit more contrasty and "luminous." Both of the other Ilford papers seem a bit flat in the lower midtones. However, the Galerie paper is better than the Warmtone, and I think that at G3 the Galerie would look a bit closer to the AZO, perhaps even the same.
- The Galerie has a very flat gloss, while the AZO almost has a bit of texture or mottling of the surface. But not in physical texture, but the look of the printed image. The semi-matte Warmtone paper is not comparable obviously.
- Tone of the image varied only slightly between the 3. The scans kind of emphasize the differences, but don't take them as a scientific comparison of image tone.
- Sharpness of the Warmtone image seemed slightly lower than the other two. Due to the slight textured look of the AZO it seemed slightly sharper than the Galerie. Overall differences though were negligible.
- Highlights seem to be retained a hair more on the AZO, despite burning down the Galerie and Warmtone a slight amount. The Warmtone, as I've seen previously, has the most difficult time printing down highlights. This is pretty amazing results for the AZO - overall I think one would need much less of a dialed-in negative to get a full range print, whereas for the others it better be a great negative or you'll have blocked up shadows and/or blown highlights. That said, I am wondering if the previously mentioned vignetting is actually a byproduct of age/fogging and giving a false impression with regard to highlight retention - perhaps instead it is just a "pre-flash" of the paper, in effect.
- On that note, I did notice on my test strips that if they were left in the developer for a long time, they did develop some slight fog. But only after a long time, longer than the prints were developed for.
Overall, I am really impressed - but I'm not sure I am going to be emptying my bank account to go buy some AZO, or Lodima. If Lodima was on the market at the same price roughly as Ilford Galerie though, I would possibly or probably switch. That said, it can not be forgotten that multigrade paper gives the ability for split-grade printing/burning which I find can be a powerful tool, so the Warmtone is still a valuable paper. All 3 gave excellent prints, and these slight differences are not earth-shattering, but they are certainly apparent when looking at the prints.
Below, I will post the scan of the film, and then the three print scans. Again, the scan of the prints are not completely scientifically accurate representations, so I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on these scans. The image was taken with my Wehman UL 8x10, 120mm f/8 Nikkor, on Delta 100 developed in FX-39:
SCAN:
AZO:
GALERIE:
WARMTONE:
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