Common paper and film thicknesses please

[swmcl]

I'm trying to get a feel for how thick papers and films can be. I suspect there must be some specialty papers that are a huge thickness - perhaps they aren't that much thicker ...

I dunno.

So.

I would also think the films are all going to be of a similar weighting but maybe I'm wrong.

Just sheet films and enlarger papers please. Just a thing called metric sizes if possible...

Here's a start:
Sheet film - Ilford FP4+ HP5 and Delta 100 are 0.18mm

Cheers,
Steve

[Jac@stafford.net]

Just wondering why the thickness matters. Explain?

[swmcl]

Coz I'm inventin' ... The details of my product to the photographic community will be released at a later date !!

I am serious about needing to know a range of sizes.

[Drew Wiley]

Its measured in mils. Most sheets films are 7 to 10 mils thick, a few are thinner like Ortho Litho. Roll film is quite a bit thinner. Something like FP4 or TMax sheets would be representative of the most common thickness. But paper is an entirely different subject, since it doesn't have to fit in specified holder slots. You've got various thicknesses of color paper and of black and white paper, all of them fairly common. You've got RC, polyester-based color "papers" analogous to film but around 20 mils, and various fiber-based options including single-weight, double-weight, and even thicker "art" papers, all of which are classified as such according to the manufacturer's marketing policy, and not necessarily any industry convention. So as far as "inventin" - if film is involved, you have to standardize somewhere. For instance, too generous a slot in a conventional film holder, and the film risks sagging; too tight, and some films might not slide in. Gosh knows the hell I went through getting Quickload and Readyload holders to hold film consistently flat without binding during insertion. I eventually made my own sleeve holder.

[Vaughn]

Litho film runs at 0.004"

[Drew Wiley]

Somebody in that part of the world must sell a Mitutoyo thickness meter. But even a high quality micrometer or caliper would work - meaning something of machinist's quality, not a cheap knockoff. I find my Mitutoyo digital caliper "dern bloody good" to have on hand for various "inventin" tasks.

[John Kasaian]

Printing papers are generally single weight and double weight, double weight being thicker. I remember one double weight printing paper that was so thick wouldn't fit into the slot on my Ganz Speed-E-Z, it was a Russian paper no longer marketed here in the US, IIRC, maybe Slavich?

[Vaughn]

Kodak Elite double weight was almost like a 3x weight.

[swmcl]

So I'm guessing the papers aren't specified in terms of thickness ? Just a 'weight' ?

[Pere Casals]

So I'm guessing the papers aren't specified in terms of thickness ? Just a 'weight' ?

Not only photopapers, also regular paper is specified in weight per surface. Regular paper can have more or less air inside, so telling the weight/surface it tells the amount of raw material used per surface, which is valued.