It has been my favorite paper for a decade. I am using the same Aristo cold light that you reference. Of course, it all depends on the many variables of print making, but for an introduction to fiber paper I suggest you give it a try. Have fun!
It has been my favorite paper for a decade. I am using the same Aristo cold light that you reference. Of course, it all depends on the many variables of print making, but for an introduction to fiber paper I suggest you give it a try. Have fun!
Ah good to know! I decided to place an order at Fotoimpex since, if I ordered enough stuff, it would be cheaper than buying domestically from Freestyle. To do that though I ended up ordering about $300 worth of stuff haha so spent a good deal of time starting at the final price.
I ended up buying MCC 110 in 5x7 and 8x10 boxes (100 each), 2 boxes of CHS ii (pretty sold on it after the shots I've taken with my first box), 3 rolls of HR-50 and 3 rolls of Silvermax. Should hopefully last me a while! Still not done though, I need to order some extra odds and ends from BH (Hypotest, Perma Wash, extra tongs, etc.) and need to rig up some sort of paper washer. I use a plastic bucket from the hardware store now as a holding tank for my resin prints. I was going to add a spout at the bottom so I can cycle the water in and out but also need to figure out a way to keep the papers separate.
I spent a lot of time working out if I should also try toning but decided to take things one step at a time and work on learning more about how to use and wash the paper first and then consider that later. I think adding that in requires having a good process down (doubly so since those chemicals are more hazardous).
I'm really looking forward to it!
When ordering from B&H you might consider this for washing a small quantity of prints. Obviously not the ideal solution, but an inexpensive substitute.Originally Posted by m00dawg
Ah good to know! I decided to place an order at Fotoimpex since, if I ordered enough stuff, it would be cheaper than buying domestically from Freestyle. To do that though I ended up ordering about $300 worth of stuff haha so spent a good deal of time starting at the final price.
I ended up buying MCC 110 in 5x7 and 8x10 boxes (100 each), 2 boxes of CHS ii (pretty sold on it after the shots I've taken with my first box), 3 rolls of HR-50 and 3 rolls of Silvermax. Should hopefully last me a while! Still not done though, I need to order some extra odds and ends from BH (Hypotest, Perma Wash, extra tongs, etc.) and need to rig up some sort of paper washer. I use a plastic bucket from the hardware store now as a holding tank for my resin prints. I was going to add a spout at the bottom so I can cycle the water in and out but also need to figure out a way to keep the papers separate.
I spent a lot of time working out if I should also try toning but decided to take things one step at a time and work on learning more about how to use and wash the paper first and then consider that later. I think adding that in requires having a good process down (doubly so since those chemicals are more hazardous).
I'm really looking forward to it!
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...eed_Print.html
Yeah I've thought about this. I think I might be able to make it work but my darkroom is in our spare bathroom. At some point I might get a shed or something to try and get more space but for now I use a detachable shower head and I would need to work out a way to mate it, or its hose at least, with that tray. I think that would otherwise work because I've got plywood on top of the bathtub where I have a rack (which has my trays and other darkroom things) but with a gap so I can run a drain out so I can drain right from the tub.
All the bits are there other than figuring out how to mate the tubes. I have the Patterson tank washer thing which has a similar tube and haven't worked out how to adapt it (though I haven't tried very hard - I now use a JOBO 2500 in a custom rotary I made for film deving).
The fiber paper is excellent, with both a high DMax and superb highlight reproduction, provided you are satisfied with the range of image tones it gives, which trend a bit more brownish-purple than some other papers. Like all premium papers, it's on the expensive side. So there's no point in trying to whittle that down by switching to RC. A premium paper often saves you money by wasting less paper, getting you from Point A to Point B more efficiently.
Purple I think would be cool. Not sure about brown but I'll give it a go. I didn't get the Adox developer with it since I still have a few sealed bottles of Ilford Multigrade. That and it had some ORM restrictions on it that Multigrade didn't seem to have (aside from their eco developer which I may try depending on how it looks in the Ilford dev).
I don't print a lot in terms of quantity so yeah the purchase hurt the pocketbook but I think it will both last a while and when I am able to get in the darkroom it'll be nice to use good quality paper since my time spent is just as valuable as the paper.
Print color is highly dependent on the developer dilution (I don't think this is true with paper that incorporates developer, but I'm not sure any of that is still on the market). So try your multigrade and if you want it a bit warmer dilute it in half and increase your developing time. Go the opposite way to cool it down. Try that before spending more money on developer. I just through away a whole lot of expired (and bad) paper developer I had bought to try out over the years and some given to me by various people. That felt really bad.
If you can, give Formulary 130 paper developer a try as well. Used to process in MG dev and Oriental (new stuff, not the glorious blue box paper) didn't look all that great. That and Bergger Prestige neutral tone, look really nice in 130, and it's now my developer of choice. Am tempted to order some Adox as well and have heard nothing but good about it.
notch codes ? I only use one film...
Thanks folks! Oh man really excited now! Curious how long it'll take to get my order here from Germany but we'll see! Ah good call on Formulary 130, I'll give it a shot once I run through my multigrade. I use TF-5 for my film fixing and got pretty well sold on it so yeah Formulary 130 is worth a try in my book.
I just, to Larry's point, don't want to end up with bad chemicals I didn't use. That's also why I still use Ilford Rapid Fixer for my paper. I have a few bottles of it left as well and it seems to last quite a while at least with RC papers. I plan on switching over to TF-5 for paper as well - probably. I say probably because that stuff smells like a cat litter box and I dunno if I could deal with using it in trays in my small darkroom. We'll see though.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks