I just met a family friend who was cleaning out his studio. He gave me a few packages of Brovira and Portriga Rapid, as well as some of Kodak Polyfiber.
In the old days, I always used Kodak papers, and these Agfa papers were gone when I came back to printing.
I am assuming that the papers are fogged and will dig out the Liquid Orthazite or benzotriazole. Any other suggestions?
Do you know what era the Portriga's from? In the 80s when I first got into photography, my teachers were crying over the end of the old portriga. That was my introduction to the medium: old guys crying over the irretrevable loss of the good stuff.
I got my hands a few sheets of it. Not enough to fully appreciate its charms, but I remember it having the prettiest surface of any photo paper I've seen.
Agfa warm tone papers don't respond well to Benzotriazole etc. Once fogged they don't revive.
You may be lucky I have Agfa Record Rapid from the 80's taht still works fine, but once they removed the Cadmium it kept less well.
Ian
OMG David!
I'm afraid I'm not able to help you, but am I allowed to CRY all over again?
Portiga and Rekod rapid (I didn't really use much Brovira) were my utmost favourite papers to work on. It actually made all the hassle of darkroom work in a place that was exceedingly not meant to be a darkroom with absolutely no ventilation all worth it!
Brovira was my favorite back in the day. Used to develop it i Dektol between 4 and 5 minutes to eek a little extra detail out of the shadows.
Greg Lockrey
Wealth is a state of mind.
Money is just a tool.
Happiness is pedaling +25mph on a smooth road.
Have you tested it yet? Try a small piece to see how it is, I have some old (80's??) Agfa paper that prints quite well.
Keith
If you discover it is very far gone, and you don't mind a WTH, I have made successful prints [ with MANY tosses] with very long exposure and very VERY short development- so short that timing is all in the wrist and repeatability is hard to achieve- you have to start pulling just about as soon as the image begins to come up.
Yes it was all I had in a desperate time, and the neg was very contrasty, but I did get at least one print that was very good- perhaps it won't work for low or normal contrast negs?
No testing yet. I won't have a chance to set up a temporary darkroom in the house (or get into the real darkroom about ten miles away that houses my enlarger) for at least a couple of weeks. I have a 5x7 that I want to contact print on the Portriga Rapid. I hope it is in good shape.
Will it fit your laser printer?
Portriga was my favorite pre 1986 or so and did have a beautiful surface as well as great flexibility and beautiful deep tonality. If it is still close to good you can perk it up with careful bleaching. It would be worth the effort if you get it to work.
Dennis
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