Just tried out the Kentmere bromide graded paper this weekend, and I find I really like the stuff. Has the "look and feel" of Ilford galerie, but is maybe twice as fast as galerie. For example, some 11x14s I was doing under my devere I had my exposure worked out to 50 seconds on a sheet of #4 galleries, but on the kentmere it worked out to about 28 seconds.
What I do like is the overall look of it. Not wanting to start another war here, but as much as I love working with RC papers for their ease of use' if done properly, I personally like the look of fibre based papers betters. This is especially true then I later sepia tone my prints . I use the two stage process from Kodak, bleach and redevelop, and I find for that process, at least for me, the fibre based papers are best overall. Your mileage may and will vary.
The order thing about papers is, and this observation is purely objective in nature, I always thought Agfa après were overall the easiest to work with. For example, although I love Tri-x, and I like Tmax and Delta, I always think that FP4 is probably the easier film out there to use, in any format. It's a film that is almost impossible to mess up while using and developing.
Purely subjectively, the Kentmere paper reminds me of Agfa papers in that regard, you can be less than exact and still get a good print.
Anyhow, if any of you are looking for a nice and/or new paper, the Kentmere has me hooked pretty fast.
Joe
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