This is my first posting here, although I've been following things for a while. I want to say what a great idea this forum is and to say that as result of read ing comments posted here, I recently purchased a Wisner 4x5 Traditional instead of the Zone VI that I had been contemplating originally. Anyway, on to my quest ion:

After a hiatus of many years, I am returning to LF work and am somewhat lost as to "the best" paper for fine B&W prints. I would prefer to work with graded pap ers rather than VC because I have never been able to get consistent results with them using my cold light head. It appears to me that there are very few high q uality fibre based papers out there and I'd be curious to know what people think of them. I have used Brilliant and quite like it, but availability is a bit to ugh, since I could only get it by mail from Calumet. I'd prefer something that I could walk into my local store and purchase off the shelf. However, if the co nsensus is that "Brilliant is the best" then I'd think about biting the mail ord er bullet.

I realize that asking "what's the best paper" is sort of like asking what your f avourite colour is, but I'll take a chance and hope that you all don't find the question too stupid. At least you'll help me narrow down the field for some per sonal tests I can run.