7 Stops

[BrianShaw]

Oh.

[Vaughn]

Oh, grades, not stops...

Does that mean if they made a filter set of 10 MC filters instead of 7, their papers would have 10 full grades of contrast?

Edit late to add: sarcasm alert

[Drew Wiley]

Whatever. Even the spacing of grades differed brand to brand; there never has been a constant densitometric definition of these grades. And the whole topic makes even less sense today, since actual graded papers are becoming scarcer than Ivory Billed Woodpeckers. The respective paper curves give a more accurate impression. Simple experimentation with test strip tells you even more.

Since nearly all papers are VC today instead, and many use colorheads or analogous devices to expose these, it all a sliding scale of density continuum anyway. VC sheet filters are pretty much a holdover from the Jurassic era, just like grade classifications themselves.

Anyway, MG Classic is somewhat of a compromise product, superior in scale and density to MG IV, but certainly not Ilford's finest offering. I drymounted a few nice prints from it recently, but it's hardly the punchiest paper out there. And by them allegedly calling it a "7 grade product" - well, that again is a very elastic marketing ploy with the rubber band stretched well past the breaking point in my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.

[John Layton]

Oh.

[Michael R]

Haha that depends on what “full” means. What if you have 10 filters numbered 0.1, 0.2...? I guess that’s only one full grade

Anyhow... the “contrast” or grade (contrast in quotes because technically the contrast - ie density range of a paper is a constant) is the log exposure range or LER. The narrowest range you can get is the paper’s maximum “contrast”. The widest range you can get is the paper’s minimum “contrast”. There is an ISO standard for determining and labelling LER. What you call the LER in terms of grade is somewhat arbitrary. For example as Drew alluded to, a range of ISO R95 is Ivory Billed Woodpecker, but you would not be incorrect if you decided instead to call it grade 2 or medium or something else.

Oh, grades, not stops...

Does that mean if they made a filter set of 10 MC filters instead of 7, their papers would have 10 full grades of contrast?

[Vaughn]

Thanks, Michael. That is what I thought, and of course marketing writes the wording on the packages, not the technicians/engineers.

[djdister]

It's not 7 stops. According to Ilford's website, the paper offers contrast grades in "half grade increments from 00 to 5"