VC Paper vs. Graded

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First off, thank you all for the suggestions on graded paper. Finding that Gallerie is not the same paper that I used 20 years ago is extremely helpful and also changes things for me a bit. I read Ed's article on the enlarging papers he has used, and that changed things for me a bit, also.

For at least six months I will be using one type of film, developer and paper. I have done this before and find the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

1.) My developer will be PMK. I want to use a pyro for awhile and this has the best documentation over the other variants. 2.) My film will be HP5 or TriX. I've heard both argued as the best with PMK, but haven't figured it out for myself yet. The HP5 will probably win out if it is true that I can use it at 400 ISO as opposed to the 250 ISO of TriX (I guess everyone pretty much agrees this is the "actual" speed, no?). 3.) Format is 35mm, with 6x6 following as soon as testing is done with the 35mm stuff. 4.) I still want it to be selenium friendly.

So for those PMK users, what quality paper would you choose if you could only use one, given these parameters?

Thanks again and I very much appreciate the help and information.

John

-- John Kilmer (tcompton@citlink.net), November 23, 2000

Answers

The main purpose for restating my earlier question is to ask if I would be better off with a quality VC paper. One of the articles on Ed's site mentioned the filtering effect of the stain with VC papers. Is VC paper a better overall choice when using PMK? Thanks.

John

-- John Kilmer (tcompton@citlink.net), November 23, 2000.


I think VC paper takes advantage of the staining effect of PMK and believe you will lose that with graded paper. PMK is still a good developer, even with graded paper.

Different papers show different parts of the exposure curve to best advantage. I recently tried AGFA VC FB and prefer the look it gives over Ilford MGIV FB - it has better mid-tone separation. As they say, your mileage may vary.

I shoot HP5+ at 250, develop it in PMK. I think it has less grain than TriX but TriX has a very lovely look to it that I prefer. Different shape of the characteristic curve, I guess. I haven't tried TriX with PMK, 'though.

Now, soon as I use up all this HP5 and MGIV....

-- Don Karon (kc6d@arrl.net), November 23, 2000.


My current favorite is Ilford MG Warm. If you don't like warm papers, I can also recommend the regular Ilford MG. Both do very well with PMK negatives.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), November 27, 2000.

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