I have a bunch of color negs that I want to print Black and White. I am very new to the darkroom. I have been using Ilford RC and it's nice for BW negatives but I'm not happy with what I'm getting with color. I have tried Kodak Panalure and got a GREAT print last night -- the blacks are black, whites are white, lots of different greys in between. Is this paper really that much better for color negs, or is there something I need to learn about the Ilford paper? and do I dare try fiber?

-- Ann Mester (mester@uiuc.edu), May 15, 2001

Answers

Ann,

You really need to tell us why you were unhappy with you Ilford prints. What was the subject? You can play will contrast filters. I use Kodak papers, not Ilford, but I get very good results without going to Panalure.

-- Ed Farmer (photography2k@hotmail.com), May 15, 2001.

>>Is this paper really that much better for color negs,<<

Probably. Thats specifically what it is intended for, and the others arent.

-- Wayne (wsteffen@skypoint.com), May 15, 2001.

I've found no alternative to Panalure (at least in sheet format). Don't use regular B/W paper as it won't be sensitive to the reds in the original and is not tuned for the contrast range of C-41 color negatives.

Instead, embrace the safelightless darkroom and explore the use of filtration for selecting certain hues to lighten and darken in the final print. This is a creative control not available with regular B/W paper. Maybe if enough of us start buying Panalure, Kodak could be persuaded to issue some different paper surfaces beyond glossy resin coated!!

I almost entirely use "M" grade paper. If I need less contrast, I can preflash the paper. I occassionally use the "H" grade paper, but could probably get by with only the M. So I recommend a big box of M and a small packet of H and lots of (expensive) experimentation. Enjoy!

-- Eric Pederson (epederso@darkwing.uoregon.edu), May 15, 2001.

Hi. Thanks for the info. What I didn't like about the Ilford was that the greys were muddy, although I did like that paper for b/w negatives. I tried posting the photo here (? can you do that? I couldn't figure it out)

If you want to see it, it's at http://www.photocritique.net in the B/W section, and in my newly created portfolio (1 pic so far) on http://www.photo.net

-- Ann Mester (mester@uiuc.edu), May 15, 2001.

Dear Ann,

the reason that you are not satisfied with the quality of a "normal" B&W paper is that it is not sensitized for the whole light spectrum. Usually B&W papers are sensitized orthochramtic that means the paper reacts on blue and green light. Only light which contains green or blue will give an exposition to the paper. Red light or orange will bring no or very few exposition to the paper. Therefore you can use red light for darkroom safelight. If you want to print your colour negatives on B&W paper you need a paper which is sensitized panchromatic that means sensitized for the whole spectrum of light. If your are using a panchromatic paper, what you did with Kodak Panlure, you will get good results. I hope this information is of help to you. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards Wolfgang Holz

Agfa-Gevaert AG

-- wolfgang holz (wolfgang.holz.wh@germany.agfa.com), May 16, 2001.

Try using a 3 1/2 filter with the Ilford paper. Your prints will not have enough contrast without boosting them with a filter. This is the same filter that is best to start with on Ilford and other papers when using a C41 process black & white film such as Kodak CN400 or Ilford XPS. Your key is to compensate for the lack of contrast when trying to convert to black & white.

-- Jim Rock (jameswrock@aol.com), May 24, 2001.

Jim's experience is right on the money about the C-41 B&W films. The lousy contrast of these films is the main reason that I stopped using them after about 5 rolls.

A couple of people that I have talked to seem to be fairly happy with regular VC prints from color.

-- Gene Crumpler,NC, USA (nikonguy@att.net), May 25, 2001.