[pure-silver] Re: old papers and new papers
- From: Janet Gable Cull <janetgcull@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:00:17 -0500
Michael, is it a big jump from never having used graded papers to Lodima?
My enlarger is a Durst M605 with filters built in.
Janet
On Sun, Nov 30, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee <
michaelandpaula@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Papers:
>
> It is not just the silver content that affects the range of grays. back in
> the 1970s chemicals such as cadmium were added to the emulsion. The
> addition of cadmium to photographic papers was disallowed by the EPA
> because of its toxicity to the environment.
>
> The best (most luminous) photographic papers have a high Dmax and a long
> smooth gray scale. In recent years--recent here meaning at least 60 or 70
> years, this has been almost impossible to achieve with all bromide and
> chloro-bromide enlarging papers. The only papers that achieved true
> luminosity were silver chloride papers, the last of which was Kodak's Azo.
>
> To save Azo from being discontinued, we (my wife Paula Chamlee who is also
> a photographer) and I reluctantly (it is a long store) became dealers of
> Azo, the only paper we used.
>
> About eight or so years ago Bruce Barlow wrote an article for View Camera
> Magazine about photographic papers. He made the best print he could on
> every paper then manufactured and then developed the paper in a number of
> different developers. He then asked a number of photographers which print
> they thought was the best print.
>
> I asked Bruce if he had tested Azo. He had not. He volunteered to come to
> our home/studio in Pennsylvania and he brought with him the test negative.
> Before we printed on Azo he asked us to select which of the many prints he
> brought with him that we thought best. I selected the one that was the
> general consensus "best." Paula selected another. However, the selected
> prints were almost identical.
>
> We then went into the darkroom and printed the negative on Azo. We
> developed the print in Amidol using the formula I had "developed" in the
> 1970s after serious testing.
>
> Result: The gray tones were so beautiful that Bruce realized that all of
> his previous test prints were so inferior to the Azo print that none of
> them would have left our darkroom. The trashcan was the appropriate
> destination for them. Bruce purchased a 500-sheet box of Azo.
>
> All of the great prints that Edward Weston made were printed on silver
> chloride paper. Ansel Adams best prints, from the late 1930s and
> early-to-mid 1940s were printed on silver chloride paper.
>
> In 2004 Kodak discontinued Azo. Because of the articles I had written
> about Azo, hundreds of photographers were now using it. Paula and I had a
> 8'x14' freezer full of the Super XX film we bought from Kodak when it was
> discontinued in 1994 (bought with credit cards that took five years to pay
> off--we are committed !), and Azo. But we set about trying to get a new
> silver chloride paper made. After six years of R&D we were successful. We
> believe that our silver chloride paper, "LODIMA," is even superior to Azo.
> It has deeper blacks and a longer, smoother gray scale. We are now in the
> process of having the third run of the paper made. Admittedly, production
> has not always gone as smoothly as we would have liked.
>
> We have had LODIMA made in Grade 2 and Grade 3 The original test run of
> LODIMA was incredible. The first major production run could have had a
> higher Dmax. It was beyond "okay," but not what we really wanted. The next
> run does have the higher Dmax. It has such a long scale, however, that the
> contrast for thin negatives could be greater. Photographers who make
> negatives for platinum printing have found the LODIMA Grade 2 to match
> their platinum prints. A few of them even prefer LODIMA to their platinum
> prints.
>
> Because our Super XX film has an extremely high film base plus fog level
> Paula and I need a paper with greater contrast. So we are now having a
> Grade 4 paper made. We are also having a new run of Grade 3 made as our
> inventory is almost totally gone. We do have plenty of Grade 2 still in
> stock in our freezer.
>
> The paper is made in Germany. The only way we can have the paper made is
> to ask photographers to place "pre-production" orders, as we cannot afford
> to buy the paper ourselves. We do not ask for payment until we need to pay
> for the paper, but we need to know what sizes and quantities people want.
> We can have these sizes made: 8x10, 9x11, 10x12, 11x14, 8x20, 12x20, 14x17,
> 16x20, and 20x24. We could also have other sizes made as well. We do not
> make 4x5 or 5x7, figuring that users can cut down 8x10, but we could have
> it made if the orders for those sizes are sufficient
>
> Silver chloride paper is a "slow" paper. As such it is used to make
> contact prints. Some years ago a photographer who had taken our workshop
> developed a light for enlargers that was strong enough in the UV spectrum
> so that enlargements could easily be made on silver chloride paper. Others,
> those with patience for long exposure times have enlarged on it with
> conventional enlargers. Paula and I prefer to only make contact prints—in
> large part because of the results that can only be obtained with silver
> chloride paper. We make them in many sizes--from the 6x7 cm size that Paula
> sometimes uses when we travel overseas for short periods on up to the 18x22
> that I have occasionally used.
>
> It used to be said that "there is nothing as beautiful in photography as a
> contact print." This was not because of the sharpness and clarity of
> contact prints, although that is surely a factor. It is mainly because of
> the tonal quality of silver chloride paper.
>
> Michael A. Smith
>
> On 11/30/14 7:17 AM, bobkiss @caribsurf.com wrote:
>
> Â Â Â Â I think the important phrase here is, "...certain qualities of
> richness in gray tonal values..." This is not referring to Dmax. It may
> be referring to silvery, subtle, separated, midtones. The problem is that
> it may be very difficult to quantify and measure these qualities. I feel
> the same about the silver rich papers on which I printed during the 70s and
> early 80s yet agree that it may not be measurable and therefore not
> provable. Is it the rose color of memory or was it true? "Tis a
> mystery!"Â
> Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CHEERS!
> Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â BOBÂ
>
> On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 7:19 PM, Janet Gable Cull <janetgcull@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm reading an article Les Myers sent me (from Online Photographer) about
>> Voja Mitrovic. Here is an interesting statement by Peter Turnley:  " It
>> was also a time when the highest quantity of silver was in printing papers.
>> Voja has indicated that there are certain qualities of richness in gray
>> tonal values that he could never achieve with today’s papers, that he was
>> able to obtain in the late 'seventies and early 'eighties.Â
>>
>> Do any of you know which of today's papers are higher in silver
>> content? Â or most like the older papers he may have been referring to?Â
>> He didn't say specifically which papers he liked using, but did refer to
>> the change (down) at the introduction of multi-grade papers.Â
>>
>> Here is a link to the article, if you're interested. I found it most
>> interesting to find that many of the "greats" didn't do their own
>> printing. That's not what I'd have imagined. Anyway, I have enjoyed it,
>> and hope you do, too.
>>
>>
>> http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2014/11/top-classic-yoja-mitrovic-printer-to-the-greats.html
>>
>> Janet
>>
>
>
>
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