I have inherited quite a lot of paper from my father, a workmate and my
workplace. Some of my father's paper is from the late 1950's. Not much
worked, except the Gevaert, wich was soft and had a yellowish tint. It
worked though, and gave a nice old-fashioned look to the prints. The Agfa
Brovira Speed from the early 80's works nicely, except for the rear side,
which is a bit yellow. The Ilford MG II and III (10-15 years old?) are
much softer than they should, but otherwise they seem to work. If I
remember correctly one package was rather badly fogged, though. From my
work I got some Kodak Polycontrast RC paper which expired 2001 but is
absolutely perfect. Nothing wrong at all four years after exp. date. I
think this was kept in a fridge part of the time, though not all the time.
I know nothing about Oriental or Forte. Many have warned that Agfa
Multicontrast Classic doesn't keep well.
My experience is that papers last quite a lot longer than expiration date.
I think it is worth a try with these five-year-olds. On the other hand I
would not pay much for it, absolutely not more than say 25% of today's
price because of the risk and because there is a lot of old paper out
there.
What do others think?
Per
I am offered a lot of FB paper for a low price, but I don't want to waste my money on fogged paper. This paper is about 5-6 years old and no special care was taken for its preservation, like freezing it or keeping it in a fridge, except that it was kept outside the darkroom. The brands are Ilford, Agfa, Oriental, Forte and perhaps some others, mostly VC, FB paper. What are the brands that are most likely to be fogged and those that are most likely to be still good? How long can I expect to keep the papers that are still good?
Philippe Gauthier
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