As a result of a question posted to rec.photo.darkroom I
decided to dig out and test some very old paper I have. The
samples were of Kodak Medalist and Agfa Brovira. None of the
packages has an expiration date but I've had them for at
least ten years and probably bought them as out dated paper
then. All packates were opened years ago and have had no
special storage.
To make a long story short both boxes of Medalist and the
Brovira work fine and probably look as good as they did new.
Its possible the Medalist has lost some contrast but my
memory of it is that it was a somewhat soft looking paper
originally. The Brovira has full contrast. I have even more
Agfa paper in storage and will have to get it out. About the
only old Agfa paper I had trouble with came from a flooded
basement and was blotchy, obviously moisture had gotten in.
Otherwise the stuff seems to last forever.
I have not had such good luck with old Kodak paper and
stopped buying outdated paper about the time I got the
Medalist. Mostly the bad paper was Polycontrast which had
very low contrast for all filters, evidently, the high
contrast emulsion component had lost substantial
sensitivity. It made good drawing paper.
I also found I have two unopened boxes of Oriental
Seagull paper, also at least ten years old but bought new at
the time. I have not tested this yet and will report when I
do.
Processing of the above was conventional. I used Agfa Neutol
Plus, an ascorbic acid (and probably Phenidone) developer
without any added anti-fog.
I also used this occasion to test the Kodak Enlarging
Ektar I picked up a couple of weeks ago. This is a 75mm
lens. Its very sharp, as good as my Schneider Componon, not
bad for $10 :-)
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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