I also loved the original Oriental Seagull (early 90s when I used it) fiber
paper, both graded and VC. It developed beautifully in amidol and toned to DEEP
blacks in selenium. The newer incarnations of OS just don't seem to produce
the same quality, when compared side by side.
-----Original Message-----
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of `Richard Knoppow
Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2021 5:01 PM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: RC paper and fixer questions. Also a sink update
I have some sample books from Agfa/Ansco and Kodak. I have a
Defender book too but the sample prints have degraded badly. Agfa
made amazing papers and an interesting variety of surfaces. I am
not sure if the more extreme surfaces would be acceptable today.
I think their main purpose was to avoid retouching and maybe to
make photographs that didn't look like photographs. Kodak
surfaces were never as extreme.
I used a lot of Ansco paper when I started. It was the same
stuff sold as Agfa before WW-2 and most came back as Agfa after
Ansco went bankrupt. Of course Brovira was the number one neutral
black paper but I liked Indiatone and other Agfa/Ansco warm tone
papers.
A very interesting paper was Gevaert Gevelux Velours which
had an absolutely mat surface which made pictures look like
velvet paintings. Also came with an ivory tinted stock so skin
looked like it was in color. Supposedly the surface was made with
rabbit fur. Long gone but was available about when I was in
junior highschool (now called middle school).
On 8/8/2021 1:07 PM, Tim Daneliuk (Redacted sender tundra for
DMARC) wrote:
On 8/8/21 2:17 PM, Zack Widup wrote:
I never liked the tone of the RC papers. Papers like the old Zone VII too was much enamored of the old Graded Zone VI Brilliant - probably my
Brilliant (now pretty much the same thing as Bergger) fiber-based papers
produce a BLACK black. And they tone very well. RC papers seemed to have
this bluish cast to the black and I never could get the same quality from
toning them that I do from fiber-based papers.
Zack
favorite paper of all time, notwithstanding the pain of contrast control
on graded paper. The stuff had an amazing surface and - as you say -
it understood BLACKness.
I found the Brilliant VC to be unremarkably different from Ilford MGFB
which I've never much cared for.
The Bergger stuff looks very different to me than Brilliant VC did. I
really, really liked it but ... it's so hard to get consistently.
I have now found a worthy replacement for all the above papers -
Fomabrom VC Variant 111 Fiber Glossy is just gorgeous. It produces
deep blacks and tones beautifully in KRST diluted 1:40. Both
Freestyle and B&H have it (when it is available - it was lost in space
most of the spring). Try this stuff ...
