50 sheets 16x20 = 200 8x10

Hi there,

Reading a recent thread concerning Ilford apparently discontinuing 16x20 Galerie made me afraid...it got me thinking about how sluggish sales at larger sizes means manufacturers may cut production of them entirely...not good!

I do all my work prints at 5x7, cut down from 8x10 paper, which gives a good sized test strip. This means I can try lots of variations without worrying too much about throwing money away. Problem #1 is that I get about 20 work prints from a box of 100. Problem #2 is that the contrast and speed of the paper can change from box to box.

What I'm doing now is ordering paper (Multigrade IV FB) in boxes of 50 sheets of 16x20. This means I can print from 16x20 to 5x7 from one emusion batch. It also means that I can get up to 200 sheets of 8x10 for $30.00 cheaper than buying 2 boxes of 100 sheets 8x10. (I give my paper a swipe with a Kinetronics anti-static brush before exposing...less dust specks).

If more people did this it would mean manufacturers would see increased sales at larger sizes, ensuring production in the future. Does this make sense?

Murray

Whilst you are cutting up print paper, here is another tidbit:

Normal paper sizes when cut in half at their "waist" (or along the long side) produce pieces very close to both the 35mm format and the Golden Mean.

For example, an 8x10 becomes 5x8, 11x14 becomes 7x11, 16x20 becomes 10x16 and 20x24 becomes 12x20.

You can print full-frame 35mm without cropping. Also, landscapes seem to look better in this horizontal aspect ratio. Neat!

John Cook said:

Normal paper sizes when cut in half at their "waist" (or along the long side) produce pieces very close to both the 35mm format and the Golden Mean.

Click to expand...

I'm going to have to try this!

David

Interesting point you make, if we all bought 16x20 or larger, it would cut down considerably on manufacturing costs. I would be willing to do more cutting to keep the stuff coming.
Who else feels this way?

It will be interesting to see, once Ilford has settled down, whether the company continues its previous policy of offering non-catalog items subject to minimum orders. This would be a way to get Galerie in big sizes, twenty people buying five boxes of 16x20" each would probably be enough.

I ahve been cutting 16x20 for a while and it works well for getting 8x10 and 5x7 out of 16x20, but there is no cutting option for 11x14. So I will continue to stock 11x14 and 16x20.